A new interpretative display planned for installation at the Clifton Creek Public Hall and Recreation Reserve has allocated the Tennis Club a panel in which to record some key info about who we are and what we do.

This has sent me into to archives once more. Luckily there is a vast file detailing the meeting notes, correspondence and finances from the Tennis Club's inception - first meeting on 29th October 1980.

These records are a testament to the dedication and community spirit of these volunteers in  fulfilling their aim of building a club and all of its infrastructure at a time when district tennis was booming as a famiy friendly recereation.  

From one not involved right at the start,  it seems those first meetings were a frenzy of fundraising activities  : bingo nights, coffee mornings, cakes stalls, catering for weddings, raffles, hoy & euchre card evenings, country & western balls, tupperware parties and more raffles. The goal was to raise  dollars in order to qualify for a 3 to 1 grant from Bairnsdale Shire of up to $6000, matched with a club sum of $2000. With fundraising well in hand after a year or so, the working bees and project management for the construction of two courts began. 

Howitt Park kindly entered into an agreement to hire some of their courts until Clifton Creek had their own during the first couple of years.  Then it was all about  balls, trophies, team selections and whether to impose physical boundaries for club membership. 

Wow! I cannot imagine how busy these founding members were - doing all of that whilst raising families, engaged in full time employment and running farms and businesses. 

The 2 asphalt courts at Clifton Creek were officilaly opened in November 1982. Club incorporation status occured in 1984.

And of course that was just the start!

With thanks and appreciation for the determination and energy of our tennis community in working hard to establish and maintain a great place for sport and recerration in our local area.