Our newly refurbished courts are now open to the public! We have our own club day opening on 30th August and I am very pleased that the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner, has kindly agreed to formally open the courts on Saturday 4th October, when there will be a number of other guests dropping in, including South Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson. It will be a day of fun and activities, with more details in Focus nearer the time.
The refurbishment is just the latest chapter in a history of tennis in the town stretching back to 1908. Cllr Graham Porter tells the story: By the time you read this, Wimbledon 2025 will have come and gone. Will it be Alcaraz and Sabalenka who lift the singles trophies this year or will there be some surprises? I know we all hope for a British winner and this year we have some strong contenders like Jack Draper and Katie Boulter. Church Stretton’s Tennis Club started out in 1908 as a Lawn Tennis Club, when it was probably gentlemen in white flannel trousers and ladies in long skirts, and at the time it was one of the most prominent clubs in Shropshire, putting on large tennis events with stars of the day and hosted by Kenneth Horne, the son of Silvester Horne who built the SHI building in Church Stretton.
One hundred years ago in 1925 the land which became Sandford Avenue Recreation Park was gifted to the town over a number of years by six local benefactors and put in trust with the Town Council as its Trustee. The Tennis Club has played there since its creation and you could be forgiven for thinking that the Tennis Pavilion is also 100 years old. The Club originally played on grass (today these courts are used for croquet), they then switched to shale and today we play on tarmac. Visiting clubs always remark that it’s a slice of history coming to play in Church Stretton.
We have help from WeDoTennis who provide our coaching for all age groups. They also help us run Open Days, engage with local schools and advise us on grants and fundraising ideas. We run events for various local youth groups to introduce them to tennis, we use trainer balls which are slower, junior racquets and we have short nets, all of which make it easier to learn techniques. But most importantly we have volunteers to help and have a series of exercises to help people learn. At 60 plus I’ve frequently played doubles with someone who is 20 and he still manages to give me a pep talk in matches and his favourite advice to me is still “watch the ball Graham”.
We’ve also been running Walking Tennis, with the help of Exercise on Referral/The Leisure Centre, which has taken off in Shropshire with an older age group. Currently we’re seeing how we can work with the Pickleball Club, as this is another variation of tennis. For anyone who has walked through the park recently, it would be hard to miss the new tennis courts with the amazing blue and green paint finish. Getting the courts resurfaced was a tough job and involved some hard discussions between the Tennis Club and the Town Council. We were fortunate to have the support of Shropshire Tennis, Shropshire Council, WeDoTennis and club volunteers.
The situation looked bleak until just before Christmas, when we heard the amazing news that the LTA were giving the Town Council a grant of £55k. This is part of the Park Tennis initiative set up by UK Government (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) and the Lawn Tennis Association to encourage more people to play tennis in local parks. We then had to convince the Town Council to provide guarantees and commit £7,500 a year to a maintenance fund. The increased public access is part of the deal and you will not need to be a member of the club to book a session. As well as a new court surface, we also have an electronic gate. There will be a sign on it with a QR code you can scan which is linked to an LTA website where you can pay a small fee (probably £5 per hour per court, and if four of you are playing that’s only £1.25 each).
Some people have told me that tennis is elitist or expensive, which makes me laugh as I’ve bought several tennis racquets for £3.50 each in local charity shops and we recently got a very good ball deal of under £4 for a tin of four quality balls… In the near future we will be launching a free park tennis session with the Town Council and Tennis Club at the weekends and you will be able to sign up for this on an app. The session will introduce you to exercises to build tennis skills and all equipment will be provided. Every Saturday afternoon the Tennis Club run coaching sessions with a professional coach for adults and juniors. The first session is free, so why not come and have a go? The Tennis Club is actively looking for new members and if you are interested in joining you can try a social tennis session with us for free on Sunday mornings from 10am. You will be made very welcome. If you want to compete with other local clubs we have teams for Men’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Walking Tennis. And you don’t have to wear white to play tennis anymore. Come down to the tennis courts and I’ll be the one in the black hoodie. Cllr Graham Porter