The 4th annual Durham & Cleveland LTA awards took place on Friday 4th October at a new venue, The Stadium of Light, Sunderland FC’s football ground.
It feels like these awards have come on leaps and bounds since 2010 when the first awards evening was held in a local church hall and serving jelly beans in plastic bowls! There was a grand feel to this year’s awards when you walked into the Banqueting Suite of the Stadium of Light – the room looked amazing thanks to the hard work of the staff there. Over 300 people turned up to collect awards and cheer on their friends and family and celebrate the success of Durham & Cleveland tennis that we’ve had over the past 12 months. Peter Barron, editor of the Northern Echo newspaper was there to give away the awards whilst Joanna Cunliffe, Tennis Development Manager for the North East and Cumbria, presented the evening.
The awards started with recognising those teams who had won their respective Winter Leagues 2012-2013 and also our summer league, Aegon Team Tennis 2013. Our county champions also collected their trophies from the annual D&C County Closed tournament that took place in August 2013. The 2 county champions who won their Road to Wimbledon events were also there to be recognised and tell stories of their trips to play on the grass of SW19 which were inspirational.
After an interval to rejuvenate everyone with drinks and a buffet, we got onto the nominated awards of the evening. Some of these awards were decided by the County Exec team, and given to players for outstanding achievement throughout the year, for playing and volunteering, and the rest were nominated by clubs and coaches throughout the area for people they thought deserving. There were some amazing people recognised on the night including Bill Ruffell from Boldon Tennis Club. It was announced on the evening that he’s just won a National LTA Meritorious Award for all his hard volunteer work in tennis throughout his life.
Winners and runners up on the night included:
Playsport Award:
Mohamed Abdel-Aziz
Lois Page
Oliver Wrightson Award:
Sam Archer
Farah Adbel-Aziz
Harry Thomas Meritorious Award:
Gordon Clough
School of the Year (Primary):
Runner up – New Silksworth Juniors
Winner – St Bernadette’s Primary School
School of the Year (Secondary):
Winner – Conyers School (Yarm)
Mini Team of the Year:
Winner – Eldon Grove Mini Green Team
Junior Team of the Year:
Winner - Virgin Active Wearside 16U Boys Team
Senior Team of the Year:
Runner Up – Tennis World Men’s Team
Winner – Blaydon Men’s Vets 1st Team
Coach of the Year:
Runner Up – Anne Clayton
Winner – Andy Burn
Referee / Organiser of the Year:
Runner Up – Amy Hoburn
Winner – Andy Berne
Senior Club Player of the Year:
Runner Up – William Ip
Winner – Karen Crabtree
Junior Volunteer of the Year:
Runner Up – Will Holroyd
Winner – Daniel Forrest
Senior Volunteer of the Year:
Runner Up – Dave Hickford
Winner – Hannah Stockton
Place to Play of the Year:
Runner Up – Eldon Grove Tennis Club
Winner – Yarm Tennis Club
The whole evening was really special and it’s a highlight of our year, to be able to recognise those fantastic people within the county keeping tennis going so strong! We are looking forward to next year already!