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A History of Brentwood Tennis Club.
The Brentwood Tennis Club commenced its life as a section of the Brentwood
Cricket Club, and to quote their Minute Book of March 7th 1883
"It was decided that a piece of ground be prepared for Lawn-Tennis
and that each subscriber of one guinea and upwards should have the
privilege of taking a lady on the ground to play Lawn-Tennis"
Thus the Tennis Section started and on April 12th 1883 a sub-committee was
formed "to arrange for Lawn-Tennis" consisting of a Mr Hayne and a Mr p.m.earle
with Mr Grinstead being co-opted on May 24th.
This arrangement continued until November 20th 1885 when it was decided that
the Tennis Section should separate from the Cricket Club and "rent a portion of
the County Ground for £15.0.0. per season."
In March 1888 a Mr g.sargent was Honorary Club Secretary and appears to
have been responsible for arranging that the Tennis Club once more became
amalgamated with the Cricket Club on April 23rd 1889, with j.h.gwennel and
c.f.lewis acting as the Tennis Committee. It appears that the Tennis Club
Section at this time had three courts at their disposal and it was not until 1904
that four courts were in use. At this time the subscriptions were set at £1.1.0.
for gentlemen and 10/6d for ladies.
The affairs of the Club continued happily for a number of years with, in 1910,
the Tennis Committee consisting of Messrs. Keith, J. Gamble, J. Norden, D.A.
Dunning, E.J. Dawn, E.E. Worrell and R.H. Hartley.
A notable event at this time was the commencement of The Mid-Essex Invitation
Tennis Tournament, which was held at Brentwood and continued annually until
1931.
The Club prospered until the outbreak of the First World War with five courts
being in use in 1914. However, from about 1916 to 1919 the Club seems to have
gone temporarily into limbo before being revived in 1920, with tennis permitted
to be played on a Sunday for the first time.
From 1924 to 1929 the Tennis Section progressed well with a Mrs Russell and a
Miss Hodge said to have 'given much of their time to the Tennis Committee.'
In 1931 the records show that the Mens Captain was H. Clarke and the Ladies
Captain was Mrs A. Stevens with Mrs H.C. Mortlock as i/c Tennis Section and
Match Secretary.
Two important developments took place in April 1933 when a Tennis Pavilion was
erected at a cost of £98.0.0. and the Club became affiliated to the Essex Lawn
Tennis Association.