When you’re a kid, those first big role models are so important and a good teacher can leave a lasting impact on your life. For Manchester United star Ella Toone, one of those first important figures was her Regional Talent Club and youth coach, Emma Fletcher.
Emma Fletcher was the RTC and academy coach who mentored the Man United Women‘s all-time leading goalscorer through the age groups as she developed and playing a key role in ensuring the team had a future in the years it was disbanded (2005-2018), bringing through the likes of current captain Katie Zelem, Millie Turner, Toone and many more.
Sadly, Emma suffers from Huntington’s Disease, a nerve cell disease which affects the brain and is now limiting her ability to work. Nevertheless, the inspiring coach continues to graft for the United Foundation to this day, helping develop girls football at a grassroots level across Greater Manchester.
With that in mind, Tooney thought it was only right to honour Emma properly and pay her back for all her support throughout her formative years by delivering her a surprise her at Eccles Sixth Form College and helping raise more awareness surrounding Huntington’s Disease in the process.
Ella Toone surprises her old coach Emma Fletcher to deliver some heart-warming news ❤️ pic.twitter.com/nRLP31mRRI
The moment Ella Toone surprised her old youth coach, Emma Fletcher.
You love to see it.
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As the 23-year-old England star explains, Emma has been working for United’s RTC for over 22 years, looking after and believing in so many young girls like her, not to mention stressing the importance of women’s game from day dot. More importantly, not once has she let her condition hold her back.
“Right from the very start, since I was six or seven years old, she’s always been there, she’s always believed in me, she’s always pushed me”, adding, “For me, Emma’s always wanted the best for everyone she’s worked with and that was fighting for a Manchester United women’s team.”
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The Tyldesley-born forward went on to insist that Fletcher has always been “very vocal” about United Women’s and advocating for women’s sport, making her a been a big part not only of her own journey but “the history of the club” as well.
As a result, not only was the United coach treated to a surprise visit by her old pupil but Ella was also given the great privilege of informing her childhood inspiration that that the female Academy Player of the Year would now be named after her. Well deserved, Emma.
Reacting to the news, Emma said: “I’m just blown away, can’t believe it. It’s an unbelievable surprise.
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“I think I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world. We’ve got the best girls’ development programme, I’d say in the world now, I’d go as far as saying that. I’m really, really proud.”
Although it is considered a relatively rare disease, it is estimated that more than 6,700 individuals are currently living with Huntington’s Disease in the UK alone and even more could potentially carry the gene which causes it occur between age 30-50, so raising greater awareness is crucial.
You can donate to the Huntington’s Disease Assosciation HERE.
The 11 best and most popular gyms in Manchester, ranked by price
Daisy Jackson
You do not need to wait for January to get your body moving again – there’s no time like the present.
The trick to sticking with your health kick is often to find the right routine for you, and when it comes to exercise, finding the gym that will make you feel supported as well as pushed physically is key.
There’s no shortage of brilliant gyms here in Manchester, from the do-it-yourself commercial gyms to the fitness facilities manned by highly-qualified trainers who will guide you every step of the way.
Whether you’re a fancy girl who needs fancy facilities to coax you into the gym, or you’d rather get your head down and save some cash, we’ve got you covered.
Here are 11 of the best to try in 2024 – and how much it’ll cost you.
Ultimate Performance – prices are bespoke and available on request
Ready to transform your body or lay the foundations for lifelong health, and feeling pretty serious about it?
Ultimate Performance is the gym in Manchester to join if you want to stick to your plan and achieve whatever goals you set yourself, from fat loss to muscle building to general health, with some of the world’s best personal trainers coaching from here.
Barry’s is the gym loved by all the famous LA-dwelling beautiful types, and first opened here in Manchester in 2018.
Workouts take place in the ‘red room’, where rows of benches, dumbbells and treadmills promise a total body workout.
It’s now a global phenomenon, with gyms everywhere from the USA to the UAE to Australia to Mexico.
It ain’t cheap though – memberships start at £125 per month, which gets you eight classes, or you can book a drop-in class for £20. The most expensive membership will set you back £308. Check out all the offers here.
Blok – £205/month for unlimited
Blok in Manchester has a mix of classes and is one of the city’s best gyms. Credit: Blok
This gym is genuinely very beautiful, taking over a corner of the historic Ducie Street Warehouse.
It’s another one with three different studios to choose from – you can do pilates and yoga, take on full-body strength-focused or boxing workouts, or try out barre and cardio exercises.
There are top-notch changing rooms for getting refreshed in afterwards too.
Unlimited membership is £205 a month, but if you’re happy to commit to a set number of classes there are cheaper packs available too. Check it out here.
You will not find a nicer or more supportive group of trainers than the ones who work at Form – you also won’t find any who take away your ability to walk up stairs quite so efficiently.
As well as one-to-one training, they offer their ‘reload’ programme with small groups training together at their New Bailey Street gym, and the best pilates and yoga classes in town at their Reset gym on Marble Street.
Form promises a longterm change to your life – this is no flash-in-the-pan fitness phase.
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Memberships start from £168 a month and we promise you get a lot of bang for your buck. Find out more at formmcr.com.
F45 – £165/month
Credit: F45
First created in Australia, there are now more than 1,000 F45 studios all over the world, creating what it claims is the most innovative fitness gym on the planet.
Each 45 minute session blends cardio and HIIT-style workouts for ‘sweat-dripping, heart-pumping fun’.
The circuits in the Manchester gyms will kick your ass, in a good way.
It’s £165 a month if you commit to six months, otherwise you’re looking at £195 a month – check it out here.
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Zeno Training Clubs – £99/month
Hero Training Club gym in Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupHero Training Club gym in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
With four different fitness studios to choose from, Zeno (formerly known as Hero) offers a little something for everyone.
You can seriously test your cardio in their spin studio or in the Athletic studio (where you can also take on boxing classes), push your strength in the Stronger studio (which are basically like small group PT sessions), or reset a bit in the Rejuvenate studio. There’s also an open gym upstairs.
Zeno has some of the best facilities in the city – seriously, there are more squat racks in here than in some of the biggest commercial gyms – and a bloody lovely group of trainers to guide your every move.
Memberships start from £99 a month, and there are class bundles available too. Find out more at herotrainingclubs.com.
TRIB3 – £79/month
Credit: TRIB3
This ‘next-level fitness studio’ follows a pretty similar modal to V1BE, but factors in assault bikes (ouch) and has classes with a more tailored focus.
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There are three different TRIB3 classes to choose from – upper body and core, lower body, and full body – broken down into three zones of treadmill, resistance and intensity.
It’s proving to be a very popular option for Mancs.
Unlimited memberships are £79/month but there are loads of other options too. Find out more at trib3.co.uk.
V1BE – £59/month
Credit: V1BE
It’s all about the cardio at V1BE, Manchester’s boutique gym group that will literally display your heart rate on a giant screen for all to see.
Most workouts are spread between sprint sessions on the treadmills and weighted circuits on the floor, but they also have STR1KE classes that factor in some intense boxing drills.
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You will be sweaty, you will get competitive with yourself, and you’ll definitely love it (once the hill sprints are over).
Membership starts from £59 a month (that’s for open gym access and six classes), or you can go all-in for £79 a month. Find out more here.
Nuffield Health – £51/month
Nuffield is one of Manchester’s biggest gyms, with its own pool
What makes Nuffield Health so extraordinary of all the gyms in Manchester is that is has a real life swimming pool, which is quite a luxury in a city centre as crammed as ours.
The gym has an army of treadmills and bikes, plus a functional fitness room, a free weights room, and several different studios.
There are also physiotherapists and personal trainers based here to help you build the healthiest body possible.
With a rapidly-growing number of gyms nationwide, it’s easy to see why JD Gyms are becoming more and more popular – and it’s got a lot to do with the price.
Their gym in Manchester city centre has more than 300 classes a month, a sauna, and literally hundreds of pieces of strength and cardio equipment.
There’s a large free weights zone, a sprint and sled track, bootcamps, boxing, and personal trainers.
Basic membership is £19.99 a month, which includes classes, but for £25 a month you can also get 10% off at JD Sports online and use any of their gyms nationwide – find out more here.
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PureGym – £12.99/month
PureGym has several gyms around Manchester. Credit: PureGym
Oh well all know PureGym, let’s be honest.
As one of the country’s biggest gym groups, they’re famed for being cheap and practical, with 24-hour opening times.
Facilities are very good for the price and there are four PureGym gyms in Manchester city centre alone. You just have to get used to their weirdly futuristic beam-me-up-Scotty entrance vestibules.
Read more about all things sport in the North here.
Featured image: The Manc Group / Reset by Form / PureGym
Sport
All the Greater Manchester Team GB athletes to look out for at the Paris 2024 Paralympics
Danny Jones
The sporting action isn’t stopping any time soon; the Euros and Summer Games might have passed but now the Paris 2024 Paralympics are upon usand there are plenty more local athletes heading to the competition.
It’s been a fantastic month or so for Team GB and now our para-athletes are set to follow on from their success in the French capital for the next 12 days.
There are a total of 215 Paralympians from Great Britain and Northern Ireland and just over half a dozen of those are either from Greater Manchester or currently based here in the de-facto sporting capital of the UK.
Without further ado, here are the names of nearby that you need to get behind during this year’s Paralympics.
7 Greater Manchester Paralympians to look out for at Paris 2024
Dame Sarah Storey DBE – Stockport – Cycling
Where else to begin than with the most decorated athlete in Paralympic history?
Stopfordian Dame Sarah Storey is one of the most legendary athletes to ever compete in the Games, let alone represent Team GB. With 28 medals to her name, 17 of those being gold, she’s the most decorated Paralympian this nation has ever produced and has been an inspiration for more than three decades.
Having started out her career as a para-swimmer before going on to become a record-breaking cyclist as well – the event she will be sticking to this time around – there are many names that pop into your head before Storey. To say she’s written her own is putting it mildly. Simply iconic.
She received some long overdue local recognition at the start of the year.
Laurie Williams – Manchester – Wheelchair Basketball
Switching to wheelchair basketball, local lass Laurie Williams will be returning to ply her trade on the court once again a decade and a half since her senior debut back in 2009 and 12 years on from her first-ever Paralympics in London.
A busy mum and graduate of multiple degrees amidst becoming one of the stars of Team GB’s wheelchair basketball team, the 32-year-old British-Irish para-athlete has been on the scene for a while now and has also been a big advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Competing alongside her partner, fellow basketball star and squad member, Robyn Love (the pair announced their engagement back in 2020), the Manchester-based couple have already seen early success, beating Spain in the opening round and we’re sure this is just the beginning.
Credit: AJMW (Wikimedia Commons)Credit: Hawkeye7 (Wiki Commons)When it comes to Manchester-based Paralympians, there isn’t a story sweeter than Williams and Love’s.
Greg Warburton – Leigh – Wheelchair Basketball
Speaking of teammates, another wheelchair basketball star from Greater Manchester native representing Team GB is Greg Warburton, born and bred over Wigan way in Leigh.
Quite literally one of if not the best wheelchair basketball player in the world after being named MVP at the 2018 World Championships and delighting the sport ever since making his debut at Rio 26, we’re very proud to say the 27-year-old is from around these parts.
From winning a maiden bronze medal at the age of 19 to being a role model for countless other hopefuls looking to join the discipline or become a para-athlete in general, he’s one of the shining lights at this year’s tournament.
Grace Harvey – University of Manchester – Para-swimmer
Next up is a rising star who may have been born over in Hertfordshire but has spent her formative sporting years right here in the city centre: 25-year-old Grace Harvey.
A university student currently doing her Master’s in Dental Public Health whilst balancing her training, the British Para-Swimming National Performance facility based over at the Aquatics Centre on Oxford Road has been her home for several years now, so as far as we’re concerned, she’s one of us.
Despite the challenges that come with her cerebral palsy diagnosis, Harvey notched a phenomenal hat-trick of medals in just her first World Championships in 2022, including a gold in the SB5 100m Breaststroke. She’s one of UoM Sport’s gems and we’re lucky to have her.
Ellie Challis – Manchester – Swimming
On to another honorary Mancunian, she might be Clacton-born but young Ellis Challis is now based in Manchester and after becoming Team GB‘s youngest Paralympic medalist at Tokyo 2020, you better believe we’re claiming her as our own.
Despite only being at the very start of her career and still only aged 20, Challis has been facing obstacles all her life – from her heartbeat stopping for a whole two minutes when she was just 16 months old to living limbless after falling ill with meningitis – but she has never let disability get in her way.
Having an unshakably positive attitude is one of the reasons she was already an inspiration to many even as a teenager, and after smashing her own World Record at the Championships in Madeira just a couple of years ago, she seems destined to keep manifesting her own greatness.
Our penultimate Paralympian is the equally promising Poppy Maskill, who hails from just down the road in Middlewich. She may be flying the flag for Cheshire but she’s also representing the incredible calibre of athletes being produced by the National Performance Centre here in Manchester.
Still only a teenager (19), Poppy is a multiple world champion para swimmer in the intellectual impairment category and looks set to continue her incredible start to sporting life at Paris 2024.
Following a stellar 12 months since bursting onto the scene back in 2022, the sky’s the limit for this girl.
Last but not least, we’ve got one more adopted Manc in the form of 0161-based but Bridgwater-born Cameron Vearncombe, a.k.a. ‘ParaCam’.
2024 has been this youngster’s best year to date, having picked up bronze for Team GB in both the 200m medley event and the 100m butterfly at the Paralympic trials back in April, not to mention a trio of medals at the Aberdeen World Series at the start of the season.
Also competing in the intellectual impairment category, Cameron told Great British Life, “I can get very anxious and nervous sometimes” but has lots of help around him from friends, family and coaches, adding: “It would be a dream to get on the podium.”
As far as Manchester Paralympians go, Cameron is certainly one to keep an eye on.
Danny Jones -
14th May 2023 
