Criccieth Tennis Club History Part 2

Continued...

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Dorothy Round, Ladies’ Singles Champion at Wimbledon in 1934, and 1937, Mixed Doubles Champion 1934, 1935 and 1936. Her parents used to spend their holidays in Pwllheli and as a schoolgirl, she came and played on our courts to practice before the Pwllheli Tournament, which always took place the week after the Criccieth Tournament. I remember one year during the 1920s, the week after the Criccieth Open Tournament, I decided to go to Pwllheli for the finals, mainly to see Dorothy Round in action in a tournament. Unfortunately, Mr. Duncan Macaulay, as he then was, who often refereed in our Open Tournament, and Mr. Wilkinson, who represented Messrs. Dunlop the providers of the equipment, etc. for us, spotted me, they approached me to ask if I would umpire the final of the Ladies’ Doubles. I accepted reluctantly because I could never forget how efficiently these two gentlemen had run our tournament the week before, which added so much to its popularity and success. I mention this episode because in 1933 there was a most extraordinary similar coincidence at Wimbledon The Ladies were on court that Saturday afternoon at Pwllheli. I carried out correctly the usual functions of an umpire before play began. Measured the height of the net, had a word with each of the linesmen as to their duties and started the game by saying “Play”. Dorothy Round and her partner won the first set. 

During the second set, she disputed a decision given by a linesman. She advanced on me in a menacing attitude towards the ladder and stated her case. I got down off the ladder to interview the linesman concerned, who confirmed his decision. I returned to the ladder and told her that I was sorry that she must abide by the ruling of the umpire, which was against her. She took it badly and if looks could have killed I was a dead duck or donkey! Unfortuate1y she showed her displeasure afterwards to myself and the linesman throughout the match, which she eventually won by two sets to one. Afterwards, her father apologised to me for his schoolgirl daughter’s behaviour. I told him not to worry about this as I admired her courage for one so young and told him I hoped she would persevere with her tennis, as I could see her on the centre court at Wimbledon in the near future. How right I have been.
I now quote from an article in the press in 1933. ‘Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Final between Helen Wills-Moody and Dorothy Round. Mrs. Wills-Moody won the first set 6 – 4. Second set Dorothy Round led 7 – 6 and 40- 30 on her own service. Then came a most unfortunate misunderstanding Dorothy Round had with a Linesman, whic’1 irritated the spectators and upset the players. Dorothy Round won the set 8 – 6, but the incident completely loosened her mental grip on the game she lost the last set quite quickly 3 – 6.

Another personality well known in the tennis world, who’ was seen on our courts at the age of ten years was Lt. Col. Duncan Macaulay, Secretary of the All England Club, Wimbledon, 1946 -1963. Referee at our tournaments 1926-1939. How grateful we were to him for those years of service.

Annual Open Tournaments. Many well-known names of entries are worth recording. The Riseley Brothers, J. B. Priestly, the author, Dodd and Mellet of South Africa, Commander Philip Glover, Navy champion for many years, Miss Thelma Cazlet now Mrs. Cazlet Kerr, Lady Megan Lloyd George, M.P., whom I had the honour of partnering on one occasion and many of the top County players from Lancashire and Cheshire.

The standard of play for many years between the wars was high. The takings at the gate for the finals were good. A license was granted to sell drinks during tournament week; needless to say, this helped considerably on the financial side. Unfortunately during the last few years, which included the last Open Tournament in 1939, the standard of play dropped considerably, consequently, the gate takings fell, in fact, the last tournament held in 1939 was run at a loss. Efforts have been made after the last war to revive the Open Tournament without success. 

The outlay of approximately £250 to ‘ put it on’ is too big a risk for the club to sustain. Should no stars appear to draw a gale, which is doubtful or a bad week of weather occur, would be disastrous. It was found out that no Insurance Co. would accept the weather liability because of the loss incurred in 1939.

Members Tournaments
These were held every year since 1893. Those held between the two world wars, which I was concerned with, commenced at 9 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m., weather permitting. Two perpetual Challenge Bowls were presented to the Club. The Men’s Singles by the Jagger family and the Ladies’ Singles by Mr. .Boadle of Buenos Aires, South America. After the Second World War, it was discovered that the Men’s Singles Bowl had been returned by the last winner but the Ladies’ Singles Bowl held by Miss Smethurst of Borth-y-Gest had not been returned. Thanks to the late Mr. Chivers I was able to trace the whereabouts of this Bowl and I retrieved it personally from a factory in the Railway Goods Yard in Hove, Sussex.

Many amusing episodes occurred on these occasions, perhaps the most unusual took place one summer. A mixed doubles match was put on court one afternoon and after it had been in progress for a very short time three of the participants came off court and arrived at the Secretary’s room with a complaint about the possible intentions of the other male participant. 

It appeared that their objection was that this gentleman was seen to have a revolver protruding from the hip pocket of his trousers. On investigation we found that this complaint was correct:. In spite of the fact that we were assured by this competitor that he had no intention of using it during the match, which made us think it must have been loaded. We persuaded him to put this murderous weapon in the Gentlemen’s Changing Room and carry on without it. He and his partner lost by two sets to nil, so it could possibly have been fortunate for his two opponents that the Course adopted was carried out.

Social, Humorous and Acrimonious Episodes

This Club, like most other clubs, has always thrived on humorous and acrimonious episodes, so much so that from my experience without grumbles, dissensions, backbiting and arguments, it could not be the Criccieth Lawn Tennis Club I am writing about! Nevertheless, many lasting friendships have been made and also I do know that many romances had their beginning at the club grounds, perhaps the latter were stimulated by the view of the Merioneth hills, which I consider on a fine summer’s evening, one of the finest views to be seen in North Wales. In the past when the blackballing rule was, in operation, what an opportunity this was for dissensions and how they did occur. 

Another cause of friction in the past and even today, there appears to be a sort of Kudos in playing on the first court. I believe there have been cases of players nearly coming to blows in this matter, especially during the years when one had to book to play on all courts on the slates provided for this purpose. I can only conclude that the reason for the rivalry to appear on Court 1 has been the idea that you are a superior player and imagine you are playing on the centre court at Wimbledon!
Dogs on the ground are often another cause of dissension. In the Bye-Laws one of the Rules has always been “Dogs must be on a leash”. This rule was generally observed but unfortunately in some cases, the leash was never tethered to anything but the dog. On one occasion this omission caused a violent rupture in friendship between two families. 

It happened to be another peaceful evening, when the sun was shining and the birds were singing and there appeared to be no acrimony on the surface, at any rate amongst the members. However, two dogs, a Pekinese and a cairn terrier, who were sleeping peacefully together under one of the seats, must have decided that things were not normal for Criccieth Lawn Tennis Club. All of a sudden they joined together in battle. They were soon parted with no injury to either contestant but alas this contest caused a permanent break in the friendship between the wife of a solicitor member and the wife of a chief constable member.

Another amusing episode was an occasion when I was Honorary Secretary. It was reported to me by groundsman Cartwright that after dark there was a mysterious light seen on the club grounds during same evenings. This puzzled us for some time. A burglar couldn’t be considered, as the light was only seen on the courts and the buildings were never broken into. We did consider however that it might be a member who had played on that day looking for a piece of jewellery or even a set of false teeth, but it happened so often that we ruled this out. Groundsman Cartwright decided to set a trap, and the culprit was discovered. It appeared that a local doctor, who lived in a house nearby, used to make periodic visits and with the help of a torch abstracted worms from the ground for fishing purposes. Because this gentleman’s wife and two charming daughters were members and in addition the thief, at that time, was chairman of the local Council and fished far Wales, I thought: it best to let him carry and although I did think it was a pity the club couldn’t have sold warms for this purpose. What a profit we could have made!

Criccieth Tennis Club has been very fortunate during its long history in having had the same very generous benefactors. Four names stand out Ellis-Nanney, Glynn, Briggs and Chivers. and there were many others. It also has been fortunate in having had many hard-working members. The family with the longest record of service in this respect must be Dr. Roberts and his sister Mrs. Lillian Griffith, who between them were Honorary Secretaries for a great many years. I can remember on many occasions during the Open Tournament weeks between the two world wars, arriving at the Tennis Ground at 6.30 a.m. to help Dr. Roberts and finding him already mowing the courts to prepare them for that day’s play.

Finally, we have been very successful with our groundsman. Seven names stand out. William Jones, John Griffiths, R. Hughes, Richard Parry, Revival Parry, Cartwright and the present groundsman Will Jones. These gentlemen could no doubt add to the ‘Humorous and Acrimonious Episodes’ chapter of this ‘saga’. The late groundsman William Jones, I am sure, had he been with us today could have told us why the donkey was castrated and what effect it had him with regard to pulling the mowing machine. I have been told recently by a member of long ago that she can remember the time when the donkey often went on unofficial strike and refused to pull the mowing machine. The only remedy to get the courts mown, she told me, was to enrol two or three members and a stout rope and they all pulled the donkey and the mowing machine. I guess from my experience of horses and donkeys our donkey took a dim view of this procedure, even in those days when unofficial strikes were not as common as they appear to be today.

Groundsman Revival Parry could perhaps tell us the extraordinary coincidence of how he came to succeed the late groundsman Richard Parry. The late groundsman Cartwright’s comments on the members had better be left unsaid! He was a prolific pipe smoker. This used to’ save me visiting the grounds on many occasions when I was Honorary Secretary if I saw clouds of smoke issuing from the groundsman’s hut as I was passing along the main road I knew he must be a duty. G1’O’undsman Will Janes, the present groundsman, naturally has his views on the members. Why not? There were humour and acrimony even amongst the groundsman. They must have caught the disease from the members! Nevertheless how grateful we are for their loyal service from 1892 to’ 1967.

Purchase of the Club Grounds. During April 1957, after the sad death of our landlord, Miss Dorothy Pugh Jones, Ynysgain, we were obliged to purchase the Club Grounds. We were grateful to’ the trustees of the Ynysgain Estate for selling the property to’ us at a very reasonable figure. Debentures were issued for this purpose, which was taken up by members and anther generation Criccieth residents. These debentures are being paid off annually by ballot. The Club in latter years has competed successfully in the Gwynedd League, Southern Section, Gwynedd League Knock-out Competition and the Men’s and Ladies’ Trophy. On one occasion recently we wan the North Wales Men’s Doubles Cup and a member, Mr. Tattersall, won the North Wales Men’s Doubles Championship.

In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a game for the amusement of guests to his home; Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan in the Vale of Clwyd. According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of Real Tennis and applied them to what is generally accepted as the origin of the modern game.