The LTA Meritorious Service Awards 2010 were presented on the 15 December at the LTA AGM at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
The awards are presented to honorary officials of directly affiliated organisations in recognition of outstanding voluntary service given to tennis in any capacity over a long period of time.
The 2010 winners were Peter Bayliss, David Faraker, Pauline Fisher, Sam Mackenzie, Adrian Montague-Smith, Mark Perry, Alison Picken, John Phillips and Brian Warren.
Seven of the award winners were present at the 2010 LTA AGM where they received their awards.
Alison Picken was nominated by Tennis Leicestershire and has dedicated most of her life to promoting the game of tennis both locally and nationally.
She spent most of her early years playing club and county tennis and is still an active club player, regularly competing in league matches.
On obtaining the Part 1 Coaching certificate in 1970, Alison became an active coach, specialising in beginner groups for juniors. She was part of a small group of coaches which introduced Short Tennis to the county in the early 1980s, one of the first counties to do so.
She has been a member of Kibworth Tennis Club for over 40 years, serving on the Management Committee for over 25 years and holding key officer positions for most of that time. She played a pivotal role in obtaining Lottery grants for the club to build extra courts and install floodlights.
Alison has served on the county governing body for over 21 years. This included more than 17 years on the Leicestershire LTA Council during which she chaired eight different committees. She was a director of Tennis Leicestershire Ltd for four years, the majority of these as Chairman.