It was a sad day for all at the NIA on December 17th last year, when the 10,000 audience realised that this was to be the last Cliff Richard Tennis Classic! It all began back in Brighton in 1983 and the evening though changed slightly over the years is traditionally the start of Christmas for so many of Cliff's fans, something they will miss in 2006.

The fans did have the benefit of a bumper souvenir brochure with great archive pictures from all the tennis events since that very first one in Brighton, plus a special message from the man himself: 'It's been a fantastic 23 years which we've all enjoyed immensely, but the time has now come to roll up the court for the final time. I know that many of you will be greatly disappointed: Our annual event has been a big part of my life too and I shall miss our Christmas get together. But as the saying goes, 'All good things must come to an end'

Before the evening's entertainment began the NIA presented Cliff with a Tiffany plate to thank him for all his support of the venue through the tennis event, they also recognised the work of Sue Mappin who has run the Tennis Classic for the past 4 years and Cliff's Business Manager, Malcolm Smith, both of whom also received a Tiffany plate, though not as big as Sir Cliff's!

The arena looked better than ever, the huge Christmas Trees were back on either side of the stage and the whole stage was lit with Christmas lights, as too was the tennis court, so when the fans came into the arena, they immediately felt that this was going to be a wonderful evening.

Prior to the 2 teams being announced the Tennis Foundation introduced a development in their programme, which offers a Tennis Trail to children with disabilities in all the venues it will visit in 2006. To highlight this there was a wheelchair tennis demonstration by Mark Eccleston and Carl Hird who have both competed for Great Britain in Wheelchair Tennis events. After the demonstration they were invited to join as members of the two teams for the tennis matches, and started with a mixed doubles with Annabel Croft and Virginia Wade.

Michael Bowler from Hull, one of the charity Trailblazers was awarded the British Tennis Supporters Most Improved Player Award and was presented with a cheque for £200 and had the chance to show his talents to the crowd by hitting a few balls with Peter Fleming, John McEnroe's doubles partner.

Bradley Walsh was back to defend the title he won in 2004 and while he was getting his team warmed up, Cliff was introduced on stage to sing a couple of numbers to start the evening's entertainment. Then it was on to the tennis with the Cliff's team of Joe Pasquale; Mike Read; Anneka Rice; Virginia Wade; Andrew Castle and Mark Eccleston looking to grasp the trophy back from Bradley's team of Angus Deayton; Jasper Carrott; Penny Smith; Annabel Croft; Peter Fleming and Carl Hird.

T-breakers were played throughout the competition and after much hilarity and some cheating it was Cliff who saw his team take the final Tennis Classic Trophy, much to his fans delight. A fitting conclusion to the tennis which at times looked as if Bradley and Jasper might get defaulted for their unsportsman like behaviour! All good fun and the teams really looked as if they all enjoyed themselves immensely.

There was an interruption to the tennis programme when suddenly one of the linespeople got up and insisted on trying to sing! This was just the sign for Tenors Incognito to make a very welcome return to the NIA, and they really got the audience going with lots of familiar numbers and even the teams joined in the Okey Cokey at the end. Tenors then sang their final number from the stage personally to Cliff, who was quite overcome, as they sang 'My Way' especially for the last Tennis Classic.

Andrew Castle interviewed Cliff about his tennis charity work and then chatted to a couple of the Trailblazers who have really benefited from the support the Foundation has offered them, Marie Wisdom from Portsmouth and John Paul Llano from London.

Another welcome return was the surprise Father Christmas to help Cliff with the Raffle Draw and to the crowd and Cliff's delight, it was Coronation Street's Cilla (Wendi Peters) and she had in her sleigh, not only the presents but also her Corrie son, Ashley (Sam Aston). They went into their Corrie roles and Cilla was quite intimidating, but all in good taste. One lucky lady went away with the top raffle prize, which was a fabulous cruise on the Seabourn Goddess, the same cruise ship on which Cliff spent his 60th birthday. What no one knew, until after evening, the lady was not a happy sailor so gave her prize to her sister to celebrate her wedding anniversary, and they are off in October.

Whilst the crowd were waiting for the finale, Mike Read and Tenors Incognito led them in Twelve days of Christmas, always a favourite with the audience, and then all that was left was for Cliff and his Band and Backing Vocals to sing some of Cliff's most popular numbers and then he was joined by the Birmingham Salvation Army to finish the evening off with Carols, and the final number, back with the band for Millennium Prayer. All that was left was for Cliff to thank everyone for their support over the last 23 years and wish them a Happy Christmas.

One glimmer of hope for the fans was Cliff did say the charity would have to think of something else to replace the Tennis Classic&so watch this space Fans of the Tennis Classic are always asking us to see more about their favourite show - so this year we've created a photo gallery, containing a selection of 50 photos from the event. See the Tennis Classic from the touchline and take a look behind the scenes. Click Here

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