ROUNDHAY TENNIS CLUB

Arthur's Award for Outstanding Service to Sport by Volunteers

The presentation took place at the Leeds Sports Awards Gala evening on 15th March 2005, organised by Leeds Sports Federation, in association with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds City Council and SportLeeds.

The Leeds Sports Federation is a voluntary body, which represents the many hundreds of sports clubs, leagues and associations in our City and tries to help all of you who take part in sport or help to organise it.

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Amongst those present (or invited) were The Right Worshipful, the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Cllr Christopher Townsley, together with the Lady Mayoress, Margaret Townsley, several members of the Leeds City Council who have shown special interest in sport including Cllr Bernard Atha, Cllr Les Carter, Cllr Bill Hyde and Cllr Brian Jennings, the Director of Learning and Leisure for Leeds City Council: Mr John Davies, the Editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post: Neil Hodgkinson, the Chair of SportLeeds: David Heddon, the Regional Director of Sport England: David Gent, the Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University : Prof Simon Lee and last but not least, the hosts for the evening, the Officers of the Leeds Sports Federation, including: President: Keith Mitchell, Chairman: Liz Wilson and the other members of the Executive Committee of the Federation who helped with the organisation of the event, especially the Secretary of the Federation, Mel Welch and his team from Leeds Metropolitan University who did so much to organise the event so expertly.

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Guests invited included theChairman of Leeds Rugby : Paul Caddick, the Chief Executive of Leeds Rugby: Gary Hetherington, the Head Coach of Leeds Rhinos: Tony Smith and several other members of the Leeds Rhinos – including Daryl Powell, Kevin Sinfield, Mark Calderwood, Richie Mathers, Chev Walker, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey and Danny McGuire, the Manager of Leeds United : Kevin Blackwell, the former Yorkshire Cricket captain : Anthony McGrath, the long serving stalwart of the Leeds Tykes: Mike Shelley, the leading boxing referee: Micky Vann, the veteran athletics coach – Wilf Paish

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Awards Presentations were duly made to honour the professional and full-time sportsmen and women from our City who have captured the limelight.

Next came those whose achievements, it was said, were not reported in the newspapers; nor heard on the radio; nor seen on TV. However it was recognised that, without them, and thousands of others like them, much of our sport would simply not happen. These were three shining examples of the unsung heroes who work so hard in the background so that the rest of us can take part. The awards were for Outstanding Service to Sport by Volunteers, and in this category there is no such thing as runner-ups, they’re all winners!