Opening of the New Courts

Brilliant Exhibition Play by Miss Joan Fry

The Basford Lawn Tennis Club’s new scheme, the construction of four hard green courts and a pavilion, at a cost of about £2,500 was successfully inaugurated on Thursday when the opening ceremony was performed by Mr. J. Wilfred Shirley, the Vice President of this old Basford club. The occasion was marked by the appearance of Miss Joan Fry, the well-known member of the Stone club, finalist in the ladies’ singles at last year’s Wimbledon championship, who added to her honours at Torquay last Saturday by gaining the title of hard courts champion.

Miss Fry played two exhibition matches with Mr. Claude Whitehouse, the Wolverhampton player who is a prominent member of the Staffordshire County team, and the matches each produced some interesting tennis, Miss Fry being successful. The event itself, and the attraction of her appearance, drew an attendance of nearly 500 people to the opening ceremony, and there was again a large gathering in the evening.

THE NEW CLUB.

The new club, which is in West-avenue, is delightfully situated, and with the picturesque pavilion and first hard courts to be constructed in the district, presents an attractive appearance.

A good deal of interest centred round the new courts, which have been constructed by Messrs. W. H. Gaze and Sons of Kingston-on-Thames, with a new material invented and manufactured by Messrs. C. E. Ramsden and Co. of Fenton. Formerly hard green courts have been of the permanent type, which bind down solid, but the Basford club’s courts are of the semiloose type, and require rolling and watering. In colour they are exactly grass green and apart from the appearance, are said to be more restful to the eyes than the more familiar red courts. The surface material is known as “greenjohn,” and it has been patented in most of the important countries of the world by Messrs. Ramsden, whose experiments extend over the last three years. Permanency of the green colouring is obtained by firing the material at a very high temperature.

Mr. Herbert Gaze, the principal of the firm responsible for the construction, who was present yesterday, congratulated the club on having four of the most up-to-date and best type of courts in the country.

The handsome brick pavilion was designed by Lewis, Hollins and Jones, architects, of Newcastle and was erected by Messrs. Cummings and Sons of Hanley. This is now completed, but only two of the courts were ready for play yesterday, although the others were rapidly nearing completion.

BASFORD CLUB’S PROGRESS.

Mr. J. Wilfred Shirley, in declaring the new courts open, recalled that the Basford Lawn Tennis Club was inaugurated in 1884, and now had a very proud history. It had had a number of noted men as secretary at one time or another, the first being Mr. Edward Forshaw, who was succeeded in turn by Mr. W. Forester, Mr. William Pratt, Mr. William Forshaw, Sir Henry Maddocks, K. C., Mr. A. P. Ford and now Mr. H. T. Heatley. Since the inception of the club Mr. Heatley, had been the treasurer with a long record of 42 years distinguished service while for the last 31 years he has also combined the office of secretary with his treasurership. (Applause.) It was, no doubt, largely due to his enthusiasm that the Basford club had survived some awkward periods. (Applause.)

The club also owed a lot of its reputation to the fortunate circumstance of having Mrs. Heatley and Mr. A. P. Ford, both well-known county players, keenly interested. They both had the necessary qualifications for, and had played for Cheshire and Staffordshire, and he believed that Mrs. Heatley had the record of having taken part in more matches for Cheshire than any other player.

Last year, Mr. Shirley proceeded, it became necessary for the club to find a new ground, for unless they decided to leave their old courts they found that the courts would probably be leaving them. (Laughter.) As a matter of fact, a large part of the ground on which they used to play was now in the kilns, being made into bricks to ease the difficult housing situation. After viewing a number of sites, the committee at last chose the one he was now opening, and he thought everyone would agree that they had chosen wisely. In their determination to have a club and courts equal to anything in the country, they decided to embark upon a new venture, green courts being constructed, although the cost was something like £200 higher than would have been the case for red courts. He hoped that the players of the future would consider that is was money well spent. The total cost of the scheme would be somewhere round about £2,500, and he was sure they all hoped the club would have the success it deserved.

The committee placed the contract for making the courts with Messrs. W. H. Gaze and Sons, who were one of the highest authorities on the construction of hard courts. They were deeply indebted to Messrs. Hollins and Jones for having surveyed the ground and for designing the handsome pavilion, which has been built by Messrs. Cummings and Sons of Hanley. They were also grateful to Mr. F. J. Alsop, a vice president of the L. T. A., who kindly made them a present of the roofing tiles.

MISS JOAN FRY CONGRATULATED

The committee had asked him, on behalf of the club, to express their deep thanks to Miss Joan Fry, Mr. Claude Whitehouse and the other players who had come forward to give exhibition games. He was sure it would be the wish of them all that he should express their sincere congratulations to Miss Fry in winning the hard courts championship at Torquay last Saturday. (Applause.) He could assure her that the district generally followed her performances on the courts very closely, and they wished her continued success in the future.

They were delighted to see Mr. Claude Whitehouse, whose family had been known for a long time as keen sportsmen, and they well remembered them coming down in the old days of the Penn Fields hockey club at the time when Capt. W. M. G. Grove was captain. He had pleasure in declaring the new courts open, and he wished the club every success, both from the playing and the financial points of view. (Applause.)

Mr. Herbert Gaze, referring to the new surface, expressed himself as thoroughly satisfied with the manner in which they were constructed, and said he was sure that so long as the groundsman carried out his instructions they would find it impossible to have more perfect courts. Although his firm had been making more of the permanent type of hard green court – which were more expensive - they had no doubt that the loose type would be equally successful. He congratulated the Basford Club on having four of the best type of courts in the country. (Applause.)

THE EXHIBITION MATCHES

Exhibition games are not usually expected to produce particularly stirring duels, but the matches between Miss Fry and Mr. Whitehouse were full of interest and at times some thrilling tennis was seen by the large “galleries.”

In the afternoon Miss Fry won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. The first eight games of the opening set went with the service and then Whitehouse broke through to take the lead at 5-4. But Miss Fry won the next two games to take the set, her final point being won by a typical example of her brilliant retrieving of an apparently impossible ball. Miss Fry opened very strongly in the second set, leading 5-1. But Whitehouse rallied and took the next two games, his third ending only after half a dozen “deuces” had been called. Miss Fry won the ninth game on her service for the set and match.

Another protracted match ended with a victory for Miss Fry in the evening by 6-4, 6-4. Again, in the first set, “four all” was reached, but in the next two games Miss Fry made remarkable recoveries, each time pulling up from “love-40” and winning after several “deuces.” Strangely enough, the second set also opened in exactly the same manner as had been the case in the afternoon. Miss Fry leading at 5-1 and losing the next three games before taking the deciding game.

Both players were frequently applauded during the matches for clever stroke production. Although Whitehouse varied his length and pace more than Miss Fry, the Stone player’s hard hitting was allied with consistently accurate placing, and she was much quicker about the court. At times too, she proved herself a master tactician, and although most of the play was from the base line, when Whitehouse ventured to the net he was often beaten by judicious lobbing and was several times caught awkwardly in mid-court. A great deal of Miss Fry’s play rose to the heights of brilliance and her wide experience against many of the leading players of the country has resulted in a great improvement even upon her play when she was last seen in the district.

A mixed doubles exhibition match was also played, B. H. Cope and Miss Margaret Wynne winning the first set against S. Ford and Miss M. K. Smith 6-0, and losing the second 4-6. A feature of the match was that Cope and Miss Wynne won the first ten games and Ford and Miss Smith the last six.

Staffordshire Sentinel, 23 April 1926
Courtesy of The Sentinel News & Media