Angus village tennis courts are at the centre of a revamp plan in a son’s tribute to the father whose ambition to see players on them again was cut tragically short.
Lee Braes and two pals will take on a novel running challenge later this month to raise funds to bring the courts at Hillside, near Montrose back into use.
The April 24 event will see Lee, Nayland MacLaren and Robert Marshall run a mile on the hour, every hour, for 24 hours.
Driving 25-year-old Lee will be the determination to take forward plans to reinvigorate the community led by his father, Norman, before his death last year at the age of just 55.
Mr Braes and his wife, Catherine were well-known in the village as mine hosts of the Hillside Hotel.
They also took ownership of Montrose’s historic Traill Pavilion in 2019 to bring back the seafront art deco building as a café.
Owners ready to restore Montrose art deco seafront jewel to former glory
Norrie, as many knew him, was involved in a number of local organisations, including Montrose Burns Club.
The Hillside courts have been out of use for decades but were the first target of his dream to deliver more amenities for locals and visitors.
Keen runner
Lee, who works at Baker Hughes in Montrose, said: “It was really just a thought my dad had and after his death we’re now starting to get the idea up and running again.
“I wanted to do it to keep his idea going and the run was just one of those whirlwind ideas we came up with when we were thinking about how to raise money.
“I’ve been quite into my running for three or four years and have done a few half marathons.
“But this will be a bit of a different challenge.”
The trio will take to the start line at 6am for their first mile.
“We’ll do our first few miles together and then also meet up at the end but in between we’ll just do our own mile on the hour because otherwise we’d never get any rest.
“I think it will be quite tough, but I’m hoping I can maybe even add on a little bit so we can complete the marathon distance.”
Justgiving crowdfunder
A Justgiving crowdfunder is already more than three quarters of the way to its £1,000 target.
Lee said: “The idea would be to get them courts completely re-done, new fencing put up and maybe in time to come, floodlights for them.
“I can remember playing on them just once, but they would have been well used and it would be great to see them back again.
“You hired racquets from the little kiosk and I’m sure a lot of people in Hillside enjoyed using them.”
He added: “We’ve a few ideas around improving the park but this is just to get things going and hopefully get other people involved.
“There will be people who just drive past the park and don’t even realise the courts are there.
“It would be great to make it a place for people to really enjoy again and throughout the year we will be hoping to organise other fundraisers for community projects,” said Lee.