THE annual tennis tournament at a Newton Aycliffe school has started on new courts.

Greenfield Tennis Club is one of a handful of clubs bucking the North-East trend, where dilapidated courts are the norm, and is an example of what can be achieved given the will and support.

The school, now a community and arts college, started off 25 years ago with three tarmac courts on a slope.

When the Lawn Tennis Association started working towards improving facilities in schools, Greenfield obtained some money from the Department for Education and Science.

That allowed a bid to be made to the Lawn Tennis Association, which was successful, and three floodlit porous tarmac courts were laid last year.

With a structured tennis development programme, the new facilities have seen a large increase in the number of users. In the 12 months prior to completion of the courts, the school had 1,800 visitors. The first three months of the new courts saw numbers up to 1,400.

Head coach Ian Wilkinson said: "By putting the tennis courts in school it means that during the day they are being used as part of the curriculum, then it leads on to after-school clubs.

"Where I come in, after that, is to develop the talent and the community tennis. Newton Aycliffe is not one of the most affluent areas, and we are offering tennis for free or at very low charges to people in the community.

"They wouldn't have come on the old courts, no matter what."

The school tennis tournament lasts until next Wednesday and has attracted 107 entries, one-in-five of all pupils.