A tennis club that regularly had to call matches off because of rain flooding one of the indoor courts has received a grant to repair its decades-old roof.

Heaton Tennis Club has secured a windfall of almost £50,000 for repairs to its 1960s roof which was so leaky it played havoc with some fixtures.

Although bad weather bringing an end to tennis matches is a common part of the sport in the UK, members of the club couldn’t even guarantee their indoor matches would go ahead in heavy rain because of the poor state of its roof.

The money is part of the lottery’s Olympic legacy programme, set up to keep the benefits of last year’s London Olympics going well into the future.

The club, based in Highgate, found out their bid for £49,026 was successful last week.

The money will go to re-roof the club’s original indoor tennis courts, which were built in the late 1960s and have fallen into a poor state in recent years. Heavy rain would lead to one of the three courts being un-useable.

And the money is especially handy to safeguard the club’s future, as it will mean better facilities for the clubs mini tennis programme – used by almost 200 young members of the club.

Club manager Mike Brown said: “The roof leaks quite badly. At times, like during the heavy rain last week, one of the courts gets covered in water – it is too bad to play on and we have to wait for it to dry out before we bring it back into use.

“We use that particular court for our mini tennis programme and also for badminton, so these activities have been severely restricted in the past.

“We’ve only really started doing badminton, so the new roof will mean this can really take off.

“Hopefully it will increase membership because we will be able to guarantee people use the court. We’re absolutely delighted with the grant – it guarantees a wider usage for the club.”

Sport England chairman Nick Bitel said: “A year on from the Olympics, this National Lottery investment is helping us deliver a lasting sports legacy in Heaton and the city of Bradford.”