CHAIR of Chard Tennis Club, Jacky Boothman has been selected as the winner of the county 2024 LTA Tennis Awards in the category of Lifetime Achievement.

Jacky has been a long term servant to the tennis community in Somerset and this award is worthy recognition for her hard work and effort to promote the sport in the county.

Chair of Somerset Tennis, Andy Fair came to the club to present the award on Easter Saturday.

Jacky was successful in securing a grant of over £50,000 from Sport England which resulted in the club being able to build a splendid new club house.

It took almost 2 years of hard work to gather all the necessary information and 2 attempts. She was also successful in obtaining a grant from Chard Town Council which involved giving a presentation in the town hall and lots of hard work.

This grant together with money saved in the club’s sinking fund enabled the club to replace two worn out tarmac courts with outdoor carpet.

Jacky is also a member of Bridgwater club where she helped with the upkeep of the clay courts which included sitting astride a large motorised roller and the back breaking job of spreading moss killer.

Off the court, Jacky has been working hard to improve facilities and the sport of tennis in Somerset, but on it she has also seen success.

On the playing side she  led the Bridgwater Ladies’ 40+ team. This team won  the gold medal in the European Club Championship and became champions of Europe.

She has represented Great Britain in various age groups for almost 40 years winning three gold medals in the world team championships.

Earlier in her tennis journey Jacky played a huge part in saving a large London club.

She looked after and maintained 15 red shale courts and fought successfully against the closure of the club.

Her first international veterans’ gold medal success came as a member of a British team including two Wimbledon champions, Ann Jones and Virginia Wade.

This was followed by becoming a world doubles veterans’ champion, not once, but twice!

Firstly with an American partner and then with Ellie Krocke also now a member of Chard Tennis Club.

It has been a life time of tennis, as a tennis coach, player and supporter of tennis clubs for Jacky, and this award, as already mentioned, is well deserved.