IT'S been a golden start to the year for one Bury schoolgirl who is also celebrating finishing in the top three in her first adult fencing competition.

Thirteen-year-old Phoebe Newton-Hughes, who attends Bury Grammar School, won the top honours at the under-15 Leon Paul Junior Series tournament in London and at the Yorkshire Youth League Wakefield leg before clinching a remarkable third place at the Scottish Open in her first adult contest.

The talented Year 9 pupil, who recently represented England in an international u15 fencing competition in Paris, took 71st place out of 262 entrants from across the world to finish as the third highest ranked Great Britain girl fencer. She has also competed against older competitors in the British National Cadet (U17) and Junior Championships (U20), finishing in 10th and 14th respectively.

The starlet, who began training locally with former Hungarian Olympic fencer Robert Kiss at the age of nine, now trains with Marshall Fencing in Chadderton and Adam Blight’s Buccaneers in Sheffield.

Last year, Phoebe came third in her age group at the English Youth Fencing Championships and was again selected to represent England and the North West. She also won the Yorkshire Youth League u14 trophy.

The youngster was invited to join the England Youth Development squad “Tomorrow’s Achievers” in 2013 and went on to come third in her age group at the British Youth Championships also placing well in some of the junior leagues and winning the North West Junior Series u11 girls' foil trophy.

In the same year, aged just 12-years-old, Phoebe was selected to represent England in the u15 international squad and was invited to fence for the North West u17 team at a national competition.

To help in her bid to compete at national and international level, Phoebe and her family would welcome sponsorship to support her in her development. If anyone thinks they can help they can email dadfencing@hotmail.com.