Carlisle Squash Club are staging one of the biggest events in their history this week to mark their 50th anniversary.

The Warwick Road club are hosting a professional squash event with players from across the world heading to the city.

Starting tomorrow, players from countries such as Japan, Jamaica and New Zealand will be taking part.

The Carlisle club will also be represented by Ben Hetherington who is competing in the professional tournament.

The first round starts at 6pm on Wednesday, with quarter-finals and semi-finals taking place on Thursday and Friday before the final on Saturday at 3pm.

Some 32 juniors and 40 seniors from the club will also be taking part in team events before the final, with prizes to be given out during the day.

It promises to be a major celebration of the club. Coach and events organiser Victoria Bell said: “We have taken over our notice boards with a gallery of the last 50 years at the club to see just how far it has come.

“This really is set to be one of the best weeks in the club’s history.”

The professional tournament sees Carlisle star Hetherington up against Jamaican third seed Christopher Binnie in the first round.

Top seed is Spaniard Ivan Perez, who takes on England’s Lewis Doughty.

Second seed is England’s Ben Smith, who is up against Scotland’s Alasdair Prott.

Others in the draw include Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue, Finland’s Henrik Mustonen and Pakistan’s Salman Saleem.