MRS. JOY MOTTRAM. Member: 1943.
Corrected by TG from DW markup 17.03.10
V few changes other than the name at the start.
Joy Mottram (nee Gannon) became a Junior Associate Member of Hurlingham
towards the end of the Second World War when she was fourteen. Her father
was already a Full Member and arranged this for her and her sister, Pearl.
As an Under-18 Member Joy took no part in the social life of the Club, but
remembers that American officers were entertained there at weekends during
the War. Joy only visited the Club to practise on the tennis wall, play
tennis with older Members from Rivermead and, in summer, swim in the
outside pool.
Her family lived in Rivermead Court, which then had hard courts where the
garages are now sited. She recalls that during the war the cellars were
divided into bedrooms where families could take shelter during air-raids.
Her father was an Air Raid Warden and was involved with one dreadful raid
when a bomb fell on the corner of Putney Bridge Road and Putney High
Street. It hit Cullens and a dance-hall filled with youngsters. A mortuary
had to be set up in a nearby garage.
Until 1953, when a part of the Club grounds was compulsorily purchased by
the L.C.C, the main entrance to the Club was from Hurlingham Road. However
there was a side gate near Rivermead Court and Members living nearby were
issued with a key by which to enter the Club grounds, on the understanding
that these were strictly for personal use. No one ever abused this
privilege.
For her coaching and serious tennis practice, Joy became a Member of
Queen's Club and, later, of the All-England Club in Wimbledon. There she
was coached by Dan Maskell.
For her coaching and serious tennis practice, Joy became a Member of
Queen's Club and, later, of the All-England Club in Wimbledon. There she
was coached by Dan Maskell.
In 1939, when war was declared, all tennis tournaments were cancelled but,
when they were re-started, she played in, and won, the Under-15 and Under-
18 Tournaments at Queen's Club. Later she was selected by The Tennis Club
of Great Britain to play tournaments in Northwick, Torquay, and Manchester.
In 1947 she played for the England Team in Paris, and thereafter she
became a world-renowned tennis player in Women's Singles and also in Mixed
Doubles with her husband, Tony Mottram. Her sister, Pearl Gannon, now Mrs.
Panton, was also a successful tennis player who became Captain of the
Surrey Ladies' Team.
Mrs. Mottram is no longer a Member of Hurlingham as she lives in the
country, but her son, Buster Mottram, also a remarkable international
tennis player, continues the Mottram family tradition at the Club.