About Woolpit Tennis Club

A busy view of the Club (before the fourth court was added), with Woolpit Church in the background - picture taken on a cool Monday morning in March!

About the Club...

The club was founded in 1984, and two hard courts were built in 1986 on the village sports field [notes on early history]. In 1996, as a result of some hard work by members to raise grants and an LTA loan, we were able to upgrade to three all-weather green-and-red courts with full floodlighting. The fourth court was added in late 2005.

The amazing thing about Woolpit Tennis Club is the weekday morning club play (any adult member can come along without prearrangement - see playing times). Could you name another village club where you might find 20 people playing on a sunny Monday morning in February? OK, so some of us are retired; others choose their working hours so that they can fit their exercise in!

There is a thriving Junior Section with its own Club Evening on Fridays.

We are very lucky to have several qualified coaches among our members, so there are coaching opportunities both for children (from very young to very spotty) and for adults.

Browse through this site to see what we get up to. Then sign up!

Find us...

The Club is part of the Woolpit Sports Field at the bottom end of Rectory Lane - head for the church and take the road next to it at the east end of the churchyard.

How to join the Club

Have a look at the rules page [PDF format] and print a copy of the application form [ PDF format], which gives the current annual subscription rates, etc. Since our subscription year runs from April to March, we offer a reduction for new entrants from July onwards, so contact Norman Kenyon to find out how much to make your cheque out for.

Norman Kenyon
First issue was April 2001

Roger Eburne's notes on the early stages of the club

1984 The sports field was bought from the Church Commissioners for £25000 by the Playing Field Trust (subsequently merged with the Village Hall Trust) - although still a separate charity it has the same trustees. A sum of £8000 was spent on drainage and seeding with funds provided by the Village Hall trust and the MSDC. The National Playing Fields Association lent us £10000 which was paid back by the Village Hall over the next 5 years.

The tennis club was founded in 1984 and started playing at Stowupland High School on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

1985 The Cricket Club relocated from Haughley Park and the Football Club from the old Playing Field (next to the Hall).

1986 Two Tennis Courts were built at a cost of £14000 funded by the Village Hall £6800, MSDC £6200 and the Club £1000. A year later? floodlighting was installed for £2000 paid for by the Club.

1990 A Sports Pavilion was built at a cost of £50000 of which £24546 came from MSDC, £1000 from Woolpit PC and the balance of £24000 from the Village Hall.

1995 A third tennis court was built and the existing two resurfaced and colour coated for £31000. Funds from Village Hall via Sports Council £8000, via Lottery £5300 with Tennis Club providing £6000 and borrowing the rest from the LTA.
Re-opening 28th April 1996