HAVING fought for £150,000 worth of investment, Malmesbury Tennis Club is looking to open its doors to help school pupils and the community get into tennis.

The club began hunting for funds after the Olympics finished, with an eye to improve their facilities and increase its capacity for hosting school children for tennis lessons.

The Lawn Tennis Association provided the club a loan of £50,000 after it passed an audit and gained a further £50,000 in grant form from Sport England.

They received more support from the north Wiltshire area board, Malmesbury Community Trust, Malmesbury Carnival, town council and Waitrose.

The club raised a further £10,000 themselves.

They’ve invested the money into building two more courts with floodlights, an under-9s mini court and practice walls.

Miles Edmeston, chairman of Malmesbury Tennis Club, said: “We bought the land and expanded into it around six years ago.

“Although not unique, it is unusual for a tennis club to own their land totally.

“The facilities needed some TLC and we knew that if we got better facilities we could expand the club.

“The entire thing was driven by the fact that there was funding available as part of the Olympic legacy.

“If we increase court size we can open it to general public more.”

The club now have the capacity to host school pupils for tennis lessons, to their delight.

“One thing we’re proud of is letting Malmesbury Primary School to use our facilities,” Miles continued.

“We’re looking to go up and provide coaching for pupils at Malmesbury School.”

Steve Heal, headteacher at Malmesbury Primary School, said the children have enjoyed their sessions at the club.

“We are very pleased to have the club on our doorstep,” he said.

“They’ve been extremely supportive of the school.

“It is a wonderful facility and we very much appreciate their expansion as the provision of a junior court has been a great help to us.”

With the courts now finished the club is in the process of trying to source electricity for the new floodlights.

The club are holding an open day at 10am on Sunday, April 24.