Appeal for Cuckfield tennis club’s past members to celebrate 100th anniversary

Cuckfield Tennis Club in 1952. Back Row: Mr Fox, Mrs. Patient, Gillian Patient (Lindsay-Stewart), Ken Dean, Mr Groves, Boy Upton, Mr Lisle. Front Row: Janet Hyslop (Adam), Peggy Baker (Mower), Edward Fox. Picture credit: Peggy Baker (Mower)

May 6 marks 100 years since the club first started, and current members plan to celebrate with a series of events throughout the summer.

They are also hoping to make contact with any past members to invite them to some of the events planned.

Past members are asked to contact the club via its website, which can be found at cuckfieldtennisclub.org.uk.

Cuckfield Tennis Club in 1949. President: Mrs Grand, Treasurer: Mrs Seldon, Secretary: Miss Francis Mitchell. Also in picture: Doug Gold, Mr Lisle, Major Waring’s Son or Son-In-Law, Boy Upton (far right), Patricia Brett, Jean Goddings, Prudence Smart, Mary Barratt, Brian Gubbin, Alison Brown. Shirley Sangster, Rosemary Gold, Jane Lisle, Ann Brinkler, Norman Cook, Mr Brolly, Alan Bilsby, Meg Brolly. Picture credit: Hazel Manvell (Gubbin)

The club’s main anniversary celebration will be held on Saturday, May 2, held in conjunction with the Annual Cuckfield Cuckoo Fair and the Lawn Tennis Association Nature Valley Big Tennis Weekend.

The event’s provisional timetable will see tennis coaching for members from midday, followed by open courts for non-members from 1pm. There will also be a drone picture taken at 3.30pm and a cake cut at 4pm.

Ray Key from Wisdom Sports will also attend to provide demonstrations of tennis rackets and ball machines from 1pm, and non-member coaching is available from 1pm.

Memorabilia will be available to view in the clubhouse, and there will be an archive of dress through the ages.

Other events marking the anniversary year will include a themed tennis tournament, set to take place on Saturday, June 13, from 2pm.

The event will be open to current and past members, and players and spectators are encouraged to dress according to a decade between 1920 and the present day – a prize for best dressed person will be awarded on the day.

The tournament will be followed by a barbecue and picnic.

Planning is also underway for an anniversary treasure hunt, set to be held on Sunday, July 5, from 11am.

Events are provisional and subject to change.

Current club members would also be interested in seeing any old photographs or tennis related memorabilia, or hearing stories about the history of the club from past members.

The first reports of Cuckfield Urban District Council considering provision of tennis courts are dated 1914, and by May 6, 1920, Cuckfield Lawn Tennis Club formed of two grass courts at a cost of £30 in the Vicarage field.

Play continues through wartime as the 1943 Annual General Meeting reported 30 members and the club won the Challenge Cup against Haywards Heath.

The clubhouse was erected in 1969, when each member was asked to lend £100 to the project, a loan which was repaid.

The clubhouse was extended and professionally clad by the members in 2000, and the club became a registered company and a charity and took a lease for the courts and clubhouse from the Council in 2014.

Timeline information has been provided by Cuckfield Museum, and contributed to by club member Gerry Canning, who assembled the post-1960 timeline from his own recollections and by talking to former members.

Gerry and fellow member Craig Lawrence are researching the history of the club, and ask that anyone with pictures or information makes contact with them at cuckfieldtennisclub.org.uk.