Everyone who knows me knows I am sport mad: I see it as part of my job to try and facilitate more sport in the North East, and obviously Hexham in particular.
We have the Olympics next year - both with specific events in the North East, and lots of school Olympics and the extra special East Tynedale Olympics that is being organised out of Wylam.
These last few weeks I have met with the Sport and Recreation Alliance, and following that had meetings with the British Mountaineering and Canoe Associations, working out how we can make their sports more accessible to local people in Northumberland.
This culminated this week with a really good meeting with representatives of the Lawn Tennis Association: we are at the early stages of planning specific tennis assistance and events in the North East, and Hexham in particular, but watch this space.
My plan is, in particular, to get a LTA professional to go to several of the schools during the early part of the summer term and provide free coaching and assistance, whilst also harnessing the LTA contacts and know how to try and help make the sport accessible to all in the build up to Wimbledon and the Olympics next year.
