Club History

Founded around 1950, the club was formed at the request of Sir Geoffrey and Lady Gibbs for the local people of the two villages to use the court in the grounds of Clifton Hampden Manor. Eric and Joan Oliver were asked to form a committee and, together with Jean Griffin as Secretary and Rosemary Woods as Treasurer, they welcomed the first 25 members to the club. The committee of elected members ran the club for many years with Joan only retiring as Chair at the end of the 2011 season.

Over the years many tournaments were held with Dorchester, Benson and Abingdon. Local tournaments sometimes were so oversubscribed that requests were made to the nearby Riverside Hotel in Burcot for use of their court and, on occasions when another was needed, the court at The Coppice was procured by kind permission of Mr. Holt. In this way, all the matches could still be completed in one day with runners travelling by bicycle or car between the courts to keep appraised of the match status. Finals were held at The Manor.

In the days when wooden racquets were commonplace, there were many good players including the Headmistress of the primary school, Mrs Gertie Sandall and her husband, together with the choirmaster and his wife. This spirit of inclusivity continues to this day and the club now has its own court on the recreation ground in Clifton Hampden.