A GROUP of young people from Clitheroe with learning disabilities who were set to lose their “vital” tennis lessons will now be able to play again thanks to new funding.

Spring into Action, a service provider for people with specialist needs, runs tennis coaching sessions at Ribble Valley Tennis Centre, in Edisford Road.

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More than £1,400 was needed to pay for court fees and hire a tennis coach.

Now, enough funding has been raised from an array of sponsors to push the lessons through the New Year and into the summer months.

The project was originally launched last year as an eight-week sports workshop, but success saw the lessons become a full-time, weekly event.

Donations by Lancashire sport and Lancashire County Council, Ribble Valley Crossroads Care enabled the sessions to continue running at a low cost, but the funding will cease after Christmas and the lessons looked certain to stop.

Spring into Action’s director, Lucy Hamlin, said she was delighted that the coaching could now continue.

She said: “I am very pleased that the vital tennis lessons can continue on through the New Year and well into summer.

“The money we have raised will pay for two terms and keep us going until June.

“These lessons are so important to those who play – they contribute to learning new skills, encouraging independent thinking, involvement and confidence.

“For some, this is their only source of social or physical activity they get away from home, so it was necessary we did what we could to keep this going.

“Our coach, Heather Fletcher, volunteered to work for free for the past month in order to keep these sessions going – she could have refused to do so, but she has been committed in making sure they continue.

“I want to thank all the funding that we’ve received from everyone who has donated – without them it wouldn’t be happening.”

The participants help subsidise the costs and currently pay £5 a week each to play every Wednesday at the centre in Edisford Road.

Clitheroe councillor Sue Knox said: “I am a big supporter of people taking part in sport and this sounds like a super project.

“I’m really glad they have found more funding and anything that includes more people in physical activities can only be a good thing.

“A thank you is in order to the organisations that helped out.”

For more information, visit spring-projects.co.uk.