Mary Prestidge

Gymnast Mary Prestidge was runner-up in the 1968 and 1969 National Championships to Margaret Bell. Both girls were coached by Mary´s mother Pauline, who was the British women´s coach at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Mary went to the 1968 Mexico Olympics and finished 88th in the all-round competition.

Prestidge made her international début against the United States in 1965 and that year was a member of the Bexley team that won the women´s national team title. Also in the team was Margaret Bell, Mary´s mother, and sister Meg (later Meg Warren). Mary was in the Bexley team that retained the title in 1967 and 1968, and in 1970 won it again as a member of London´s Ladywell Gymnastics Club, which was again coached by her mother. Prestidge also took part in three European Championships

Having been an excellent ballet dancer as a youngster, at the age of 15 Prestidge initially chose gymnastics over dancing, but in 1969 changed direction and joined the internationally acclaimed Ballet Rambert as a professional dancer. Prestidge moved to Liverpool to take up a teaching post at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Art in 1995 and was a co-creator of the Liverpool Improvisation Collective (LIC) dance studio at the Bluecoat School in 2009.