A tennis expert from Skelmorlie served up something special at the Aegon National British Tennis Awards held at Wimbledon.

Coach Lesley Whitehead was one of ten award winners among 1500 nominations at a prestigious event which celebrated the success of volunteers, coaches, clubs communities and players across Great Britain. Lesley is pictured receiving the award from LTA President Cathie Sabin

The disability accolade is given to a programme that has a welcoming, sociable and friendly atmosphere and provides a safe and inclusive environment, offering a quality programme including coaching, camps and festivals.

The Skelmorlie ace helped set up The Glasgow Disability Tennis programme in 2013 and has grown substantially and now provides deaf, visually impaired, learning disability and wheelchair tennis sessions. This has been possible by visiting 32 schools and linking with Glasgow Sport and community disability groups.

HRH The Duchess of Gloucester, Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith, Andrew Castle, Annabel Croft and LTA President Cathie Sabin where all in attendance to meet the guests and present awards to the winners.

A delighted Lesley said: “We were really pleased when we were selected by Tennis Scotland to win the Disability Programme of the Year, for us that was a fantastic achievement for all the work we are doing in Glasgow and surrounding areas for people with disabilities. To now find out that we have won the Aegon British Tennis Award for Disability Programme of the Year is just the icing on the cake. We are all proud of what we have achieved, the coaches, the players & their families, everyone, it’s just amazing.”

Doc McKelvey, Head of Tennis Development at Tennis Scotland commented, “This is fantastic news for a worthwhile and deserving project, who do so much to make our sport as inclusive as possible and do such a great job in encouraging more people to play tennis more often.”

Earlier this year, Lesley's Disability Tennis Programme achieved the Tennis Scotland Disability Programme of the Year Award.