Gymnastics coach, 87, gets King's birthday honour

Jenny Bott said the honour came "completely out of the blue"

An 87-year-old gymnastics instructor has been named in the King's birthday honours list.

Jenny Bott, from Raunds, Northamptonshire, helped "pioneer" the introduction of rhythmic gymnastics in the UK and trained gymnasts for the Olympics.

She ran a club in Northampton for 40 years and still coaches. She was given an MBE.

Other Northamptonshire recipients include a pioneering Olympic athlete and a determined head teacher.

Ms Bott first qualified in artistic gymnastics at the age of 25 in 1962 but there were no rhythmic gymnastics in the UK at that time.

She said: "I was doing a lot of coaching, producing displays using various items of small hand apparatus like skipping ropes and scarves and ribbons, which is the foundation of rhythmic gymnastics.

"In 1973, the association asked me if I would introduce rhythmic gymnastics into Great Britain - I feel highly privileged and proud to have been asked to do this.

"I set up a national squad, but, of course, there was no-one to compete against, so I looked around the world and found out that, in 1975, there was to be a world championships.

"So I thought, 'Why not?'"

The squad took part in the championships, which was "amazing", to wide acclaim.

Sky News sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao was one of Jenny Bott's pupils

She set up a centre of excellence in Bedford and produced several future champions including Jacquie Leavy, who is better known now as the Sky presenter Jacquie Beltrao, as well as Lisa Black who was national champion in 1988.

Forty years ago, she set up a rhythmic gymnastics club in Northampton and ran it until it merged with Dexterity Rhythmic in 2017, but she still does some coaching, passing on 60 years of experience to a new generation.

Anita Neil's MBE comes after a long period when her achievements were not recognised

Meanwhile, Wellingborough's Anita Neil, who was Britain's first black female Olympian, said she "jumped for joy" when she found out she would be getting an MBE.

She competed in both the 1968 and 1972 games, but felt her achievement had been forgotten until she was acknowledged as a pioneer by the sport's governing body in 2021.

She said: "I feel ecstatic, it's so marvellous to be recognised."

She added that many of her fellow competitors had received honours.

"One of them said to me, 'Did you get your gong?' And I said, 'No - I'd love one.' I've got one now!"

Sheralee Webb gained her MBE for improving education for children with special needs

Sheralee Webb, 65, from Denton, east of Northampton, gets her MBE after a career dedicated to helping children with special needs prepare for life after school.

She is the head teacher of Northgate School in Northampton, where she created a unique sixth form called The Bee Hive to provide pupils with real job experience.

Ms Webb said the letter from the palace was a huge surprise. "I thought, 'This is going to be something for school.' Then you open it and it's like, 'Oh my God!'"

She said she had faced a battle with education officials to get The Bee Hive up and running.

"We found a building and they said, 'What are you going to do with it?'

"I said, 'Run businesses out of it, and the children are going to work in it and learn skills.'

"They said, 'You can't do that with this building.'

"I said, 'I will do!'"