Thame Tennis Club all set for year-round play

Rob Dearing (left) and Coach, Mark Wilkins

THAME Tennis Club members will now be able to play safely throughout the year, after Rob Dearing, the LTA’s Head of Participation, travelled up from the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton to officially open Thame Tennis Club’s new courts on Thursday (17/09).

After spending £90,000 on red clay courts that are more Southern Spain than South Oxfordshire, the club now has an all-weather surface that can be played on even when it is icy elsewhere.

South Oxfordshire District Council and the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) both contributed to the project, but the lion’s share of the budget was raised by the club itself.

Neil Morgan, the tennis club’s Chairman, said: “We emptied the coffers in the interests of having the best tennis facilities we could afford. We now have four excellent clay courts and top-of-the-range floodlights to go with them. We are proud of the fact that we never lock our courts. Although we are a members club, we encourage non-members to come down and try out tennis and we offer plenty of coaching and tennis-related fitness sessions for the general public.”

The club is offering a full adult membership that lasts until the end of April 2016, for only £100 as a way to introduce new players to the club. To find out more, and watch the video made of the occassion by Thame TV, visit Thame Tennis Club’s website