A MAN who has enjoyed a lifetime of playing tennis is sharing his passion with his community after breathing new life into his town’s leisure facilities.

Dave Billing has launched a series of free tennis sessions after raising enough money to refurbish the tennis courts in Millom Park.

The 65-year-old began his quest almost three years ago when he decided that children in Millom deserved better.

He said: “The courts were in a very bad condition and I knew there were a number of people who were interested in tennis in Millom.

“People were travelling to Broughton to use the courts there so I knew there was a call for it so I volunteered to get it done, but it’s been a long struggle.”

After campaigning for a number of years and securing £45,000 of funding, Mr Billing has finally unveiled a new-look tennis court and introduced free coaching sessions for children.

He said: "The bottom line is that I like tennis but I just felt that within Millom there is nowhere for young people to progress into playing. That's a lot of potential talent missed but now they have the opportunity to go and play tennis."

Fuelled by his desire to bring tennis to the masses, Mr Billing, of Pannatt Hill in Millom, contacted a friend who works across south Cumbria as a tennis coach.

Throughout the summer he has been holding free sessions for children which will come to an end on Saturday.

Children of all ages can attend the sessions to learn more about the sport and increase fitness levels.

Spurred by his success, Mr Billing is still determined to do more to push his project and is now looking to introduce more regular sessions.

He said: "I would like to raise some more money through some kind of sponsorship to keep it going.

"I've already spoken to a number of the parents and they would be willing to pay for some of the sessions, but I'm also concerned that not all parents in Millom can afford even a small amount of money so I will try and get some sort of subsidy.

"I just want to provide an opportunity and to try and reinvigorate Millom Park, which was going through a bit of a quiet spell."

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