SIX mini tennis children from the Letchworth club had the trip of a lifetime to be part of the official opening of the National Tennis Centre. The Queen, who is the patron of the Lawn Tennis Association, opened the centre at Roehampton, London, last Thurs

SIX mini tennis children from the Letchworth club had the trip of a lifetime to be part of the official opening of the National Tennis Centre.

The Queen, who is the patron of the Lawn Tennis Association, opened the centre at Roehampton, London, last Thursday and unveiled a plaque outside in the courtyard area.

Afterwards, she received a tennis racket signed by the British Davis Cup squad.

The new open plan building is extremely impressive, with six indoor courts and there are 16 outdoor on three different surfaces - acrylic, clay and grass.

The children, who had an exciting trip down to London on two trains, two tubes and finally a coach, were escorted by club coaches Maddy Walker and James Thomas.

They were Anja Farthing, Kate Newby, Danielle Latter, Daniel Martin, Alex Zavadov and Joe Riant.

In the morning, they worked outside on some co-ordination exercises before watching the Queen arrive.

Unfortunately, the heavens then opened but Her Majesty was prepared for the weather with matching umbrella!

In the afternoon, the children played mini tennis indoors on the quality blue acrylic courts against other clubs selected from the Home Counties and London area.

The orange and green teams have had two good wins in the Herts inter-club league recently against Broxbourne and Royston respectively.

And there are more matches to come after Easter.