A PENARTH sports club has raised nearly £20,000 for charities in a summer of fundraising events.

Penarth Lawn Tennis Club adopted Velindre Hospital as its charity for the year in tribute to chairman Pete Jones, who died last year after a long battle with cancer.

The club has handed a cheque for £7,000 to the hospital as a first instalment of the money raised – though the total is now running at more than £10,000.

The club also held a benefit concert for a charity helping civilian victims of the war in Ukraine – and that raised nearly £7,000.

The next big charity push is a bike ride across Wales to raise funds for Velindre and Holme Towers, which supported another former club chairman Stuart 'Hoss' Munro.

Club chairman Martin Radford said: “It’s been a great summer of fundraising and we are delighted that we’ve been able to help so many good causes.

“The bulk of the efforts have gone to Velindre which is a fitting tribute to Pete, but we’re also very happy to support Holme Towers in memory of Hoss.”

The biggest event saw club coach Rob Cunningham play a 24-hour “tennisathon” during which he played hour long doubles matches with challengers who paid to take part.

Mr Cunningham said: “It was an incredibly hot day and it was exhausting – but also great fun to play with so many members of the club!”

The tennisathon raised more than £4,000 for the Velindre appeal. Other events included:

  • A coffee morning which raised £1,000;
  • A jubilee picnic attended by around 300 people which raised more than £2,000;
  • Stalls at the club’s music and food festival;
  • A special charity social tournament.

Mr Jones' widow Jan said: “Volunteers at the club have worked tirelessly for Velindre - who supported both Pete and I over seven difficult years.

“Club members have wholeheartedly supported all the events and have had lots of fun along the way. Which is exactly what Pete would have wanted!”

The fundraising is set to continue into the autumn. Club events officer Alan Cozens is cycling from north to south Wales from September 7-10 in aid of Velindre and Holme Tower – a charity which did much to help another former club stalwart Stuart Munro, who also died of cancer last year.

Mr Cozens said: “I am a bit daunted by the length of the ride, but I’m doing lots of training so I hope I will be able to enjoy the ride as well as raising some badly needed money.

“It is something Stuart wanted me to do and I hope I can raise as much money as possible in his memory.”

Mr Munro's widow Gill said: “Stuart would be delighted that Alan is using his bike to raise much needed funds for Marie Curie alongside Velindre.

“Their palliative teams care and support, to both of us, made those last few difficult weeks of his life more comfortable. We could not have got through it without them.”

You can sponsor Mr Cozens on his bike ride on the club JustGiving page: https://bit.ly/3QIGoyy