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Amanda Holden meets Hunstanton tennis talent
August 17 -- Actress Amanda Holden met the tennis  talent of Hunstanton today in a bid to
raise the profile of a teenage cancer charity.
Sporting a dress dotted with tennis racquets, the Britain's Got Talent judge
visited the Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament along with 17-year-old Bianca
Rudd, who has recently undergone treatment for a brain tumour and is a keen
fundraiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
It was 38-year-old Ms Holden's first visit to the biggest tennis tournament in
the country, which takes place in Hunstanton each year.
With her three-year-old
daughter Lexi she took time out of a 10-day break in Norfolk, where she has
had a holiday home, to find out more about the trust and meet youngsters taking
part in the tournament.
Ms Holden said: “Obviously I'm very fond of this area of Norfolk. It is very
important to support stuff within your community. It's an important charity.”
Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament is visited by hundreds of teenagers from
around the country each year.
Bianca was diagnosed with a brain tumour in March 2008 and having just turned
16 was treated in an adult ward at Addenbrookes Hosptial in Cambridge.
She said: “It would be nice to have had people your own age who have been
through similar things. The people in the ward were lovely though.
But, she said: “You cannot always talk about thing you would talk about with
people your own age.”
She added: “Amanda is really down to earth. How you see her on telly is
really different to how she is in person.
“You think you've known her for ages.”
Money raised at the tournament will go towards building a state of the art
specialist teenage cancer unit at Addenbrookes Hospital which will be used by
young people with cancer across East Anglia.
Ms Holden, who has recently started supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust, said:
“I haven't had any direct experience with teenage cancer but I have know
adults who have had it.
“I remember going into hospital to have my tonsils out. I was put in a ward
with very young children. I had no one to talk to. It was the only time in my
life I've had no one to talk to.
“If you have cancer you are in for weeks and weeks and weeks.”
She urged everyone at the tournament to donate at least a pound to the
charity.
She added: “It's the first time I've been to Hunstanton Tennis week. I have
held a racquet. My husband Chris said I'm the first girl he has been with that
can actually hit the ball.”
She added that she might get her daughter Lexi and husband involved in the
tournament in the future.
She said: “I think I might enter Chris in the tournament next year.
“I have just been in Monaco and it just wasn't the same as Norfolk”, she
said.
Annabelle Dickson, Hunstanton
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Sports clubs make case
for tennis centre in Inverness
August 18 -- A group of sports clubs behind a move to bring
a new tennis centre to Inverness believe the Highland area could produce
tennis players of the calibre of Scots ace Andy Murray if it had indoor
courts.
A lack of
indoor facilities means talented youngsters face round trips of hundreds of
miles and several hours to Stirling and Aberdeen if they want to train during
winter or in bad weather.
The deficiency
has had a “devastating effect” on the sport’s development in the region, said
a report calling for a new tennis centre.
A steering
group of club representatives from throughout the Highlands has been set up
to push proposals for a centre incorporating indoor and outdoor courts.
It is hoped
that such a development would provide youngsters and adults with the
opportunity to train all year round with top-level coaches.
Plans are at an
early stage but the new centre could also include squash courts and a gym,
and would attract players from not only the Highlands but also from Moray.
A business plan
is to be drawn up and potential sites in Inverness investigated. It is
understood that Bught Park and the Beechwood university campus development
site would be possible sites.
Member of the
steering group Dr Michael Gregson, who has worked with young tennis players
at Nairn Academy, said: “Testimony after testimony tells of the uphill battle
the growing number of skilled and talented players have had in participating
on equivalent terms with their peers. While clubs and coaches push all the
right buttons, raising their game and going though all the necessary hoops,
the infrastructure provided for coaches, players and their families is simply
not there to maximise the obvious potential.”
A report by Dr
Gregson states that the Highlands has 73 public outdoor courts, which are
well-used. But he said many youngsters give up the sport when the weather
turns colder.
He added that producing
top-level players like Murray was not out of the question.
Dr Gregson
said: “But it has wider goals, like increasing levels of activity and numbers
taking part in sport, and being part of a healthier and fitter Scotland, as
much as it is about creating new Andy Murray. What he has done is fantastic.”
Dr Gregson said
no decisions had been taken about the number of courts required, but it is
thought any centre would cost at least £1million.
He added the
centre was intended to complement existing courts and would provide
facilities to host tournaments for players from throughout Scotland.
The Press and Journal
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