Last week saw LTA President Cathie Sabin tour four of the North’s Counties, visiting a number of the region’s tennis clubs and spending time with their members and volunteers. Cathie’s tour began on 7th April in Northumberland, before moving to Durham & Cleveland the following day. Cathie then spent some time visiting clubs in Lancashire on 9th before finishing up in Yorkshire on Sunday 10th April.
Northumberland – 7th April
The first day of the tour began with a visit to Corbridge Tennis Club, a venue that was badly affected by the flooding last winter. The club was so badly hit that it was awarded £1000 of LTA emergency funding to help support the club in their effort to repair the damage. This first stop therefore gave Cathie an opportunity to see first-hand the hard work that had gone into getting the club back up and running.
From there, Cathie moved onto Tynedale Tennis Club in Hexham, the only club in Northumberland to still have grass courts. The long-established club, which has been welcoming player since it opened in 1888, has recently invested in their facilities, refurbishing six artificial all-weather courts.
The third stop on Cathie’s Northumberland tour was to a relatively new club. Ponteland Tennis Club was established ten years ago in 2006 but has already developed into a vibrant club with an excellent outreach programme. The penultimate stop during the visit to the County saw the LTA President visit Forest Hall Tennis Club, a thriving community club that takes pride in working closely with local schools.
Cathie’s Northumberland tour ended with a trip to Cullercoats Lawn Tennis Club, set against the dramatic backdrop of the iconic St. George’s Church. There Cathie took some time to meet the venue’s players, coaches and committee members and also watch junior coaching session. Of the visit, the club’s Chairman said: We were delighted to welcome Cathie to our club and honoured to be one of only a handful of clubs chosen for this prestigious visit…It was fantastic to be able to showcase our excellent facilities and coaching programme alongside demonstrating the enthusiasm and talents of some of our junior members, who are the future of the game”.
Durham & Cleveland – 8th April
Day two of Cathie’s northern tour began with a visit to Sunderland Tennis Centre to meet Everyone Active, the company that had recently taken over the facility. Whilst there Cathie witnessed an event put on by the centre for local children, many of whom had never previously competed in the sport. After spending some time with Durham & Cleveland County LTA’s new administrator Hannah, Cathie travelled to Teeside to visit Tennis World. There Cathie spent some time viewing the extensive facilities at the long established tennis club, comprising of 4 indoor tennis courts, 3 floodlit clay courts, 3 artificial grass courts and 3 cushion macadam performance courts. The final stop on the Durham & Cleveland leg of the tour took Cathie to meet the staff and members of Yarm Tennis Club. The market town tennis club has developed a reputation as one of the region’s leading outdoor tennis clubs since it was established in 1921.
Lancashire – 9th April
The third day of the Northern tour started with a trip to Wigan’s Community Indoor Tennis Centre a facility that has developed a reputation in recent years for developing young tennis players. The visit to the centre also gave the LTA President the opportunity to meet the Lancashire’s County LTA’s team of staff at their local office.
Whilst visiting Bellingham Lawn Tennis Club, Cathie took the time to sit down with the LTA’s Volunteer of the month Anne Miller. Anne took on the role of Chairperson at Bellingham LTC just over two and a half years ago and has been integral in developing a strong volunteer workforce at the club.
The third visit of the day took Cathie to Southport Argyle Tennis Club. There Cathie was able to view the result of the recent investment the club had made to improve their on-site facilities and enhance their members’ experience.
Hillside Tennis Club was stop number four on day three of the tour. The club’s Chairman, Rob Hemmings, provided a very warm welcome, producing tea and cake on arrival! The visit also provided Cathie with an opportunity to watch the club’s members participate in an American-themed tournament.
The jam-packed tour of Lancashire finally reached St. Chad’s Tennis Club by late aftenoon, where Cathie was greeted with yet more cake! The club was badly affected by flooding over the winter, so Cathie took some time to see for herself the fantastic work the club’s volunteers had done in restoring the venue to its pre-flood standard.
Yorkshire – 9th April
Cathie’s tour of a number of tennis clubs in Yorkshire on Sunday 9th April also took her around a number of other venues that were severely affected by the flooding that hit the UK in the winter months.
Yorkshire Tennis’ Chairman John Crowther and his colleague Councillor Don Stewart joined Cathie on the first stop of the final leg of Cathie’s northern tour, to York Tennis Club. Club Chairman John Linfoot (also colleague of John and Don as a Yorkshire Tennis Councillor) was present to show Cathie around the venue, which is one of the city’s most established and successful tennis clubs.
Stop number two of the day moved to Wheldrake Tennis Club, where Cathie took some time to speak to club members and have her photograph taken with volunteers. The club were also hosting a Quorn Family Tennis Cup event, which provided Cathie with a great opportunity to see some of the members’ tennis skills in action!
The penultimate stop for Cathie on day 4 saw her travel to the picturesque market town of Wetherby to meet the members of Whetherby Castlegarth Tennis Club. The usually thriving tennis club was devastated by the Boxing Day flooding which caused over £25,000 worth of damage. Thanks to the tireless work of a team of dedicated volunteers, many of whom turned out for Cathie’s visit, the club is now back up and running, providing excellent coaching and free play tennis opportunities for the local community.
The final stop of Cathie’s jam-packed Northern tour took her to the small but friendly Salt’s Tennis Club in Shipley. There Cathie heard how the club had rallied round to rectify the damage caused by December’s floods. Upon seeing the hard work that had gone into restoring the club to its former condition, Cathie remarked how impressed she was with the way Salts – and the other clubs across Yorkshire and beyond – had handled the situation they found themselves in after the flooding, and the impressive effort involved in the clean-up operation.
On behalf of the LTA North team, thank you to everyone who turned out to see Cathie and make her feel so welcome. We hope to welcome her back to the North in the near future!