A Wigan woman has launched a baton twirling academy and it's already seen huge success

Ashleigh Jones, 20, has been interested in baton twirling from the age of six and was 13 when she decided she would one day run her own dance school.

It was at the end of last year when Ashleigh made plans to pursue her dream and officially opened Liberté Dance Academy in Hindley, which is going from strength to strength.

Ashleigh said: “Since we opened on January 1, we’ve had five competitions and one of them was two weeks ago where we all competed in London in the UK Open.

"I had eight athletes there and we had three champions from it. For the majority of the athletes, it was the first big competition that they’ve ever done.”

Everyone is welcome to go to the dance school and give baton twirling a go, no matter age or gender. Ashleigh is also trained in supporting people with special educational needs.

She has already had lots of positive feedback from the twirlers and their parents.

She said: “The parents love that they’ve got somewhere to go on a Saturday where the kids are safe. The kids can train, they go to competitions and they’ve got friends there too.

"I get videos sent from parents all the time of their kids saying that they love it and asking what new moves they can learn and asking for more lessons.

"All the kids and the parents appreciate the team and what it does for everyone.”

Though the academy is only just getting started, Ashleigh already has some very big plans.

She said: “Eventually I would like to build or buy my own studio because at the minute we’re renting from The Palace. There are world championships next year so we’re aspiring to get a couple of our athletes in that and build a team. I want to be big and I want more athletes.”

To anyone thinking about joining the academy, Ashleigh said: “Just give it a chance because you’ll be surprised by how much you actually enjoy it or your child enjoys it.”

To learn more about Liberté Dance Academy head to its Facebook page.