‘Superb tennis’ played at Whitechurch Open

WHITECHURCH Tennis Club has hailed its successful Tennis Open which was made possible by those in the local community.

The Open, which ran last month, welcomed more than 250 players from local tennis clubs and the wider county, including Ballinlough, Bandon, Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Douglas, Garryduff, Hazelwood, Kinsale, Lakewood, Lower Aghada, Mallow, Monkstown, Mitchelstown, Rushbrook, and Sunday’s Well.

Club secretary Joanne Sheehan said that there was “superb tennis” played and the best of home-cooked meals served up by their in-house Gourmet Girls, along with fabulous home baking by club members which were on offer all week.

“Whitechurch Tennis Club has been steadily growing since being founded in 1986 by founding member, the late Margaret Lynch,” said Ms Sheehan. 

“The club started out in the newly built sports hall at the time, followed by outdoor courts being built in 94/95 which were officially opened in 1996. Following on from that was the build of our fabulous pavilion and four courts in 1992.

“The four existing courts are barely meeting the demand for court time due to the enthusiasm of our members to play more than once a week. The club was balancing junior and adult coaching, various club competitions, and several schools along with the day to day membership usage and, with numbers projected to continue to increase, it was decided that the club facilities would have to grow to facilitate the demand.

“Some great foresight by those involved in the original site development had left ground to the back of the clubhouse to allow for such expansion so with the help of Whitechurch and Waterloo Community Association we successfully applied for planning for a new court. 

"Initial estimates for development costs meant we would have to apply for external funding.”

Earlier this year, the club was awarded over €130,000 through the sports capital and equipment programme which will allow new courts to become a reality and allow the club to welcome many more new people of all ages.

Ms Sheehan said the future is very bright for the club and that club members look forward to an even bigger tournament next year with the completion of the two new courts bringing it to a total of six.

She also thanked all members and the local businesses who supported the club’s raffle at this year’s tournament.