Moffat has a long and illustrious history as a ‘Tennis Town’. The tennis club in Moffat was one of the founding members of the Scottish Lawn Tennis Association (now Tennis Scotland) in 1895. The Scottish Tennis Championships were held in Moffat from 1895 to 1907. In 1904 the championships included a mixed doubles event; another 9 years passed before the first mixed doubles event was played at Wimbledon! Moffat is of course still home to the historic South of Scotland Tennis Championships. The grounds at Beechgrove were laid out in 1870 at a cost of £600 and comprised of bowling, croquet and lawn - tennis grounds and an ‘excellent’ pavilion. The grounds were gifted to the Burgh of Moffat by Mr and Mrs John Tough in December 1941. The present pavilion, which the club shares with the Bowling Club and the South of Scotland Tennis Championships, was presented to the Burgh of Moffat by Miss Irene Park on 8th May 1968. 

Unfortunately the original Beechgrove Tennis club disbanded in the late 1990s. As a direct result the courts became badly maintained and were rarely used. There was real concern over the future of the grounds. In 2007 a group of enthusiastic volunteers banded together to try to re establish a tennis club at Beechgrove. Beechgrove LTC was formed and its family friendly ethos proved popular with membership numbers swelling.

Since 2007 Beechgrove LTC has gone from strength to strength. One of the biggest challenges facing the club was the lack of coaches in Dumfries & Galloway. The club’s committee was determined to resolve the situation and after overcoming various logistical obstacles, such as funding and a lack of volunteers, Club Chairman, Jonathan Kneeshaw, was eventually successful in bringing a level 1 assistant coaching coaching course to Moffat. In July 2011, 9 volunteers qualified as level 1 assistant coaches (including 6 Beechgrove members). One of the volunteers was club member, Mike McMillin. The club has subsequently supported and encouraged Mike in his journey to becoming a fully qualified coach. In the summer of 2012 Mike passed Tennis Scotland’s level 3 award and is now a fully qualified coach.

We’re delighted that Beechgrove LTC is still going strong in 2022!