The newly refurbished tennis courts are unveiled at Hetton Park in Sunderland
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00:00 [footsteps]
00:18 Well Cailin, Councillor Price, how pleased are you to be here to launch these new tennis court facilities?
00:25 Well this morning is a great morning, we've been looking forward to this for a while. The opportunity to open these new courts at Hetton, which is being funded by the Law and Tennis Association and other partners with the City Council, which has resulted in over £400,000 investment throughout the city.
00:42 There's seven courts being refurbished throughout the city and we're really looking forward to them being a benefit to each area.
00:49 Is this all part of the Council's drive to promote healthy lifestyles?
00:53 It certainly is. We are more than willing to look at every activity going and as we're trying to say, you don't have to be a member of a gym, you don't have to be a sport of any particular standard, you just come along and take part.
01:06 The city has a full range of activities that you can take part in and we hope that all ages, all styles, you just come along and have a go.
01:14 And how impressed are you with the new facility here?
01:18 Well, as a local guy from Hetton, I've used these courts myself in the past but quite honestly it's a superb facility. The refurbishment, the regeneration of this whole area is looking great.
01:29 We've got children from the local primary school today, they don't realise how lucky they are to have a facility like this on their doorstep and I'm sure they will use it to their full capacity.
01:39 Okay, so what has been the role of the LTA in this development and development across other parks in Sunderland?
01:45 Yeah, the LTA has rolled out a national programme over the last two years to refurbish parks, courts up and down the country, really to try and open up tennis, make it more accessible to people, get new people into the sport over the coming years.
01:56 The target is to get half a million new players into tennis and really give them a chance to experience the sport, to develop a healthy lifestyle through physical activity and tennis is a great sport for doing that.
02:09 We're keen to work with Sunderland City Council to provide new opportunities, there will be free tennis offers to local people and really just to get people involved in tennis at whatever level is appropriate for them.
02:20 One, two, three, four, five.