A TENNIS club in Newport has this week celebrated its formation 75 years ago.
Firbank Dale Tennis Club, in St Julian’s, was established back in 1947 when a group of residents of Heather Road, Elaine Crescent and Merlin Crescent joined together to buy a second-hand army hut.
This hut was put up on land leased from the council and became the Firbank Dale Social Centre.
The land already had tennis courts on it for many years, and these were renovated for the official formation of the Firbank Dale Tennis Club.
On Friday, members past and present gathered at the club for a special anniversary celebration – complete with a cake to mark the occasion.
Club president and lifelong member Mike Stevens said: “Firbank Dale Tennis Club has worked hard to reach this fantastic milestone in 2022.”
Over the years, there have been times when the club’s membership dropped in to single figures, but it always recovered and continued to provide a valuable facility for local residents.
Members raised funds to build a new pavilion in 1984 and worked to develop Firbank’s junior section. As part of this, links were forged with St Julian’s, Eveswell, Maindee and Durham Road junior schools and St Julian’s Comprehensive, who use the courts during the school term.
In 1995, the shale courts were replaced with artificial grass. And after further development in 2000, there was large significant increase in adult and junior club membership and a part-time professional coach was brought in.
A junior programme was developed providing a platform for children to participate in an outdoor sport and develop both their tennis and social skills.
In 2012, the social centre was forced to close for nine months due to a series of thefts and vandalism which made the building fall into disrepair.
In May 2012, a children’s pre-school nursery approached Firbank to use the social centre and garden. With the help from tennis club volunteers and the new users, the centre was re-opened in September 2012.
Despite the club being closed during the pandemic, membership numbers were maintained, and by summer 2021, a group of volunteers from the tennis club and Rainbows Nursery worked on cladding the club and improving the play area.
Club chairman Andy Studley said: “In 2022, funds permitting, it is planned to provide a nature trail for the Rainbow children to learn about nature.
“This will include bees, birds and the planting of environmentally friendly trees as part of the club’s 75th anniversary celebrations.
“We recently also installed a new surface on court two with the help from members’ donations, loans and fundraising activities.
“It is identical to court one which was replaced in 2017, which our members were thrilled with.
“Some promising juniors are starting to come through too from the appointment of our new coach, Will Croft, with the help of Tennis Squad.”
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