A GREENOCK tennis club is moving into a bright new era after it netted the go-ahead to introduce a new £50,000 floodlighting system.

Night light will be shed on Fort Matilda Tennis Club for the first time, meaning its members will have the advantage of being able to play on when it gets dark.

Over the past 91 years, players at the Fort have been forced to abandon matches when daylight fades, but now they’ll be able to play on until 10pm.

The move also means that extra coaching can be laid on for young players — helping the quest to find the next Andy Murray — and the club will also join a winter league for the first time.

The new lighting system is expected to be installed by late summer and officials at Fort Matilda say it will be a huge boost.

Club president Anne Wright described it is a momentous moment for the Newark Street club, which has over 130 members.

She said: “We’re absolutely thrilled, as we thought the floodlights were necessary for the club going forward to the future.

“We now have four all-weather courts which are excellent, so the next step really was the floodlights.” The low level lights — specially designed to stop their beam spreading from the courts to surrounding residential areas — will be installed on three of the club’s four courts, which Anne says will make a huge difference.

She added: “We will have more playing hours, which means we can have more social tennis through the winter.

“Children will also be able to play tennis after school for the first time, which is great.

“It will be easier to retain their interest in the sport as many of them are very talented.” The new lights will also allow the club, which has 65 senior members and 68 juniors, to join the West of Scotland Winter League.

Anne, 66, from Robertson Street, added: “We will be able to compete against all the tennis clubs in the West of Scotland, which is great.” As the club now have planning permission from Inverclyde Council, the next step will be to apply for funding from sportscotland to help cover some of the investment costs.

Anne said: “Hopefully we’ll get some funding from sportscotland and we would provide 25 per cent of the funding.

“I would love to get the lights installed by this spring but realistically it will probably be later in the summer.”