Our history
The history of the club commences when Kathleen Walker and her husband moved to Frensham in 1947, being an avid tennis player Kathleen was disappointed to find so few people interested in the game.
The courts were in a very poor condition and you paid the Parish council a small sum to play. Kathleen was able to strike up some more players and although it wasn’t established as a club they were able to use “The Hut” which is where the pavilion stands today.
After some time the courts were worse for wear and the parish council was debating whether or not to dig them up and replace them with another bowling green. On hearing this news Kathleen went round asking villagers if they would be interested in joining a tennis club, and at that time subs were £1 a year! Many were interested and armed with this information Kathleen spoke with the council who finally agreed to keep the courts.
Frensham tennis club was formed in June 1970 and the council agreed to have the new courts made ready for play by May 1971.
Over the years Kathleen helped many children to play tennis and those children are now parents with children of their own passing on their tennis knowledge. Kathleen continued her amazing work supporting the club with many of our long standing members who are still using the facilities today.
As a club and village we are indebted to her and those who supported her for keeping Frensham tennis club alive.
Kathleen continued to play tennis until she was 80 and in 1986 was made a life member. Kathleen died in 2005, and in 2008 a clock was unveiled at the club in her memory.
Throughout the years changes have continued to take place. In 1979 the cricket club needed to rebuild the sports complex, so together with the bowls and two football clubs we found various ways of raising money and created our own clubhouse.
In 1980 the club had its first in house tournaments with the finals being played in september whilst our pavilion building was still covered in scaffolding.
The ladies club sessions have developed strongly over the years and continue to this day. They celebrated their 25th christmas lunch in 2007. Floodlights were installed to allow year round play through the dedicated work of Ron Taylor, the chairman at the time who managed to secure lottery funding. The clubhouse was renovated in 2006 providing us with some superb facilities to continue our active social and league calendar.