TT Scotland Awards

July 21, 2023

Senga Thomson – Harry Baxter award
Nominated by Dylan De Silva

Senga has given an extraordinary amount of her time and energy to table tennis for most of her life and probably more in recent years than ever before. Her passion for table tennis is unrivalled I think. She is known affectionately amongst many as the ‘mad woman of table tennis.

I have known Senga for around 12 years, ever since I moved down to Dumfries and Galloway, where she now lives, but was aware of her involvement in table tennis long before then when I lived up in the islands of Orkney – such was her influence. She was busy as a player then and I recall her beating one of the top ladies back then when she must have already been in her late 40’s. Senga has of course represented Scotland as a player many times and continues to play tournaments all over the UK and abroad now in her 60’s. In addition to her commitment as a player, ever since I have known her she has been an important part of the fabric of TT Scotland being involved in supporting many of our young players through developing much of the child protection policy that TTS needed to bring the organisation in line with requirements of new legislation, helping with the organisation of trips for players taking part in international events and helping to support the national training camps as child protection officer and female representative for TTS.

She is also one of the few people who delivers the invaluable service to TTS of delivering UKCC training courses for new coaches up to level 2 and gives up many of her weekends for that purpose travelling far and wide to do so. A qualified umpire, Senga has also given significant time officiating at events including the Scottish national championships.

While the Harry Baxter award is for services at a national level, one cannot ignore Senga’s efforts when it comes to local development. In her role as a member of the council’s active schools team she delivers many TT classes to children in schools, which feeds into the club set up in Dumfries, where she is also one of the local coaches delivering training on a weekly basis.

In all honesty I cannot believe there is anyone who gives more to the work of TTS and the wider table tennis community in Scotland and so sincerely propose Senga for the Harry Baxter award.

Dave Beveridge – Honorary Life Member
Nominated by Dundee & District TTA

A longstanding member of St Andrews TTC, Dave stepped in to fill a vacancy as club treasurer in addition to acting as a team secretary and is still carrying out these roles after many seasons.

Dave expanded his role beyond the club when he joined the Management Committee of DDTTA to take on the role of Match Secretary. After a number of seasons, he moved on to the role of Treasurer and his accounting experience and attention to detail has been absolutely invaluable in overseeing the Association’s financial obligations as it made the decision to take on charitable status.

Dave has continued to work tirelessly to consolidate our financial position, setting up sound accounting systems and furnishing committee members with statistical analysis to assist in wide-ranging decision making. He has had huge input on matters well outwith the role of treasurer, also sharing many of the tasks of Association Secretary over the years when there was a vacancy for this position – and always with the good of table tennis in Dundee and District at the heart of any suggestions and advice.

Dave has also been a valuable link for DDTTA with TTS, including being the administrator for Dundee’s TT365 records in addition to the links which an association treasurer has to have with a governing body.

To sum up, we ask TTS to mark the huge contribution Dave has made to table tennis in St Andrews and Dundee and District by bestowing on him Honorary Life Membership.

Roy Claxton – Merit Award
Nominated by Joy Paul and Brian Carson

As a founding member, and treasurer of the Scottish Parkinson’s Table Tennis Association, I, along with our Chairperson Brian Carson, would like to nominate Roy Claxton of South Ayrshire TTC for a merit award. He has provided free coaching at weekends for over two years, helped us set up the Parkinson’s Association which is fully affiliated to TTS and helped to organise, and officiated at the second UK Parkinson’s National Table Tennis Championships at Drumchapel in 2022, all voluntary. He has been instrumental in getting Parkinson’s players accepted into clubs and has enabled some of us to play in international tournaments where we have returned with several medals.

Terry McLernon MBE – Honorary Vice President
Nominated by the Awards Committee in appreciation of long outstanding service