Just 4 weeks after the Alpha Factor Jessica was again active on home turf in the 2004 English Championships. This is the second year in succession that the English has been held in Melksham and it provides a fantastic weekend of top-class gymnastics. Saturday saw the men's competitions while Sunday was the turn of the Junior and Senior women.

This was the first time Jessica was eligible to enter this competition and she competed confidently and well in the Junior section against more than 50 gymnasts ranging in age from 12 to nearly 16. At the end of an enthralling day of competition that kept us all on the edges of our seats with some great gymnastics interspersed with some of the gymnasts suffering some uncharacteristic errors Jessica finished a respectable 22nd.

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The Alpha Factor Invitational takes place annually in Melsham over two days at the beginning of September. This year it was Jessica's first competition since missing the July British Championships through injury and she had been working hard to get back to full fitness in the run-up to the competition. Given the circumstances she had a reasonable competition and placed eighth overall. It was clear that she was well along the road back to full fitness and that her skills were returning.

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Unfortunately Jessica's hand did not improve in time for the British Championships and she was unable to compete. She did however attend to watch what was a fantastic event over the three days.

Jessica had three competitions lined up for June but unfortunately the hand injury that prevented her from competing fully in the Holland International also kept her out of these competitions.

At the Welsh Open and South West FIG Championships she competed only beam and floor. At the Wiltshire Championships just 1 week before the British she attempted 4 pieces as part of her rehabilitation. Unfortunately that served only to confirm that the injury still had some way to go before she could return to 4 piece gymnastics and that the prospects for being fit for the following weekend were slim.

The field for the Wiltshire Championships was small which meant that Jessica came first despite the lack of difficulty in her routines. She was also awarded a new trophy dedicated to Rod Lewis who founded the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics and was Chair of Trustees for many years. The Rod Lewis Rose Bowl was awarded for Jessica achieving highest score on beam.

On 14th May Jessica and the rest of the Great Britain team travelled to Holland for the 3 Country Meet in Opmeer north of Amsterdam and her international debut. The team comprised Jessica, Becky Downie, Hannah Freeman, Laura Jones, Abi Kirby, Shannon Morse and Becky Wing. Despite the fact that Jessica could only do beam and Becky Downie could not compete at all, the meet was a great success with Great Britain taking gold by a massive 6-point margin over Netherlands (1) in silver and Germany in bronze ahead on Netherlands (2) and Netherlands (3).

A big well-done to our young team.

The BBC reported Jessica's experience here and the Swindon newspaper here and here.

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Despite the most appalling weather with overturned lorries and closed motorways, 8 teams travelled to Newcastle for the British Schools Championships. South West team was made up of Jessica, Shannon Morse and Olivia Grout from Wiltshire together with Eleanor Rendell and Chloe Leaper from Olga.

Jessica had a reasonable competition, trying out her new bar routine for the first time and finishing in seventh place. At the end of the day South West team came home with bronze behind North West and East Midlands.

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On 5 January Jessica flew to Deva in Romania as part of the 10-strong World Class Start squad selected to represent GB on the 10-day International Training Camp. The squad returns on 14 January.

Swindon's Evening Advertiser newspaper covered Jessica's departure in their sport section and on the web on 7 January.