Newry Tennis Club
History of Newry Tennis Club
Chipperfields Circus including elephants passing by Newry Tennis Club circa 1960
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picture courtesy of Martin Mckevitt, Old pictures and videos of Newry facebook page
Early Years
In 1976 the Newry Tennis Courts on the Warrenpoint Road which had lain derelict for 20 years were taken over by a newly formed committee, with the assistance of the Newry and Mourne District Council who bought the site. The Committee members included Martin McDonnell (Chairman), Marie Devlin, Helen Boyle, Veronica Clarke, Tom Smith and Jim Clarke. The then Sports Development Officer for the Council, Raymond Turley, worked closely with the Committee to get the new club off the ground.
In that opening year the club had two hundred members including a junior section and, in fact, the tennis game was so popular that the membership had to be closed. The first tournament of the new era also took place in 1976. It is interesting to note that the men’s singles winner that year was Sean Hollywood; and the winner of the ladies’ singles was Belle O’Loughlin.
In 1977 the club employed the well-known Ulster coach, Sammy Tuff to coach the growing junior section. He was assisted by Lennie McCaigue now an international Hockey coach. By 1978 the club had acquired a new all-weather court and had entered the Belfast and District League, winning the junior ladies’ knock-out cup. By the end of the season there were five courts, two of which wre all-weather. That year also, Newry’s Leo Russell then a first year student, won the New University of Ulster’s Open Tennis Tournament held at Coleraine.
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1970's to 1980's
In 1978, Newry took over from Newcastle in the running of the running of the South Down, later to be known as the Newry and Mourne Open Championships. This event, at the time, was on the Harp Grand Prix Circuit. The first men’s singles champion was Lyle Carson, then playing for Ulster, Angela Ray (Edenderry) won the match with local girl Leo Russell in the ladies’ final.
Over the next seven years, the Newry and Mourne Open Championship became one of the major events in the Ulster tournament calendar, attracting all the top players in the province as well as from Leinster. Single’s winners included Lyle Carson, Michael Ferguson, Anne Kiernan, David Williams, Diane Craig, Margaret Redfearn Peter Lowther and John Biscombe. Some notable local achievements in the Open Championship were Frank McCormick’s narrow defeat by Lyle Carson in the first Open; the excellent match between Stephen Philpott and Peter Lowther, the then Ulster number one, which Peter won 6-4, 6-3 and Nicola McCormick’s performance against the South African Margaret Redfearn in the 1985 final. Nicola was number one junior in Ireland around that time. Margaret Redfearn went on to become the Irish Open Champion
These years marked the high point in the regenerated club’s history. In 1986 floodlights were installed and in the early nineties the courts were relaid. The senior team reached division one of the mixed league and the club also won the intermediate and junior men’s knockout cup in those years.
1990's to present day
During the nineties, the club with the loss of the Newry and Mourne Open, declined. However in recent times a new pavilion which is shared with the bowlers has helped to revive interest. There has also been a welcome increase in junior membership; and in 2006 the club has entered four teams in the Belfast and District junior league with the under fourteen boys winning their division.
On a sad note, 2006 saw the passing away of Father Tom Mcconville, longstanding club president. Father Tom, as he was affectionately known, and Belle O’loughlin, who is still going strong, were both survivors of the old Newry Tennis Club which folded in the fifties.
In 2008 the new polymeric courts were laid and in the period since the mid decade the membership of the club has grown.
The club was featured in an Irish News article in the summer of 2017.
Tommy McKeown
President
Tournaments
Newry Open
Newry Closed