Organiser Agnew in her element

It's rare to get anything good from something bad but the Janet Agnew Carnival Doubles tennis tournament owes its existence to a bad car accident more than 20 years ago.
Self-confessed tennis nut Janet Agnew was so badly injured in the car smash she was told she'd never play tennis again.
Rather than quit the game, Agnew decided to keep involved in the sport and soon after her recovery organised a tournament in Whangarei ... next weekend the annual competition gets under way for the 20th time.
"The tournament went from strength to strength and after five years the Northland Tennis Committee told me that they wanted to name it after me," she said.
"I was stunned at first because I thought you had to be dead to have a tournament named after you," she laughed.
Fortunately, the doctor's original prognosis proved to be over-pessimistic and Agnew has been back playing tennis for a number of years.
After last year's competition was washed out without a shot being fired, due to torrential rain on both days, Agnew is desperate for this year's tournament to be a big success.
"We've already had interest from outside the area and we've been busy telling people about the tournament when we were in Christchurch," he said.
Agnew has just returned from a successful mission in Christchurch as part of a New Zealand veterans team that beat Australia in a veterans teams challenge tournament at Wilding Park.
Agnew was captain of the 45 and over women's team that included fellow Northlanders Raewyn Heywood and Mary-Anne Rogers along with Felicity Oxnevad and Carol Thorpe that won their division .
Along with the New Zealand and Australian teams there were teams from Canterbury, North Harbour and Tauranga in the 45 and over division. Agnew said they played so well in the early rounds of the competition that they were assured of the title despite losing to Canterbury in the last round.
There were several other Northlanders at the veterans event held in Christchurch with Mary Miller competing in the women's 70 and over division, Ross Blomfield in the 60 and over and Judy Hill in the 50 and over.
Another Northlander, Bob Penney, won the 60 and over men's division.
Next weekend's doubles tournament is divided into two divisions, with the men's and women's doubles on Saturday and the mixed doubles on Sunday.
Entries are open until Tuesday and Agnew said there is room for up to 16 entries in the A and B divisions for both days.
She expects entries from Auckland and perhaps even Waikato although the tournament is really for Northlanders.
"It's great to have people from outside the area playing but it would really be a bit much if they won it," she said.
Agnew will be back in her element next weekend.
"Tennis is my passion and I'll stay involved in it as long as I can, as long as I get the support to continue," she said.