Southbroom Tennis Club serves up aces with launch of upgraded clubhouse
The club appears to be going from strength to strength.
Southbroom Tennis Club is enjoying a rejuvenation of sorts.
After months of hard work and careful planning, the official ‘raising of the flag’ to celebrate the launch of the beautifully upgraded clubhouse took place last week.
The project was spear-headed by Rolf and Sylvia Gudegast, with support from members and sponsors.
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Current members were joined by those from yesteryear, including the likes of Terry and Jenny Mitchell, Howard Kelly, Dave and Mary Hallé and others.
Terry was club captain from 1975 to 2008, which is definitely a club record and possibly a national one, too.
The gardens have been lovingly tended as well with numerous (strictly) indigenous plants added to the grounds in Eyles Park, with Sylvia receiving wise advice from Anne Skelton of the Southbroom Conservancy.
Speeches were made by Rolf who, with Sylvia, oversaw much of the work, as well as past chairman Peddy Bam and current chairman Luise Mohr.
Guest of honour, the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality mayor, Cynthia Mqwebu, also gave a short speech, wishing the club well.
She was excited to hear about a programme to take the sport into local inland schools and optimistic that good would come from this.
The various speakers all shared information and anecdotes, with great humour, on the history of the club and the tremendous amount of work that had gone into sprucing things up.
Louis Boshoff played the trumpet as the flag was raised, the moment coinciding with a fleeting splash of sunshine on the clouds before dusk settled in.
Photographs of all the past chairmans have been placed under an updated honours board.
Out of interest, they are Byron Purtell (1975-6), Dick Hooper (1977-80), Willie Rush (1981-90), Ray Barnes (1991-2008), Derek Sansbury (2009), Terry Mitchell (2010-12), Peddy Bam (2013-14), with current chairman Luise Mohr having served from 2015.
There was a wonderful turnout, with the tasty snacks devoured in no time as friends and family chatted well on into the evening.
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