Burnley Tennis Club’s care within the community is recognised nationally

The Lower Ridge establishment has been nominated as a finalist for the National Connecting Communities Award.

The club won their respective regional award and were presented with their prize at the Lexus Ilkley Trophy Tennis Tournament, in Yorkshire, last month.

The grasscourt event, arguably staged in one of the most idyllic settings on the ATP Challenger and ITF women Tours, is one of a number of tournaments staged in the UK ahead of the Wimbledon Championships.

This year’s men’s event saw former world No.7 David Goffin defeat Harry Mayout in the final, while in the women’s competition, Rebecca Marino overcame Jessika Ponchet to claim the trophy.

As a regional winner, Burnley were automatically put forward for the national stage of the process against other regional winners from England and Scotland.

Having considered all the nominations, the judges decided that Burnley was worthy of a place in the top three in the country with the overall winner set to be announced next month in a prestigious ceremony at the National Tennis Centre, in Roehampton.

Club secretary Jez Palmer said: “In essence, our recognition is for our extensive community outreach.

"Our initiatives include non-tennis-related activities aimed at attracting people to the club and getting them on the court.

"This includes HAF holiday hunger provision, a community gardening group, cooking and wellbeing sessions, employability assistance, free tennis for children and adults over the summer, and managing the LTA parks program.

"We also focus on engaging hard-to-reach groups such as low-income families and ethnic minorities, disability programme for people with disabilities and long term health conditions.”