Thanks given as Rothes Tennis Club receive £53,000 from funding bodies with plans to build a fourth court in Speyside town
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Rothes Tennis Club's plans to expand their facilities have gained a £53,000 funding boost.
Club office bearers met with a range of grant funding bodies at the club this week to thank them for donations made.
Members also raised more money through fund-raising activities, and all efforts could gain the club an extra tennis court in the future.
Club secretary Hamish McBain said: "The club’s vision for the future included the laying of a fourth court.
"It was felt that the year-on-year increase in membership since the Covid restrictions were lifted, allowing tennis to be one of the first activities to get back into operation, showed the need for extending the facility.
"The club attracts people from all over the Speyside area, and beyond - players from Elgin, Keith, Fochabers, and communities in between come to the Rothes courts."
He said the expansion plans, which also include court resurfacing proposals, failed to receive any support from sportscotland and two other major funding bodies
"Two of the nay-sayers just mentioned they were inundated with applications and that the budget couldn’t stretch to cover all proposals.
"Sportscotland was more forthcoming. The project, they said, was unsustainable despite the growth in membership. It was also, according to them, financially unsound.
"Our focus on keeping membership and coaching fees low, relying on fundraising to cover costs, was unviable. The club has operated in that manner since its reformation back in the late 1960s, and here we are, almost 60 years later, still going strong."
McBain and fellow club committee members gave thanks to Debbie Scott (Edrington/Robertson Trust), Pearl Paul (Rothes Wind Farm), Richard Forsyth (The Forsyth Foundation), Lauren Gauld (Simpson McCreath Foundation), Margaret Stenton (Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation) and Councillor Juli Harris (Moray & Nairn Educational Trust) for their financial input.
In addition, William Beattie (EB Scotland); Sandra Mitchell (Berry Burn Community Fund); Marion McDonald (Dorenell Wind Farm) and Julie Henderson (Hendersons) were unable to attend the event.
McBain gave special thanks to club members Gary Logan, Paul Meldrum and Dave Watson for their work in organising events including a coffee morning and race night to gain extra cash.
The total they made was tripled through the match funding policy of their employer, Edrington, along with the Robertson Trust. The men work at Edrington’s two Speyside distilleries, Macallan and Glenrothes.
