A COLD and rainy Saturday in January wouldn't usually be a good day for tennis but there were many reasons to celebrate at Penarth Windsor Lawn Tennis Club this week.

The club welcomed Michael Downey, the new chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) as he made his first club visit in his new role since moving across from Tennis Canada.

Accompanied by executive board member Simon Jones, Tennis Wales CEO Pete Drew and South Wales development manager Simon Clarke, the group were delighted by the level of facilities and tennis activity that the club was providing. This included a popular social tennis session, the new and innovative Teddy Tennis coaching course for two to five-year-olds, a doubles clinic specially tailored to eight to ten-year-olds and a well organised Vale 8&U tennis match where Windsor beat neighbours Penarth Lawn Tennis Club (to whom it sends its congratulations on their special award).

There was also much talk of the players that could not be there on the day, as Windsor also had four representatives at the LTA’s County Talent Identification Day and two girls in South Wales team training sessions (congratulations Ella Davies and Bella McIntyre).

Mr Downey congratulated the Windsor committee on their efforts that had led towards continued investment in facilities and the tennis programme which had seen a 188 per cent growth in floodlit court use.

For more information, visit windsorlawntennisclub.org.uk