Aviemore woman is crowned queen of Scottish courts
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An Aviemore woman who has worked tirelessly since the mid 1980s serving her tennis club has claimed Tennis Scotland's lifetime achievement award.
Yvonne Birnie was recognised last night by the sport's body for her massive contribution at Aviemore and Rothiemurchus Tennis Club.
Since arriving in 1986, she has overseen redevelopment of the club on two occasions.
The most recent was the installation of three top class polymeric courts and a covered court at the Inverdruie venue last year meaning the club now has some of the best tennis facilities in the North of Scotland.
Yvonne was delighted to win the awards which were announced by Tennis Scotland last night. There was no ceremony because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
She said: “I love tennis because it’s outdoors, it’s fun and it’s competitive – I was quite shocked to win this award but it’s nice to be rewarded as I know I’ve worked hard.
“But it’s been a team effort and my husband Bob, in particular, helped a lot, so although I’ve been the driving force behind it all everything I’ve done has been associated with other people.”
Sadly Mr Birnie, a hugely popular face at the club and on the ski slopes of Cairngorm, passed away last month after a brave battle with a long illness.
Successful regional winners will now progress through to the LTA’s National finals in each of their respective categories, with Mrs Birnie’s accomplishments to be judged alongside the best in the UK.
Now in their fifth year, a record number of 2,100 nominations were received nationally for this year’s awards.
For more information about the work the LTA is doing to grow tennis in Britain, log onto www.LTA.org.uk.
More on this story in the Strathy out on Thursday.
