The Tony Blair Sports Foundation launched it's first annual schools tennis challenge with 3 of the 4 qualifying rounds taking place this week. The Foundation has enlisted support and sponsorship from one of the regions largest and most diverse employers, Northumbrian Water.

Northumbrian Water is setting a benchmark for more corporate organisations to get involved in supporting local communities by providing volunteers from their 'Just an Hour' employee volunteering scheme. One of these volunteers is Sharon Martin, who lives in Washington, Tyne and Wear and will be serving as a tennis umpire. Sharon explains how she got involved.

Through the 'Just an Hour' employee volunteering scheme, Northumbrian Water employees, such as myself, can spend up to 15 hours of paid work time every year supporting community initiatives across the region. Since 2002, hundreds of employees from Northumbrian Water have devoted more than 20,000 hours to improve local communities. By giving my time and expertise, I can help the wider community, encourage other children in the region to take part in tennis and actively promote playing the sport as part of a healthy lifestyle.

On top of providing a team of 28 volunteers, Northumbrian Water will also be providing all teams with bottles of '97' water, funding transport and supplying certificates, medals and goodie bags.

Jeanette Pickard, the Sports Foundation's Chief Executive said

We are delighted with the help and support received from Northumbrian Water and we will make this competition as fun as possible for all those taking part. We plan to run more events like this and hope that companies across the North East will get involved and encourage their staff to volunteer.

For more information on becoming a 'Friend of the Foundation', volunteering or becoming a coach, please contact Jeanette Pickard, Chief Executive on 01429 881260.