Rosie Pybus and Barbara Borwell were recognised at the Northern Echo Local Hero Awards at Hardwick Hall in Sedgefield.
Rosie Pybus only learnt to play blind tennis 18 months ago but was awarded the Senior Remarkable Achievement award for her contribution to the sport. Rosie, 20, from Carrville County Durham, has won a number of tournaments including women's doubles at the Metro Open Tournament and the singles in the North-East Visually Impaired Championship. She devotes her spare time to enhancing the sporting opportunities of other visually impaired and blind people in the North-East by taking up a coaching course along with setting up blind tennis groups in Leeds and York.
Barbara Borwell has played a key role in the North-East tennis community for over 20 years. The 50-year-old from Nunthorpe started playing tennis in 1987 while she was a school teacher. Barbara has since gone on to establish herself as one of the key figures in developing young players in the region. She has devoted her time to working with schools and has helped set up partnerships which have lead to 580 schools receiving free tennis packs. Barbara took on a co-ordinator role at Durham and Cleveland Mini Tennis School in 1997 and has been running a number of courses since. Some of her most notable pupils include Sophie Proctor and Abi Curry, the latter going on to represent Great Britain. During her time there she set up a schools competition which evolved into the Tony Blair Sports Foundation Competition, the biggest of its kind in the country with 439 schools taking part.
Rosie was given her award by Jason Steele and Alastair Baker, Barbara's award was collected by Wendy Glasper, secretary of the North East Visualy Impaired Tennis Club, as Barbara is in Australia at the moment. To see pictures of the event and for the full awards round up click on the link below.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/lha/