A leading member of British tennis’ first family has been visiting Royal Deeside to give her backing to a fundraising project.
Judy Murray stopped off in Ballater yesterday to run a special coaching clinic for a special group of Ballater Primary School pupils.
The visit is part of ongoing efforts to restore the village courts back to their former glory and encourage more people in the village to use them.
Ballater Tennis Club hope to raise £20,000 for the project and managed to rope in Andy and Jamie’s mother in a bid to highlight the cause.
So far they have managed to raise around half of the cash needed to resurface the court and relaunch the club as an active part of village life.
The tennis courts lie just outside Ballater Golf Club on Victoria Road and hopes are high they can be completely transformed.
Judy Murray’s trip to the village comes just a day after she visited Mile End Primary School in Aberdeen as part of the Battle of the Brits community project.
Club ‘humbled’ by Judy Murray’s visit
Josephine Hazley is part of the committee hoping to raise all of the cash needed to make their vision a reality.
She is delighted Judy Murray was able to help some of the village’s younger players and shine a light on their project.
Mrs Hazley, who is working with fellow players Alison McIntosh and Fiona Robertson on the project, said: “We are humbled Judy has came to our courts to do a coaching session.
“We are all excited for this because it helps promote us and for tennis in the north-east it is a great thing.
“We are overwhelmed and when she offered to come to our courts. She has also donated two gifts for our event next month.
“We have a white tennis hat signed by Andy and we have a copy of his book as well which is also signed.
“Judy generously sent up these items and we are blown away by that.”
Hopes that revamped courts begin a tennis boom
Josephine said the courts have not had the best time over the years and she wants to give the sport a boost.
She said: “We have a very small tennis club and there is only three of us driving this project. We also have help from Duncan MacAskill from Ballater Business Association.
“We enjoy a game of tennis and I suppose I’m a real tennis enthusiast. It is just us three ladies who regularly play on the Ballater courts.
“Our courts were once thriving but the number of players has dwindled. The courts were also flooded by Storm Frank in 2015 and that didn’t help.
“We thought it would be a good thing to do if we got the courts refurbished and try and get as many people out on them as possible.
“I realised it is a sport for all ages and we are a very inclusive club.”
Ballater Tennis Club are holding an Ultimate Game Show fundraising event at Ballater Golf Club on October 9 at 7pm.
For more information contact stephen.hazley@teamchallenge-company.co.uk
More from the Schools and Family team
Aberdeenshire parents speak out about confusion over school isolation rules
Charity kitting out kids for school reports hike in demand – and now they need winter woollies