1924-2014 by Brian Fulton

It has been suggested that the club may date back as far as 1924, but the earliest written record I have found is a report on a committee meeting held on 28 August 1938 and signed by J T Fletcher, Chairman.  The meeting was held in “Fletchers Shop”.  There is reference to a groundsman and the balance sheet for the year shows an entry “grass seeds two shillings and seven and a half pence” indicating grass courts were in use. These are believed to have been on the opposite edge of the cricket ground to the present hard-court site.  Attendance at meetings at “The Pavilion” show a large number of male and female members.

During the war period there are mentions of an annual dance held at Great Helmsley Institute and of reference to “allowing the soldiers to play on the courts at a rate of 6d each per week as arranged by Mr Fletcher and Major Lindsay.  Post war, things picked up slowly and membership in 1950 was only 31 adults and 24 juniors.  A committee meeting records the death of Mr Fletcher who had been a long time Chairman and the election of Mr CH Midgley.  A motor mower was purchased that year and an approach made to the Playing Fields Association to get a hard court (the accounts show one shilling paid to a mole catcher).

During the 1950s the club seems to have picked up with teams in the James Hamilton Charity Cup and a ladder competition.  Many members of the Midgley family appear on the committee and are joined by Don Walton and Gordon Broadley, who were still there on the committee in 2003.  There appears to have been an active social programme with many dances held each year.  Towards the end of the decade a campaign was started to raise funds for a hard court and this was realised by the end of the decade, when a team was entered into the Whitwell League.  In 1961, a meeting was held with the Sports Field Trustees to discuss the exchange of “an exceedingly tatty grass court” for a bit of land adjacent to the hard court, though realising this second hardcourt would take many years.

The club appears to have slipped into the doldrums in the 1960’s, with poor attendance at meetings.  Things picked up again the 1970 with a drive to attract membership and work started to find funds to build the second hardcourt.  A team was entered in the Hovingham and District league, winning the league in 1972.  The original hardcourt was resurfaced, and a second one built with support from the council. Friendly games were being played with local clubs and junior coaching provided. A second team was playing in the York League.  In 1985 the tennis club and Vikings netball club met to agree refurbishment of the courts and shared use.  At the beginning of the 1990’s membership stood at 45 seniors and 41 juniors, but through the decade membership and activity seems to have declined and by the end of the decade the courts were in a poor state and little used.

In 2001, a new group of members became active and rejuvenated the club.  Major repair work was carried out on the courts and a new constitution agreed.  Membership grew quickly during the decade, reaching over 150, with professional coaching for an active junior section.  The first men’s and mixed teams were entered into the York Leagues, starting a decade long string of league wins and promotions and reaching a stage where two men’s, one ladies and three mixed teams are playing regularly. 

To meet the needs for match play a temporary grass court is now created each year adjacent to the hardcourts. 

This short history has been produced from reference to old notes held by the club and from talking to some of the older members. 

2014 to present by Natalie Muir

The club unfortunately lost a lot of members following this period as expansion to a permanent third court was not looking likely. The court surface continued to deteriorate, thereby putting more players off, teams dropped away to leave only a ladies team playing in a league.

The court was repainted and relined by tennis and netball in February 2020 with the expectation that this would last up to five years at the most. The ground beneath is very waterlogged and there is an infestation of marestail around the site. Since then, the club has continued to struggle. The courts have continued to deteriorate, and membership has remained with those willing to play on the surface we have. COVID bought in the need for a booking system and the LTA’s Club Spark system was used. A brief highlight was a surge in members when tennis was one of the first sports to be reintroduced during COVID in March 2021. It was wonderful to see that members using the resurface facilities. In more recent years, the ladies’ team has had two successful seasons and is keeping the club together, together with a small junior section.

In 2019, application to the section 106 fund was being investigated and it would take a further five years to get planning permission and the funding in place to complete phase one of the project – a facility that offered three tennis courts and two netball courts on a new site at Reckondales field, currently under construction. The cost of delivering this project has consistently risen, nearly doubling what was initially expected almost five years ago. Even when it was looking likely we would be able to start, the archaeological survey requested by the council, as part of the planning process, identified a Roman minor town called Derventio beneath the area where the tennis courts were to be constructed and thus required Scheduled Monument Consent to build on. The restrictions added an additional £36,000 to the cost, which included laying a membrane, building up as opposed to levelling and having an archaeologist on site for any ground works performed.

Phase two, which we plan to progress in the future, will involve bringing water to the site and constructing a clubhouse for the use of tennis, netball, and football.