THE 2014 LAWN TENNIS WRITERS’ ANNUAL AWARDS LUNCH HELD AT THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS CLUB , ALSO KNOWN AS WIMBLEDON

Written by: Staff on 24th December 2014

THE 2014 LAWN TENNIS WRITERS' ANNUAL AWARDS LUNCH HELD AT THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS CLUB , ALSO KNOWN AS WIMBLEDON |

This year’s (British) Lawn Tennis Writers’ Annual Awards lunch held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club was back on familiar territory, the Courtside Restaurant which is part of Centre Court’s Debenture Lounge and where the lunch has been held in the past but due to major refurbishment plans wasn’t available last year.

Fortunately the larger premises meant almost 200 guests, mostly from the world of tennis were able to attend, and interestingly viewed by many as an important pre-Christmas tennis event. This year’s Service to Tennis award was presented to Honor Godfrey, former curator to the Wimbledon museum who is instrumental in assisting in the re-organisation of the museum to its present premises. Honor was a popular LTWA nominee and gave an entertaining and witty speech after receiving her award, which included several delightful tennis related anecdotes, particularly amusing was the oneabout moustaches which had everyone in fits of laughter.

The other two award winners were Ion Tiriac, a former top pro player in the 70’s who now runs the successful clay tournament in Madrid and who was nominated for the Barclays International Awards but sadly unable to attend however it was hoped Boris Becker would receive the award on his behalf but a ‘flu bug forced him to cancel at the last minute. Finally the LTWA’s Special Award was this year presented to Paralympic Jordanne Whiley, Britain’s first paralympic tennis player in any category to achieve a calendar year Grand Slam.

Prior to the lunch, a ‘Winter Pimms’ reception was held adjacent to the Courtside restaurant – Winter Pimms is an exotic warm winter drink created by the makers of the famous Pimms brand and one of our lunch sponsors along with FMC, Wimbledon caterers. Everyone attending is keen to be at the pre lunch’s reception as this is where many attending from the world of tennis can mix and mingle, chat and gossip prior to sitting down on designated tables at the lunch. Amongst the many guests were several past and present tennis players, and this year IMG, Barclays (LTWA’s sponsor), Queen’s Club, Tennis Foundation, ITF and the LTA plus the All England Lawn Tennis Club to name but a few who attended and bought tables of ten.

Each year the charity raffle and auction is part of the lunch’s high spot and each year the LTWA committee choose a different charity to donate the proceeds. This year’s chosen charity was South London’s Younger Parkinson’s Network (SLYPN), and once again Sky’s tennis presenter Marcus Buckland was our amusing and excellent auctioneer who fortunately has an amazing knack of being able to persuade potential bidders to raise their bids. Many of the wonderful prizes donated to the auction prizes were sought after holiday destination in Sardinia, Madeira and Austria besides over fifteen wonderful raffle prizes which included a Four Ball at Stoke Park Golf Club and two much sought after Premier league tickets to watch Chelsea play Manchester City.

In all over $7,000 was raised for the South London’s Younger Parkinson’s Network.

Editors Note: We think this event is awesome. We wish more countries would have a similar spirit of camaraderie. The BRITS get it right. Cheers to all of our friends and colleagues in the U. K.

We especially applaud HONOR GODFREY For her years of service as the Wimbledon museum curator. Honor made the best tennis museum in the world. Then she just kept making it better. Kind of like Federer is Betterer. So is Honor.

Topics: All England Lawn Tennis Club, Honor Godfrey, Roger Federer, Tennis News, tennis writers, Wimbledon

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December 24, 2014 at 12:07 pm

THE 2014 LAWN #TENNIS WRITERS’ ANNUAL AWARDS LUNCH HELD AT THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN #TENNISCLUB, ALSO KNOWN AS @Wimbledon http://t.co/0xgDbOsQQv