A VILLAGE tennis club has celebrated the opening of its new courts after months of hard work.

Castle Hedingham Tennis Club opened the new site last Friday, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony by great-grandsons of Les Drury, Noah and Leo, whom the club pavilion is named after.

The event was especially poignant as club chairman Peter Drury, son of the late Les and Betty Drury, died earlier this month.

After raising a toast to celebrate the opening, members enjoyed a brilliant evening of tennis in glorious sunshine.

Club chairman Andrew Temperton said: "We are delighted to open our beautiful new tennis courts, the result of the first major upgrade in 25 years.

“We have been able to fund the works through membership fees and the additional support of members, for which the club is extremely grateful.

“As part of our upgrade, we were able to build a path to make the club more accessible to a wider group of members, thanks to a grant from the Fowler Smith and Jones Trust.”

The club’s next project is to raise money to upgrade the clubhouse, so that it can be used by members and the wider community.

Castle Hedingham Tennis Club is open to new members of all abilities, providing social club play, match play and as well as adult and junior coaching.

For more information, visit clubspark.lta.org.uk/castlehedinghamtennisclub or for membership enquiries, contact Sam Stent at castlehedinghamtennisclub@hotmail.com.