PERSHORE Tennis Centre hosted a busy day with the official switch-on of their LED lights on the indoor courts.

The light launch was followed by two former Great Britain Davis Cup players Danny Sapsford and Luke Milligan holding a series of coaching clinics and an exhibition match.

Pershore welcomed nearly 200 people through their doors, including honorary guests, and they were greeted with refreshments and a short speech from Niall O’Loghlen, who did much of the organising for the project.

The lights at the Avon Bank club were funded by Sport England, the Lawn Tennis Association, Severn Waste and via other grants.

West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin unveiled a plaque.

As the crowd counted down and the lights were switched on, the MP hit the first few balls on court with former world number 170 Sapsford.

Luke Milligan and Sapsford then began an afternoon of coaching clinics, starting with the youngsters aged from five to 10.

That was followed by sessions for teenagers, adults and the clubs’ competing team members.

While the coaches had a brief rest, the radar guns came out for the fastest serve competition, which involved young and old.

A bottle of Champagne was won by both men’s winner Mike Langston and women’s victor Beth Excell.

Dan Walker and Imogen Looker shared the prize for the fastest junior serve with a respectable 76mph.

The professional coaches were soon back on court to raise funds for another charity in Funny Blood.

First-year business students from the University of Worcester tried to hit seven balls past them as the first part of a fundraiser involving seven challenges in seven weeks.

The afternoon event was rounded off by Sapsford and Milligan playing a thrilling exhibition match with Pershore coaches Steve Bauer and Langston.

Sapsford runs a charity called Bright Ideas for Tennis, which meant Pershore did not have to pay for the coaches’ time and services on the day.

A spokesman from Pershore Tennis Centre said: “The whole atmosphere at the club was fantastic throughout a busy afternoon with food, raffle prizes, a quiz, some new tennis skills learnt, a lot of fun and £1,400 raised towards the club’s funds.”