Wiltshire LTA are delighted to announce the local heroes who are honoured as part of the British Tennis Awards.
The winners received their awards and prizes at the Wiltshire LTA AGM on Wednesday 6thDecember and the awards were presented by Sir Geoffrey Owen, Wiltshire LTA President.
Ramsbury TC collected two awards, winning Club of the Year for their first class programmes and excellent facilities and Club President, Ethel Hutchings, collected the Outstanding Achievement Award for her many years of dedicated service to tennis in Ramsbury and Wiltshire.
The Coach of the Year was awarded to Sam Hull from Marshfield TC who has developed a fantastic and varied programme at the club. The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Liz Lewis for her amazing work as Club Secretary at Royal Wootton Bassett TC .
The Delta Tennis Centre in Swindon collected the Disability Programme award for the second year running and the Community Venue Award went to Trowbridge Town Park where the newly launched courts have been a huge success for the local community.
The South Wilts Grammar School for Girls won the Education Award for their fantastic link with their local venue Victoria Park and Roger Witt from Salisbury TC won Official of the Year for his exceptional refereeing. The Tournament Award was awarded to the Minety TC Open Mixed tournament which raised nearly £10k for charity this year.
The awards are a joint initiative between The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the Tennis Foundation and 40 County/national tennis associations, including Wiltshire LTA. The Awards recognise and champion the people who deliver tennis in communities across Great Britain.
The local list of Wiltshire winners are below:
- Club of the Year Award – Ramsbury Tennis Club
- Coach of the Year Award – Sam Hull (Marshfield TC)
- Community Venue Award – Trowbridge Town Park
- Disability Programme Award – Delta Tennis Centre Swindon
- Education Award – South Wilts Grammar School for Girls
- Volunteer of the Year Award – Liz Lewis (Royal Wootton Bassett TC)
- Competition of the Year – The Minety TC Open Mixed Tournament
- Official of the Year – Roger Witt (Salisbury TC)
- Outstanding Achievement Award – Ethel Hutchings (Ramsbury TC)
The winners now go through to a regional judging panel with regional winners announced in April.
Roger Henry, Tennis Chairman of Wiltshire LTA commented “The standard of the entries was really high and we’d like to congratulate all of the winners for their achievement. The judges had a tough job to select winners due to the overwhelming contribution made at tennis venues across the county. It is heartening to award those who put so much effort behind offering great tennis opportunities for all in Wiltshire.”
Wiltshire LTA also presented an additional County award in addition to the British Tennis Awards for Player of the Year and this was awarded to 14 year old Amelia Bissett from Devizes. Amelia has had an amazing year – she started the year with an ITF U18 World ranking of 1500 but now she has reached a ranking of 332 after competing around the world in ITF tournaments. This is a huge success for a 14 year old to achieve.