WYRE Forest was one of the big winners at the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sports Awards.

The district had three lucky winners at the awards, held at the Bank House Hotel near Worcester, which celebrated the achievement of sports clubs, individuals and volunteers.

Samurai Judo Club won the club of the year award for the first time in its history, while Stourport Hockey Club's goalkeeping guru Nick Lewis was named coach of the year.

The eight-strong indoor rowing team from the now closed Wribbenhall Middle School scooped the school sports award.

The trio had been selected for the county awards after scooping accolades at Wyre District Council's awards evening in January.

Samurai scooped the county title at the third attempt after previously being in contention twice.

Club founder Andrew Haffner admitted he was delighted to be the first judo club to win the title, which will boost Samurai's hopes of acquiring planning permission for new premises in Kidderminster.

"This is the first time we have won the award and it's a great honour," said Haffner.

"The club has a great track record of not only producing good fighters but also providing a range of opportunities for volunteers in coaching and organising meetings.

"This award will also boost our hopes of obtaining planning permission for new facilities."

Lewis' hard work with future generations of hockey goalkeepers saw him win the county award.

The 49-year-old Stourport resident has worked with Great Britain girls under-21s, the regional under-15s and 17s sides and started his own academy in the county, where he is working with 20 promising keepers aged between 10 and 14.

Lewis is also working with keepers from Scotland under-21s and Wales under-18s and under-16s squads.

Currently he coaches at Stourport and is inspired by the club's legendary shot-stopper Tony Talbot.

The year seven pupils from Wribbenhall Middle School won the Concept 2 National Indoor Rowing Championships in 2007.

The students, who are now at Bewdley High School, trained for 10 weeks with Bewdley Rowing Club's Sarah Hough to get them in shape for the six month competition and gave up their own time to compete in a series of testing time trials.