Northowram Tennis Club

Northowram Tennis Club is a social organisation run by volunteers. Below is a list of the club's committee members and their additional roles:

History of the club

Former resident, Mr Mark Scott, believes that the tennis courts were originally laid in the late 1960s.  He explains that "there are old photographs of the rec. prior to the creation of the existing football pitch and [thinks] the tennis courts and existing changing rooms were built at the same time".  Mark explained that prior to this there were two tennis courts behind the nurses' flats in the hospital grounds which were still in use in the 1980s.

As a child , Mark remembers elderly villagers referring to two other tennis clubs in the village in the 1930s and 40s. The first on the lawn behind St. Matthews Church and  the second next to the cricket club.  Such was the popularity of the game in those times, they also spoke of an annual grass court tournament/garden party which was played in the grounds of Springhead Manor.  Mark isn't "sure of when these clubs ceased to exist, but there’s no identifiable reference to any of them on any of the Calderdale League’s older trophies".

Prior to the 1990s the courts at the rec were used on a pay-as-you-go basis. In the 1970s and 1980s they were especially busy around Wimbledon fortnight and people would queue up to use them. During 1990s a club was established by Andrea Widdison, with around 20 members. The club entered Mixed, Mens and Ladies teams in the Calderdale League with both the Mens and Ladies teams competing in the first division at their height. Unfortunately, as the courts fell into disrepair around the turn of the century, they became unplayable and it was necessary for players to drift away to other clubs in the area.

In 2018 Peter Thornton took on the task of refurbishing the courts. However, Calderdale Council required a new tennis club to be formed to take over the leasing of the courts to enable the club to apply for grants.  Three years on, the club have had the courts refurbished with help from a £45,000 Sport England Grant and a £10,000 Suez Communities Trust Grant and members of the public are now taking advantage of the new facilities.