A NEW £1million community tennis centre has been officially opened at the Wey Valley School in Weymouth.

Headteacher Phil Thomas was joined by the chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association Roger Draper to unveil a plaque commemorating the opening of the new covered tennis facility at the school.

Representatives from across Dorset including Weymouth and Portland Mayor Paul Kimber, councillors and community leaders toured the site where potential tennis stars of the future are learning to play.

The £1million building has been open since January and already 3,500 people have gone out on the courts, racking up 1,300 hours of tennis.

From its beginnings in June 2008 when the idea was proposed, the project took 18 months from securing the grants to build the canvas and steel structure to its completion.

Wey Valley School finance and business manager Rob Cole said: “It’s about getting the local community involved. It’s a facility that is for anybody and everybody hoping to play tennis.

“In five years it would be nice to have someone playing at Wimbledon. It’s a real aspiration and we are hoping there are some budding tennis players out there who want to go that far.”

Mr Draper praised the new facility and said that the challenge for the future was to make sure it would be available for as many people as possible, saying: “We are delighted with the new facility. Now we want to make sure it is full of people all the time. It’s about getting people active and getting them on court, picking up a tennis racket and hitting some balls around.”

Year 2 pupils from St Nicholas and St Laurence School were on court practising their skills yesterday – and the pupils said they loved the new facility.

Kitty Fowler, seven, said: “It’s big. I didn’t expect it to be this big. I like tennis and I would like to go to Wimbledon one day. Sport is one of my favourite lessons at school.

“I’m looking forward to coming back here for sports lessons.”

Cerys Newman, seven, said: “I like the new tennis courts.”

George Neale, seven, said he liked the facility. He said: “I’d give it ten out of ten.

“Tennis is my favourite sport, it’s a little better than football. I’m looking forward to playing some matches in lessons.”

The official launch coincides with the centre being given the LTA Clubmark award, which acknowledges the excellent tennis development programme in place, the liaison between the school and local tennis clubs and the professional set up in place between the school and the Redlands Community Hub.

Courts can be booked for £10 an hour. For more information call the tennis centre on 01305 340122.