Glamorgan LT & Croquet Club

Members might be interested to learn the following.  

Our grounds are leased from the Nicholl’s Estate which is based at Merthyr Mawr House.  For many years before the present occupier of the house (Rory McLaggan) took over the running of the estate, the house was occupied by Rory’s parents Murray and Jenny.  Jenny was a Miss Nicholl.  She and her husband Murray, occupied the house and ran the estate, whilst involving themselves in the local community.  They took an active interest in the local Brownies which met at Merthyr Mawr and our tennis club.  Jenny is and has been our President for very many years.  

Like many tennis clubs in the UK, ours grew out of an archery club and a cricket club which used not only our grounds but also the field beyond, down to the river.  Indeed, lawn tennis as a sport was first played at Lord’s cricket ground at St John’s Wood, London. Whilst waiting to play real tennis at the courts there, the members erected a rope as an unofficial net and started playing competitive games against each other on the cricket outfield. As time went on, those players introduced rules which were eventually formalised into a written document. Fortunately, the popularity of our sport grew and spread countrywide.

Then in 1897, the members of our club which was at that stage not called a “tennis club” decided to write to the powers that were with a request to purchase “a set of tennis”.  A short while later, that set was duly delivered in a box containing a net, a ball, and 2 racquets. The first record of formal tennis being played at Merthyr Mawr is therefore dated 1897.  

In 1997, Murray and Jenny hosted a wonderful party at Merthyr Mawr House to mark our centenary.  During that year, a number of members travelled to Dublin where an unforgettable match of mixed doubles was played against Donnybrook Tennis Club, closely
followed by an equally unforgettable evening of inter Celtic socialising. There have been other trips to play tennis elsewhere.

We trust that the present membership will be similarly enthused and motivated to arrange events, trips, and matches of as many different types as they wish and that the name of Glamorgan Lawn Tennis Club will continue to appear in accounts of sporting fun for generations to come.