WORK has begun on a £600,000 scheme to rebuild Longley Tennis and Bowling Club.

A committee of the club's members has been working for six years to secure cash to redevelop the run-down club on Longley Road.

Finally, cash came from Sport England, Huddersfield Pride, Kirklees Council, the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, LTA Peoples' Purse, Huddersfield Common Good Trust and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

Four tennis courts are to be resurfaced and two new courts for ball games will be created on a bowling green behind the clubhouse.

The clubhouse itself - which was built in 1914 by club members - will be demolished entirely and replaced.

The only structure to remain the same will be an indoor football court, which is the only part of the club which has operated in recent years.

Lesley Stead, chairman of the project committee, was at the club site on Thursday with her father Geoff Durrans to watch work to level the site begin.

Mr Durrans, also on the committee, has been a member of the club for more than 50 years.

Mr Durrans said: "It has taken a long time to get to this stage. When work finishes in June it will have changed a lot since I joined. It will be great."

Mrs Stead added: "We hope to encourage more people in to sport. This will be done through links with local schools, the police, local residents associations and Kirklees Leisure Service.

"It's fantastic to see work has started."

Everyone involved with the project hopes the club will become a centre for the community.

Teresa Butler, of Huddersfield Pride, said: "Sport is a big thing for regeneration. If youngsters have got something meaningful to do, they are not going to be hanging around street corners.

"It gives them a purpose and even the potential for a job in sport."