FORMER England footballer Sir Trevor Brooking has officially opened a £485,000 sports facility in the region.

He watched tennis, football and hockey demonstrations at the all-weather pitch in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, before he opened the facility, helped by two pupils from Allertonshire School.

The pitch, between Hambleton Leisure Centre and the school, opened to the public in December. It is used by the school in the day and available for public hire in the evenings.

It can accommodate six games of tennis and two games of five-a-side football or hockey at a time and is next to a new skatepark.

Sir Trevor, who performed the opening ceremony in his role as director of football development with the Football Association, praised the groups involved in building the centre.

He said: "This is a wonderful example of all the partners working together.

"We need facilities such as this if we are going to encourage youngsters to play sports in the months of October to March.

"It is particularly important in rural areas to have this vital link between the school and the community.

"All youngsters these days, given the chance to take part in sport, will get a lot of fun out of it, but they will also get social skills out of it -behaviour, discipline and all-round development of character."