ELLESMERE College and Baschurch Tennis Club were among the winners at the Shropshire Lawn Tennis Association Awards.

A virtual ceremony was held to celebrate clubs and individuals who have dedicated their time and effort to the sport.

Coaches Sarah Hardie and Taylor Youens, of Baschurch Tennis Club, picked up individual awards on the night, while Ellesmere College was recognised with the education award.

Tennis Shropshire vice-chair Fiona Jones paid tribute to the winners in a special video presentation, which also featured Tennis Shropshire president Keith Smith and chairman Simon Jones.

Sarah Downes, Tennis Shropshire’s LTA Tennis Awards co-ordinator, said: “Congratulations to all of the winners and to everyone else nominated.

"It really does mean so much to people to know that someone has taken the time to put them forward for an award.

“As always, it was wonderful to read through all the entries and hear of the outstanding contributions of so many individuals, clubs and organisations around the county.

“The pandemic means it clearly continues to be a very challenging time, but the efforts of so many brilliant volunteers helped ensure that when lockdown restrictions have not been in place that it's still possible to enjoy playing tennis in a safe environment.”

Baschurch’s Sarah was named as club development coach of the year and Taylor was selected as the county’s young volunteer of the year.

Elsewhere, David Rawlings, a dedicated and long-serving member at Cound & District Tennis Club, received the lifetime achievement award.

County awards were presented this time in 10 different categories, with the success of David part of a double celebration for Cound & District Tennis Club, as they were also named as Shropshire’s club of the year.

Nigel Stonier, chair of Woore Tennis Club, was named as Shropshire’s volunteer of the year.

The Shrewsbury Club’s Adam Wharf was the winner in the performance coach of the year category.

Simon Haddleton was named as official of the year, with his roles over the last 12 months including running the successful Battle of Shropshire, a new, fun team event, which was recognised as competition of the year.

Inspired by watching the Battle of the Brits on television last summer, Simon felt it would be a good idea to run the Battle of Shropshire for the first time.

All of the Shropshire winners will now go forward to represent the county later in the year in the regional awards for the Midlands and, if further success comes their way, potentially the national awards.

Last year’s national awards delivered unprecedented success for the county, with Keith Smith and Alex Cleland named as runners-up in the lifetime achievement and official of the year categories respectively.