Tennis Wales North chairman Bob Moore, of Wrexham, has praised the work of the region’s coaches for the tremendous results they are achieving despite the impact of the recession.
At the recent annual meeting at Prestatyn Moore was full of praise for the achievements over the past year, both by individuals and teams, notably the success of North Wales men’s team in gaining promotion to Group Five at the annual British County Week championships at Hunstanton.
North Wales Ladies had also gained promotion to Group Three in the LTA Winter Cup beating Staffordshire 6-3, Lincolnshire 9-0 and Durham & Cleveland 5-4.
In addition the Ladies Over-35s and the Mens Over-45s both gained promotion, with Gary Payton (Wrexham) winning the Mens Over-45s title at the Great Britain Veterans championship, while Vicki Broadbent (Mold) was named Welsh Coach of the Year.
And Emily Watson and Sian Bayliss had both won prestigious Welsh and British junior titles.
Congratulating both Broadbent and Wrexham-based tennis Development manager Pam Griffiths for their continued dedication, Moore said: “A tremendous amount of work and effort is going on and the success that this is producing is great to see.”
Former North Wales LTA secretary and chairman and current Tennis Wales president Chris Rudkin, previously of Penyffordd, was presented with the coveted D.P.Thomas award for outstanding service to tennis in North Wales while the officials elected were: chairman Bob Moore; finance organiser Lawrence Bayliss (Wrexham); Tennis Wales Board members Pam Alford (Ruthin), Deborah King (Wrexham), and Martyn Lewis (Rhyl).
The Aegon Winter County Cup begins at Wrexham Tennis Centre today and runs until Sunday.
Wrexham will host the Men’s group 5B category with teams from North Wales, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire and The Channel Islands.
North Wales will face Oxfordshire in the first round today.
The men’s team consists of eight players from Wrexham and North Wales captained by Simon Morris, and including Matthew James (Mold), Rogan Egerton, Wrexham Academy coach Eifion Jones, Phil Hodson, Gareth Wright, and Tom Crowther.
The North Wales ladies team will compete in Group 3B in Newport alongside Somerset, Surrey and South Wales.
The team includes captain Vicki Broadbent, Lucy Scott, Jenny Broughall, Katy Shaw, Karen Fisher, Bethan James, and Kathryn Rymer.
Play will begin at approximately 9am on each of the three days, and members of the public are welcome to watch free of charge.
Wrexham Tennis Centre recently hosted the first of the Mini Circuit Winter Series.
The event which is set up for a host of local and regional players across North Wales, Cheshire, Shropshire, The Wirral, Warrington, and Cumbria.
The winner of the Mini Red event was Hayat Leung (Ellesmere Port), Jack Cooper (Wrexham) won the Orange event Group A and B, Harvet Mottram (Cheshire) clinched the Orange Groups C and D, while Owain Hart (Cumbria) secured the Mini Green title.
The next mini circuit event will take place in January and entry forms are available from reception at Wrexham Tennis Centre.