Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday saw Kevin Moran undertake his squash tour of the country on behalf of Lisa’s Gift. In order to complete this gruelling schedule he had to travel as far afield as Thurso in the north and Dumfries in the south. At each club Kevin visited he either played an exhibition match or held a coaching session with local players.
Day 1 saw him taking in the sights at Galashiels, Tyne, Edinburgh Sports Club and Grange. Day2 had him heading off to Dalgetty Bay, onwards to Forthill, Aberdeen SRC and eventually Thurso before getting his head down for the night courtesy of the Lobbans in Inverness!
The final push got under way early on Sunday morning as he charged off, fresh as a really fresh thing, for an exhibition match at Inverness Squash Club. From there it was next stop Oban for a coaching session, before jumping athletically back into the car and setting the sat nav for Bridge of Allan. A healthy crowd awaited his arrival and subsequently enjoyed a pulsating 5 set match with fellow international Stuart George ( ” That was all I needed” our hero later confided to this reporter). Both players departed to rapturous applause with no time even to shower (uuugh….), as the re-match was scheduled to take place an hour later at Scotstoun..!
Amazingly, just over 60 minutes later the 2 players were back on court, battling it out over another hugely entertaining 5 sets in Glasgow ( “That was all I needed”, gasped Stuart George at the match’s conclusion. Kevin just kept gasping, before being carried back to the car and told the joys of Dumfries would herald the end of his adventure).
The beautiful Dumfries Sports Club was reached at 10.45pm on Sunday night and, as Kevin jumped ( perhaps that should say “fell”) out the car clutching his racquet he was given a warm welcome by the members. Sensing that he might not have a great deal left in the tank they completely ignored the temptation to go easy on him, insisting that proceedings should end with a couple of 2v1 games, Kevin being the 1. ( ” I was thrilled when they suggested that,” he was heard to say while being stretchered back to the car.)
And that, as they say, was that. 13 squash clubs covering the length and breadth of Scotland visited in 3 days. As I write this, the figure raised is in excess of £6,100, a truly amazing total, which yet again confirms that the charity has a huge amount of fantastically generous supporters, to whom we are, as always, indebted. Our greatest thanks, however, must go to Kevin, who came up with the idea of raising money through this tour, who organised every aspect of it, and who put himself through the mill for 3 days to ensure the project was a success. And what a success! Kevin, you are a star, and we all love you loads!!!!!