DESPITE the severe weather warnings surrounding Storm Freya, 10 hardy tennis players braved the conditions to take part in Ian’s Sunday Service, a fun mixed doubles tennis competition run by Ian Howard of the Avenue Tennis Club.

The winners were Ange Tinnion and Richard Belfield.

The next Sunday Service will be held on Sunday, April 14, and all are invited to come along and have some competitive fun at the Avenue Tennis Club whilst meeting some new friends.

The club is currently having three of the eight tennis courts resurfaced and expect these to be fully available in April.

The club’s partnership with Performance Plus Sport (PPS) is continuing with another set of courses to encourage children to play tennis.

The sessions are run by the Avenue’s qualified coaches on Mondays (5-6pm) and Tuesdays (6-7pm) and the coaching is free of charge to the players.

PPS is a charity founded and run by father and son, John and James Feaver, both of whom were professional tennis players and have strong links to Avenue Tennis Club.

The second set of courses started on Monday, February 25, with Wendy Pryce leading the coaching and has four places left to children aged between eight and 10 who are interested in learning to play tennis; you can contact Wendy on wendy_pryce@outlook.com or Barry Ramsden (01278 782758) to book a place.

Wendy is also planning to run a five-week coaching course for children between four and six years old from Monday, March 4 from 4-5pm at a cost of £15 for the five lessons.

Coach Vinny Duddy said the first session went really well with a focus on serving, the forehand and a team game called ‘sit them down killer tennis’.

He thanked Keith Edwards for helping with the feeding, and Rose, Taija and Tyler for excellent help in demonstrating the shots.