The club has recently been going through a mandatory safeguarding audit and we're extremely pleased to announce that we've achieved a rating of "GREEN - Minimum Standards Exceeded"! This is the highest possible grading, and as we write we're the only tennis club in north Wales to have achieved this.

Since October 2018 all LTA registered venues have been required to meet five minimum safeguarding standards and a regional safeguarding officer conducts audits of LTA registered venues to firstly ensure minimum safeguarding standards are being met, and beyond that to support venues in identifying areas where they can improve further.

Preparation for the audit started in April, but due to these unprecedented times the process was carried out remotely, including a survey sent out to members, and finishing off with a final "meeting" with the LTA Safeguarding Audit Officer on 14 July.

The audit, led by the club's safeguarding officer, Donna Williams, reflects the commitment and hard work of the tennis club's committee as a whole and hopefully helps provide reassurance to members that their club is being generally well run.

The audit concluded:

"The welfare officer, who works in education, has put a lot of effort into this process, getting the safeguarding provision at the venue to an excellent standard, which includes the information contained on the website, which is extremely well presented and an example of good practice."

It seems likely that other clubs will be directed to Pen-y-ffordd Tennis Club to see how things should be done, which is always nice to see!