Rutherglen tennis club open day
New plea to the community to help save courts
Rutherglen Lawn Tennis Club are telling the community they still need their support to save the iconic Burnside courts.
The club held their opening weekend last week, with around 400 people showing up over the course of two days.
As well as attracting new members, the event let the club highlight their Return to Splendour campaign as they enter a vital phase of their attempt to save the courts at the old Burnside Tennis Club.
The group will start submitting funding applications over the next few months and two major fundraising events are in the pipeline.
On April 24 the club will host its Big Team Challenge.
And in early June the three main coaches will join president Gareth Ellor in playing tennis on the peaks of the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in just 24 hours.
The challenge will take them from Snodown to Scafell Pike and then up to Ben Nevis between June 4 and 5, with half the money going to Sports Relief and the other to Return to Splendour.
Club president Gareth said: “The two big things we can do to get funding are to raise money so we can fund as much of the project ourselves as possible and show that the community is right behind us.
“We need as many people as possible to sign up. If we can raise a lot of money and the community give us their support then we have a good chance of saving the courts.
“I would encourage anyone interested to make a donation or sponsor us.”
The opening weekend was a great success at the club, with Paralympian Kevin Simpson stopping by on Saturday to show off his skills.
The club are hopeful of starting their own wheelchair section and Kevin offered tips and advice.
On the Sunday the schools tennis festival took place, with nine teams taking part, and it was Burnside who celebrated victory. Gareth said: “The weekend went really well. “Kevin was really good with the younger wheelchair players.
“Overall we managed to sign up a few members, got the chance to promote Return to Splendour and maintained the high profile of the club.”
Rutherglen Lawn Tennis Club is based in Viewpark Drive.
Go to www. returntosplendour. net for more information on the campaign to save the Burnside courts.