Les Bairstow recognised for years of tennis volunteering service with 2023 Mike Stidwell Medal

After nearly 50 years of involvement in tennis throughout the Great Southern, hardworking volunteer Les Bairstow has been recognised with the 2023 Mike Stidwell Medal. Bairstow, the president of the Lower Great Southern Tennis Association, was awarded the coveted honour at the annual awards hosted by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries at Retravision Stadium on Monday night. The award is in memory of former Department of Sport and Cultural Industries regional manager Mike Stidwell and is presented to a nominee from the Great Southern who has made an outstanding contribution to sports administration. It was announced in conjunction with the volunteer recognition evening run by Albany and Regional Volunteer Service, part of National Volunteer Week. Bairstow’s service to tennis in the region dates back a number of decades and he has also filled the role as LGSTA president since 2017. He said it was a huge honour to be recognised for his efforts within the community. “I think to be even included in that list of nominees was incredible,” Bairstow said. “It’s necessary to acknowledge a lot of other people apart from me. I’ve probably been involved for over 45 years, including when I was a junior. “Everyone does their individual best for their own sports but then you see during volunteer week, every individual becomes a part of one group of people that dedicate their time, effort and everything they’ve got into their own sports. “A lot of these sports wouldn’t be around as we know if there wasn’t a strong volunteer base there.” Bairstow said one of the major highlights in his time volunteering was the realised vision for a regional tennis centre, with the centre plan’s unveiled in 2021. “There’s been a huge amount of people involved in it. “For tennis it’s a good thing because it shows we are moving ahead and doing our best. “We’ve come a long way to get to where we are, it’s just the beginning and we’ll definitely be pushing the tennis centre to increase in size in the future. “Probably over the last 25 to 30 years some of the other highlights have been the quality of juniors coming out of the region. “We’ve got a current crop of kids coming through now that have hit State teams which is primarily down to what tennis coach Vincent (Brochard) is doing. “Over the last 30 years things have sort of just survived and ticked on from all the club’s point of view but in more recent times where we’ve done this push for the tennis centre, things have really picked up.” Other medal nominees were Sonia Addis (Tenterden Tennis Club), Jack Batchelor (Great Southern Cricket Association), Jodie Lloyd (Spencer Park Hockey Club), Robyn Siegert (Albany Netball Association), Rosemary Wolter (Albany Netball Association), Trevor Poulter (Tambellup Bowling Club), Rachel Wright (Mt Barker Hockey Club) and Mark Wylde (Swamp Rats Cricket Club). The DLGSR acknowledged the efforts of Bairstow and the other nominees on the night. “For more than 12 years Les has supported tennis clubs throughout the region, while also pursuing the vision for the Great Southern Regional Tennis Centre project, going on to be awarded the Tennis West Service to Sport Award in October 2022,” they said. “Without volunteers, local sport and recreation clubs simply wouldn’t be able to operate or achieve at the levels they do.”