LTA President Peter Bretherton took time out of his busy schedule to open the new courts at Ashbourne Tennis Club, Derbyshire. The club had an official opening day that was attended by around 250 local tennis enthusiasts.
The 3 new floodlit courts have been built following a grant of £50,000 from Sports England's 'Inspired Facilities' fund. The LTA also contributed £112,000 funding towards the project.
Peter Bretherton was joined by club chairman Cyril Challinor to perform the ribbon-cutting to officially open the brand new facilities. This was followed by an exhibition match involving former junior world-ranked player Mat Lowe, local coach and GB Veteran Ashley Broomhead, and 14&U GB player Sam Ferguson. A number of the top juniors from the club also joined in the exhibition match.
The club has attracted 30 new members in the last couple of weeks, due in no small part to the new facilities.
LTA Tennis Development Manager for Derbyshire and Leicestershire, Paul Sheard, commented, " It's great to see the new facilities at Ashbourne finally open. The club does a tremendous job with its junior coaching programme, introducing new players to the sport of tennis. I'm sure the club will continue to go from strength to strength and attract new players to the game".