Rolling out the turf!! They began rolling out the turf on courts 3 and 4 today. Courts 1 and 2 need some further preparation, but hopefully will be ready for the new turf shortly.
Time to Enrol for 2015-2016 The courts should be renovated in the next couple of weeks, depending on the weather. Please visit the Join the Club page to find out how to join. The Committee is proposing very competitive basic fees, and is hoping to hear your ideas to make this a successful club. Key Dates: Annual General Meeting - Wednesday 23 September, 6.30pm Registration Day: Sunday 11 October 10am to 12pm Opening day: Sunday 18 October at 2pm Registration will be available on all three dates, but is also available through the Join the Club page. Also visit our Facebook page Annual General Meeting of the Whitford Tennis Club Wednesday 23 September 2015, 6.30pm at the Whitford Tennis Clubrooms, Whitford Memorial Domain Please come and share ideas for the coming year. WTC UPDATE Great news!! - work to renovate the tennis courts in the Whitford Domain has started. The work will be weather dependent and is expected to take around two to three weeks to complete. The new courts will be open to Whitford Tennis Club members. Non-members will also have access to the courts on the payment of a fee. Details to come. Please contact the club if you wish to have access to the courts. We apologise for any inconvenience during renovations, but the new courts will hopefully be worth the wait. The courts will be ready in TERM 4 for coaching. We will have coaching on Saturday mornings and on one or two evenings during the week, depending on demand. If you are interested in receiving coaching, for juniors or seniors, please send an email to whitfordtennis@gmail.com We will also have other playing opportunities for mid-week and weekend tennis. Details to come. |
Whitford Private Courts' Tennis Tournament
THANK YOU to all those who participated in our first tournament!
What a day! The rain cleared and play got underway on-time - 32 ladies and 32 gentlemen battling it out on private courts in Whitford - enjoying the sunshine and the gardens.
Well done to all the players and the organisers, and of course to all the court owners for making it such a great day.
A special thanks to our sponsors:
| Turanga Creek Winery |
| Barfoot & Thompson, Whitford |
| Breville |
| Dyson |
| RJB Design |
| Whitford Golf & Country Club |
| Formosa Golf Club |
| HunnyBunch, Whitford |
| No 5 Design, Whitford |
| Village Barn Whitford |
| Image Oasis, Whitford |
| Hunting and Fishing |
| Look at Me Hairdressers, Whitford |
| Leatherworks Limited |
| Whitford Liquor Store |
| Prenzel |
Club history
Whitford Tennis Club can trace its origins to 1901 - on 11 January 1901 an article published in the New Zealand Herald: "On Wednesday evening, January 2, the usual fortnightly meeting of the Whitford Mutual Improvement Society was held, but, owing to the holiday amusements, the attendance was not up to the average. As soon as the programme was through, a meeting was held to form a tennis club. On the motion of Mr F Trice, Mr H. W. Shaw took the chair. Miss E. Shaw, Miss F. Granger, and Messrs. E. Couldry, R. B. Martin, and G. Granger were elected members of the committee. Mr A. Hopkins was elected secretary and treasurer.” [Editor: No relation to the 2014 refounding secretary A. Hopkins!]
Article from New Zealand Herald 21 October 1929: "TENNIS DANCE
The Whitford Tennis Club’s first annual dance was held in the Whitford Hall last week. The music, supplied by the Hackensack Orchestra, was greatly appreciated by the dancers....”
Tennis was a popular pastime in the 1900s - clubs like Howick and Clevedon were also improving their facilities....
Top photo -tennis players in action at the Howick Tennis Club, 1904. The club was formed in 1902, laid down two grass courts on the Howick Domain in Moore Street in 1903, and opened a small pavilion there in 1904.
Second photo - women's doubles match underway at the Clevedon Tennis Club, ca 1914. The newly built tennis pavilion is in the background.
Where were the original courts in Whitford?
In the early days, tennis was played on two private courts with the main tennis court situated behind the Whitford Store, which is currently a carpark area. New tennis courts were built in the Whitford Memorial Sports Ground in the 1950s...
Proud day for the people of Whitford" New Zealand Herald 30th April 1957 This was the heading for an article in the NZ Herald following the opening of the Whitford Memorial Sports Ground on the 29th April 1957 by the Governor General Sir Wollougby Norrie on an 8 acre site.
At the end of World War II Whitford residents wanted to build a memorial to their community members that died in both the World Wars and the Boer War. The Government encouraged the community to build a community facility rather than a Monument.
It was recorded in the Turanga Newsreel "at a public meeting held in Whitford Hall on 14th December 1948” a forward stride was made in the adoption of a proposal that the Whitford memorial take the form of a Recreational Sports Area and memorial gate to the fallen in both World Wars
...Turanga Newsreel 11.1.1949. According to people who were residents at that time,Whitford families fund raised and worked very hard to establish the grounds. 
Fundraising by the community was supported by the Government pound-for-pound. It took until 1957 to complete the development of the grounds and Memorial Gates.
Levelling the ground Whitford, ca 1953 -
Work underway in 1953 on the early stages of the Whitford Domain (the future site of the Whitford War Memorial), gates, tennis courts and pavillion.
The opening of the Memorial Gates and Domain in Whitford in 1957.
The Recreational Ground was the centre of the Whitford Community Social life at that time as they were rather isolated. There was an active tennis club, basketball club and a Rugby Club.
Manukau City Council staff picnic at the Whitford War Memorial Domain, December 1966.
Civil Defence excercise 1967....
Manukau City Council civil defence exercise at the Whitford War Memorial Domain, 1967.
Creator: Shaw, David John, 1967
