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A Brief History of West Bridgford Tennis Club
West Bridgford Tennis Club is believed to have been founded in 1885. Its first home was on
Millicent Road, at the junction with Bridgford Road. A move to Wilford Lane, close to the
river, followed in 1902. The Club then relocated to its existing site in 1906.
The members built a timber pavilion comprising two changing rooms separated by a shelter.
Extended many years later, this pavilion remained in place until it was demolished in 1985.
In 1920 the Club became a Company Limited by guarantee (West Bridgford Lawn Tennis Club Limited).
One of the most important steps in the Club's history followed in the same year, when the
freehold of the ground was purchased with the aid of loans from members. At that time the
Club had seven grass courts and four red shale hard courts. However, the red shale courts
were let to a separate Club known as the Hard Court Club until after the second world war.
An old wooden railway carriage beside the hard courts served as a separate pavilion for
the Hard Court Club and survived as a shelter until the 1970's.
There were occasions during the 1950s when the Club seemed near to closure but the hard work
of Committee members enabled the Club to survive. The annual senior subscription, which had
been three pounds three shillings in 1938, had risen only to three pounds ten shillings by 1960.
Despite a shortage of members, though, the men's first team was consistently successful,
often finishing top of the first division of the Nottinghamshire League. In the 1960s the
Club was more prosperous and in 1965 floodlights were installed on two of the hard courts.
The Club was then threatened by a proposed road scheme (which would have involved the
compulsory purchase of part of the ground) for several years but eventually the Council
abandoned the idea. During the 1960s and 1970s the Committee considered potential
developments of the ground which would have involved sharing part of it with another sport
(squash, then badminton then indoor bowls) but none of these projects came to fruition.
In the 1970s with the annual senior subscription still in the region of £5.00, the Club
was in a weak position as other Clubs began to invest in all-weather courts. Eventually
enough money was raised to re-surface two of the dilapidated shale courts with grey-green
grit but it was not until the early 1980s that an enthusiastic Committee embarked on a
series of major steps forward. First three new tarmacadam courts were constructed
(where the indoor courts are now) followed by the construction in 1985 of a new brick-built
pavilion which was paid for by selling the land which is now the site of the two bungalows
separating the Club from Little Bounds. In 1988 the two grey-green grit courts were
resurfaced with tarmacadam and their floodlights were renewed. In 1990 the five remaining
grass courts were re-surfaced (three acrylic and two tarmacadam) and floodlit for the
first time.
The improved facilities had justified substantial increases in the subscription so that for
the first time the Club was able to pay its way from tennis income whereas previously jumble
sales and other fund raising events had been necessary. With the appointment of a Club Coach
in 1990 an expansion of the coaching programme began. The number of members (of all ages)
increased steadily. Greater strength in depth ensured that the Club's teams continued to
prosper in an ever widening range of competitions.
In 1995 the Committee submitted an application to the new National Lottery for a grant
towards the cost of new indoor courts. The application was successful. Various problems
were surmounted and eventually (thanks to the Lottery grant an LTA loan and a grant from
Rushcliffe Borough Council) the new pavilion, gymnasium and indoor courts were opened in
September 1999. Three of the outdoor courts had been resurfaced with artificial grass as
part of the project. The pavilion which had been built in 1985 had to be demolished to
create a larger car parking area. The new facilities (staffed for 13 hours every day)
provided the opportunity for even more tennis and coaching activity at all levels.
In some respects the Club has changed. It now reaches out to the wider community,
not just its members. It now has a professional management team, other paid staff and
more coaches than before. However, it is still (as has been the case ever since 1885)
run by an elected committee of volunteers on a not-for-profit basis with the object of
providing the best possible value for all who use it.
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