FORMER tennis star “Tiger” Tim Henman zipped in to open a £64,000 playground in Combe yesterday.

Mr Henman officially opened the new-look Combe Play Park in Park Road, which now offers a zip-wire, four-metre rope climbing frame, sandpit, wooden fort, swings and slides, as well as benches and picnic tables.

Children from Combe Primary School dressed up as their favourite sports stars for the grand opening by the former British number one tennis player, who has a cousin living in the village.

Combe Parish Council clerk Julia Sharpe said: “So many projects like this start and fall over and so to get it completed is a minor miracle.

“It was a very successful day. Mr Henman was very charming and was well received by the children and others.

“It’s a very sporty village and a lot of the children play tennis so we were very lucky he could come along – and he seemed to enjoy himself on the zipwire.”

The revamp was made possible by a £38,000 grant from the Waste Recycling Environmental Limited and further donations from Oxfordshire County Council’s Chill Out Fund, Combe’s Parish Council and Combe’s Village Hall and Recreational Ground Committee.

Villagers donated more than £17,000 to the scheme and the names of those who gave money are inscribed on more than 60 fence posts in the park.