This was the first club I joined, back in 1951. You had to be fourteen to play, so on my birthday my uncle Sandy (Alec Mason) took me along.
I have a lot of photos from the time, until I left about 1960 to join a club in Ivanhoe, now closed down.
The courts are at the corner of Glenferrie Rd and Cotham Rd, Kew, behind the Sacred Heart church and school. I went to the school, which has expanded greatly since.
I came back to Kew because it has a lot of social tennis, something a lot of clubs seem to be missing. Regular groups play Tuesday mornings, Thursday mornings and Sunday afternoons. Well, largely the same group!
Junior teams play Sunday mornings. One lot starts at 8.30am, another at 10.30am.
We recently had the Annual General Meeting, and not much changed (and there were not many there to change it!) Helen and John Gorman are Secretary and Treasurer, thus holding the reins of power at one address. Nick O'Bryan is Vice-President, and Junior Secretary with wife Cathy, and Damian Renehan retains the position of President.
Stereo photographs. I occasionally take stereoscopic pictures, and I have printed some red-green versions here. If anyone happens to have red-green glasses left from the pictures or whatever, you could look at them.
The Junior finals have been played. Boys 4 lost to Oakleigh, Girls 3 lost to Mount Waverley, and Girls 4 lost to St Kevin's, Ormond, in the semifinals. Boys 2, however, made the Grand Final, where they lost to St Dominic's, East Camberwell in a very high standard match. The players were Darcy Kiernan, Christopher O'Bryan, Michael Gorman, Josh Bentley and Oliver Deane.
It can be seen from this picture that there was a strong breeze!
On the playing oval next to the courts a structure has appeared!
When it rains this should hold 124,000 litres. The courts may get some of that....
If it doesn't rain, a couple of windows and we have a new classroom!
The Restrictions....
Stage 3a is currently in operation. Somewhat to our surprise, we can still water half our en tous cas courts. In other words, one. You can water this court before each set, but not after! On days when the courts are not in use, or on extreme hot and/or windy days, the court can be watered for up to half an hour between 12 and 1pm, and between 7 and 8 pm. We are in a better place to continue than many clubs, because much of our play is social. If the courts are wet we can use them all, if not we can still use the artificial grass ones.
We were thinking of taking away one of the nets, but it is better for the courts if we use one one day and the other another day. So as long as people are behaving themselves, both nets may stay.
This is the courts seen from the school yard. The grounds beside them are an oval for the school.
From the courts, the church rises above the school, which rises above the clubhouse.
If you want to write to the club, the address is:
I also do web pages for my other club, St Bernadette's, West Ivanhoe.