A Darlington sports club has won a national award for a project which encouraged children to take up table tennis.

Darlington Table Tennis Club organised a county-wide series of competitions earlier this year, using a grant from the Government's Sportsmatch scheme.

Jarvis Sports sponsored the club with £5,000 for equipment, and that was matched by Sportsmatch.

Keith Wilson, from the club, said: "We did a tour of all schools in Darlington and held a tournament for them, and the winners joined those from seven other areas to find an overall county winner."

Several children who took part have continued to play, including Rachel Greener, 11, who was recently chosen for the county's under-17s team.

The club made the shortlist for the annual Sportsmatch awards, which were held at Headingly, Leeds, earlier this week.

Officials had little expectation of success, because they were up against groups which had gained larger grants, including one of £50,000