You’ve got my backing
Judy Murray supports tennis club revamp
Judy Murray has backed Rutherglen Tennis Club’s “massively ambitious” revamp plans to mark their centenary.
The club is hoping the community will get right behind a public consultation for their plans to mark 100 years, which include a new Viewpark clubhouse and covered courts at Overtoun Park, so that the ‘Project 100’ can get off the ground.
And they have been given the thumbsup by top tennis coach and celebrity Judy, mum to champions Andy and Jamie.
Judy (inset) said: “We encourage our clubs to consider options to grow and to survive, but most are small and in builtup areas without space to expand or cover over, and many lack the expertise or ambition to do so. Rutherglen has that ambition and the expertise to expand in order to fully embrace the opportunity to open tennis up to their local community.
“Gareth Ellor and his team have proved this time and again with creative and far-reaching coaching programmes for members and non-members, a social calendar that is the envy of clubs across the UK, and competitions for all ages, stages and backgrounds.
“If only we had more clubs as visionary, ambitious, pro-active and welcoming as Rutherglen, tennis in Scotland would be in a much stronger position.”
Overtoun covered courts will provide an all-weather home, allowing Rutherglen to expand and develop club, community and performance programmes.
They want to build a two-storey clubhouse that will create a ‘vibrant community hub’ with tennis at its heart, but also other sports, activities and community facilities that are open to all.
The club propose to lease the land from South Lanarkshire Council for 25 years and hope the authority will agree to ‘Heads of Terms’ for the plan. They also intend to publish a history of the club in 2022, and hope the community will share photographs, memorabilia and memories.
Club president Gareth Ellor said: “It’s good to get Judy’s support for the plans. She has been a friend of the club for the last three or four years
“The proposals are massively ambitious. There are only really two clubs in Scotland that have covered or indoor courts, so it’s really quite ambitious for us to pursue it. We completed a project at Burnside on a much smaller scale but that gave us the confidence that we can do something like this, and we have some credibility with funders, governing bodies and local stakeholder groups.
“It’s quite challenging and we have a mountain to climb, but I think everybody is buying into the idea that we have a chance, so we’ll give it our best shot.
“The new clubhouse at Viewpark is going to be a bigger footprint, but the main thing is that it’s going to be over two floors, with the upstairs dedicated to a big open community space, so that’s going to be fantastic.
“The existing clubhouse was only designed for maybe 100 or 150 members and that’s where the club was 10 years ago, now we have well over 400 members, so you need a home that people can enjoy spending time in year round, rather than just in the summer months.
“If these two projects come off, the club is going to be in great shape for the next 100 years and we will really be leading the way for Scottish tennis.”