Extract from “The County Express” dated Saturday August 15th 1964
Wollaston Vicarage has been demolished, some of the fine trees in its grounds
have been felled and houses are already going up on the adjoining field used for many
years by Stourbridge Rugby Football Club. Tennis is still being played on the two courts
at the end of the old Vicarage garden tenanted since 1931 by Wollaston Lawn Tennis
Club, but the days of the courts are numbered for their site too has been sold by the
Church authorities and will form part of the housing development scheme for the area.
FINDING A NEW HOME.
For some time past the officials of the Tennis Club have been preparing for the time
when the old home must be left and now arrangements have been made to re-establish
the Club on an attractive site of one-and-a-third acres just over the Stourbridge borough
boundary at Stourton.
Plans have been drawn up for laying down four hard courts, building a pavilion,
providing a car park for 40 cars, and eventually to put down a croquet lawn.
The
estimated initial expenditure on the project is £7,500 towards which generous contributions
are expected from the Ministry of Education and Staffordshire County Council, while
Stourbridge Town Council has offered a loan of £600 repayable over seven years.
FOUR HARD COURTS.
The Club has been fortunate in having among its members an architect. Mr W. F.
Homer, who is a partner in the Brierley Hill firm of Jennings, Homer and Lynch. He has
conceived a scheme for four red water bound hard courts which will accommodate an
increased Club membership and enable league tennis to be undertaken, and the pavilion
which will have a magnificent outlook over the surrounding Green Belt. The pavilion will
be constructed in timber on a concrete base, and faced externally with cedar boarding to
harmonise with the natural landscape. The accommodation will include a large clubroom,
in front of which will be a terrace overlooking the courts. The terrace will be protected in
part from the elements by a large overhanging canopy. There will be a kitchen, changing
rooms, lavatories, showers and equipment stores and in general it will be most suitable as
a social centre throughout the year.
It is intended that gradually the site will be
landscaped and planted with trees.
PRIVATE COURTS.
Before 1930 tennis was played in Wollaston only on private courts but the game
became so popular that those who used particular courts began to form themselves into
small clubs. One of these clubs used the grass court of Mr Herbert Husselbee in High
Park Avenue, Wollaston. Membership was limited to 25 playing members who paid an
annual subscription of £1.00. The rules provided that there should be no play on Sundays
and that members should provide their own balls. The first matches were against Marsh
& Baxter’s Athletic Club and Wollaston won.
VICAR BECOMES PRESIDENT.
On April 29 1930, the Vicar of Wollaston, the Rev. H. C. Wanstall, was elected
President. Mr Wanstall was a keen player, having his own grass court in the grounds of
the Vicarage where he used to play frequently with his brother Archie, Mr Richard
Lowndes of Beauty Bank, Stourbridge, and Mr J. F. Pearson, the headmaster of
Wollaston School.
The Club was so active and the wear and tear on Mr Husselbee’s court became
such that after a year there the Club had to look around for elsewhere to play, and it was
then that Mr Wanstall offered the use of his own court which the Club proposed to convert
into two. In 1931 the Club took possession and in the following year a hard court was laid
alongside the grass one at a cost of £25.
SECOND COURT £45.
In the following year the grass was replaced by a second hard court which cost
£45. The work of laying the courts was undertaken by the late Mr G. B. Chance of
Eggington Road, Wollaston who was Works Director with E. J. & J. Pearson Ltd, Brierley
Hill. The members were severely critical of the cost of £70 for laying two courts as this
exceeded the estimate by £10, and in order to meet the financial burden members were
asked to pay a year’s subscription in advance. Mr Wanstall’s summerhouses were taken
over to serve as a pavilion.
The late Mr George Perry, who was the Club’s first treasurer, was at this time
buying a house and he came to an agreement with the builder that a condition of the
purchase was that the builder should do the work of converting the summerhouses into a
pavilion for the Club
ROOF FELL IN.
In 1933 Mr Wanstall died and the Rev. J. R. Bamber became Vicar of Wollaston
and also a good friend of the Tennis Club. The water supply was connected. About this
time, as the records reveal, the roof of what was called the “Tea Pavilion” fell in but the
members delayed repairs until a new tenancy agreement had been made with the new
Vicar, whose interest in the Club was as yet unrevealed.
The Wollaston Club must have been one of the first to experiment with floodlighting.
Early in 1934 gas was connected at a cost of £2 and it was ordered to be of sufficient
power to allow for floodlights which were installed on the courts in 1935. The inspirer of
this innovation was the late Mr T. J. Bell, one of the founder members, who was a G.W.R.
goods agent.
FLOODLIGHTING FAILED.
The experiment was not a success, however. The lights attracted all the moths
and flying insects from the neighbourhood and players found that not only did these disturb
their playing style by flying in their faces but that periodically as they raced panting about
the courts they swallowed some of the intruders.
This was off-putting, especially for the somewhat fastidious ladies, and in 1936 the
floodlights were removed. To compensate for the loss of this amenity the Club that year
decided to invest in a new pavilion – the one that stands today – and this was erected at a
cost of £31.15s. The Club was frustrated in its efforts to get this erection insured against
fire because no insurance company could be found to accept the risk.
The Second World War years brought many difficulties for the Club. In 1940 the
cost of tennis balls went up from 11s to 12s 6p per dozen!. At the annual meeting that
year the balance in hand of £17 2s was regarded as very satisfactory. At this time, after
negotiations with Rev. J. R. Bamber it was arranged for the courts to be opened on
Sundays from 2.30 to 5.30pm. By 1942 several members were in the Forces and it was
possible to maintain only one of the courts in use. More and more of the members found
their time taken up by more serious affairs and before long the Club went into abeyance.
NEW BEGINNING.
It started up again in 1946 when members had been de-mobilised and a great deal
of reconditioning had to be carried out. This was undertaken virtually entirely by Mr F. A.
Hill with the assistance of his gardener Mr A. Brown, a retired postman.
When the courts had been restored to good order members began to trickle back.
At first there were only a few but as the facilities were improved numbers increased. In
1956 white plastic tapes replaced the old zinc ones and in 1959 the entire boundary
netting was replaced by new chain – link fencing.
CHANGING ROOMS NEEDED.
By 1958 it had become evident that a new changing room was required as the old
one was in such poor state and the committee gave deep consideration to all the pavilion
accommodation. Before embarking on a major scheme of renewal, however, the Club
decided to try to obtain from the Worcester Diocesan Glebe Management Committee a
more permanent tenancy agreement.
Initial negotiations were encouraging and plans began to form in the minds of
committee members but quite suddenly the dark clouds of dispossession appeared in the
sky and it became clear that not only would it be unwise to carry out costly work on the
premises but that if the Club was to survive a new site must be found.
ONLY TWO PRESIDENTS.
The Club has had only two presidents, the Rev. H. C. Wanstall and after his death
the Rev. J. R. Bamber, since whose departure from Wollaston the office has been vacant.
The first secretary was Mr. A. C. Legg, an accountant, of High Park Avenue, and he was
succeeded by Mr. M. S. P. Hathway, a solicitor .
The office was subsequently taken over by Mr. G. B. Chance who was followed by
Mr. F. A. Hill, of Little Croft, Wood Street, Wollaston, who held office for 25 years and then
became chairman when the late Mr. G. H. C. Burley resigned office.
Currently the
secretary is Mr. R. F. Wooldridge of 64 Brook Street, Stourbridge.
The founder treasurer was Mr. G. E. Perry, who held office until 1946 when Mr. G. H.
Aston took over and held office until he left the district a few years ago. Then Mr. D. J. C.
Johnson was appointed as treasurer.
16 ORIGINAL MEMBERS STILL.
Sixteen of the original 1930 members are alive: they are Mrs Bell (now living at
Weston-super-Mare, Miss Phyllis Perry (now Mrs P. Hill, of Hyperion Road, Stourton), Mr
A. C. Legg, Mr R. Richardson (formerly of Wordsley and latterly of Leamington), Mr F. A.
Hill (the present chairman), his brother Mr G. L. Hill (now of Oldswinford), Mr M. S. P.
Hathway, Miss Male (now Mrs M. S. P. Hathway), Miss Margaret Husselbee (now Mrs M.
Edwards of Wollaston), Miss Barbara Pearson (now Mrs F. A. Hill), Mrs F. J. Blakeway,
Mrs G. B. Chance (now of Brierley Hill), Miss N. Hill (now of Reading) and Miss Gwen
Barnes (now Mrs G. L. Hill). Of the founders, however, only Mr F. A. Hill remains an
active member. Membership of the Club is now well over 100 and it is confidently hoped
that when the new courts are open for play on May 1 next this number will have well nigh
doubled.