Somerton Tennis Club (STC) has been active in the community for close to 100 years, moving to its present location in 1972, when the previous site was selected for re-development. At that time, subscriptions were £3 for single, £5 for Joint husband & wife and £1 for Children and student memberships if you paid by 31st March, after which the price went up by 50p/£1. 

Members of the club just played social tennis and did not take part in league matches. Unfortunately, the courts were in a poor condition being multi-purpose and were shared with other sports users.

Circa 1985, STC started playing league matches but players still had to be approved as being of an acceptable standard before being granted permission to play at club sessions.  

STC’s first clubhouse was installed in 1987 with a grand opening and the courts were eventually resurfaced in 1989.  There was no sink fund at that time and the playing field committee did not have any money so the tennis club obtained a loan from the LTA, which took 5 years to pay back, and four members of the club had to act as guarantor before the loan was granted.  

Big changes came about in 1999, when the tennis club obtained a 99 year lease from the Trustees of the Recreation Ground and took over the running of the facility and the club became more inclusive.  Fencing was replaced, floodlights were added with lottery assistance and the courts were resurfaced again in 2004.  Whilst replacing the fence between the clubhouse and Sevenacres, an extra bit of land was acquired, which is now our mini court.

Unfortunately, past records don’t record when the club employed its first coach but they include Andrew Jarratt who did some coaching at Somerton, was a former professional tennis player and Wimbledon tournament referee from 2006 to 2019. We are now on our sixth coaching setup, with Neil Driver coaching our adults and Luke Andrews leading the junior coaching team.  

In 2021, our original 34 year old clubhouse was replaced, providing an improved social space and in 2022 we modernised the club’s logo, badge and signage.

Recognising the need to support its growing membership and with ever increasing demands on court availability, the club has been investigating various options to build additional courts since 2012, so far without success.

Today, STC provides a friendly welcome to anyone that wants to play tennis in Somerton and its local communities. It has multiple teams playing in the Yeovil & District Tennis Summer & Winter Leagues, an active social programme of events throughout the year, interclub tournaments, the occasional friendly match, numerous social sessions for all abilities, plus coaching for juniors and adults, from beginners to advanced players.  

Membership of STC also includes membership to the neighbouring Sports Club, which has an active programme of social and community events plus houses a skittles club/alley, snooker club/tables and two bars.

STC Chairs include:
2022-Present Matt Brown
2020-2022 Jon Power
2013-2020 Bridget Hodsman
2012 Ian Preece
2011 Sean O’Neil
2008-2010 Ann Barnett
2009 Keith Gray
John Treece
Peter King
Lina Thomas
Les Doyle