Preston Tennis Veterans serve another ace for St Catherine’s Hospice with cheque for £855

The latest donation from the Preston Veterans tournament, which started in 1985 – the same year as St Catherine’s – takes the total raised by the Vets for the hospice to over £8,500. The tournament started as an Open event in 1985 and proceeded to become both an open and handicapped event in 1994. From 1992 the tournament was organised as a charity event and has since then directed all its entry fees to St Catherine’s.

The doubles tournament, sponsored by Bailey’s Financial Services in Whitestake  and Barton Grange Garden Centre is held between May and the Finals Day in October each year, when club members over 45 from across the Ribble and Fylde leagues compete for the coveted titles.

Organiser Anne Carter said: “The aim of the competition is to give players from the Ribble/Fylde clubs an opportunity to play social competitive tennis, meet new people and keep fit whilst helping St Catherine’s.

“With the continued success of the tournament I hope we can soon reach a total donation to St Catherine’s of £10,000. I have been delighted with the number of entries this year and with the spirit in which the matches have been played. We had a particularly good finals day on 15 October with some excellent tennis.

“The feedback has been very encouraging for the continued success of the competition and again my thanks to everyone who has taken part and especially to Michael Bailey and Guy Topping for their continued and very generous support.”

Anyone wishing to enter the competition in 2018 should email the organiser at prestonveteranstennis@gmail.com

Emma Jacovelli, fundraiser at St Catherine’s Hospice, accepted the donation on the charity’s behalf. She said: “We are very grateful for yet another wonderful donation from the Preston & District Veterans Tennis Tournament.

“It is great to see people having so much fun raising funds for St Catherine’s. The donation will help fund our specialised care for those facing life-shortening illness in our local community.”

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