Carol Beames from Patcham has been awarded a national trophy - the Ivor Montagu Award.

She was bestowed with this honour by the English Table Tennis Association for her outstanding work in Sussex with the development of junior players.

She is also national councillor for Sussex on the ETTA National Council, while her husband Alan is secretary of the Sussex Table Tennis Association.

Her most recent success is negotiating the return of the 65-year-old Sussex Open Grand Prix tournament to Hastings after the local league administrators pulled out.

The latest acknowledgement of her work is an invitation to the re-opening of the Brighton Corn Exchange on March 29 by her majesty the Queen.

Mrs Beames said: "I have no idea who chose me to represent table tennis at the Corn Exchange re-opening but I am especially delighted to attend as the Queen is the patron of the English Table Tennis Association."

Carol, along with Alan, hosted a six-hour session for the Hollingbury Club at Varndean High School on Saturday designed to train disabled sportsmen and women and their able-bodied helpers in the sport.

Instructor Judy Rogers, who is the Disabilities National Officer for the ETTA, said: "These courses are run all over the country with a great deal of support from Sport England.

"There are four main categories - physical impairment, learning disability, hearing impairment and vision impairment - given the right guidance all can play table tennis, even in local leagues."

The British disabled champion Tim Heaps (Maidenhead) gave practical demonstrations of playing with his one arm. He competed for Great Britain at the disabled Olympic Games in Los Angeles and Atlanta.