Lewisham announces new Young Mayor

Bilvilyn Asamoah has been announced as Lewisham’s next Young Mayor following a borough-wide election.

The 13-year-old pupil of Addey and Stanhope School lives in the borough and won 1,824 votes in the election which took place in schools and colleges in February.

Paul Frimpong, 14, a pupil of Forest Hill School, was elected as Deputy Young Mayor after receiving 1,356 votes. A total of 9,485 votes were cast for 37 candidates, which is a turnout of 57.46 per cent.

Bilvilyn said: “I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me, I really appreciate it and I’m going to do good things. I hope to achieve a better space for young people in Lewisham and increase opportunities so we can all achieve what we want to achieve.”

The Young Mayor is elected to represent young people’s views and makes sure they are listened to by decision-makers. The Young Mayor is supported by young advisers and has their own budget that they can use to turn their ideas into reality and make the borough an even better place to live, study and grow up.

Croydon’s council-owned tennis courts reopening after £600,000 investment

Following £600,000 investment, 32 tennis courts across 14 parks are reopening across the borough.

Croydon Council partnered with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) to revive the tennis courts with works including resurfacing, new fencing and nets installed. All the courts will have a gate-access system to keep them secure and to deter antisocial behaviour.

The improvements are part of Executive Mayor Jason Perry’s priority to make Croydon a safer, healthier place to live and to give residents access to good leisure facilities.

The project was made possible with £623,932.45 of funding as part of the LTA’s Park Tennis Project and £66,723 of capital funding from Croydon Council. Through the

Parks Tennis Project, the LTA is delivering a £30 million nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation to refurbish public tennis courts and open the sport to many more people across Britain.

A charge of £5 per session has been introduced, which will be ringfenced and reinvested to keep the courts well-maintained for the future. GLL will also offer free court sessions at various times throughout the week.

Mr Perry said: “This is a major boost for sport and leisure in Croydon and will help to make Croydon a healthier place to live. I hope residents take the opportunity to take advantage of these brilliant new facilities and enjoy a game of tennis.”

The courts can be pre-booked via www.lta.org.uk