Wellington Veterans Tennis Club, Inc.

History of Wellington Veteran's Tennis Club Inc.

The Club started at the Miramar Tennis Club as the Wellington Racqueteers about 1985. It was particularly active in the off-deason and had several tournamenrts. Fred Scarlett was =very active in the organisation, The committee would provide soup and bread for lunch on Sundays and on spec ial occasions George Takacs would supp;ly one or two of his trout and cook them.
The Racqueteers was run independently of the Wellington Tennis Association. It had its own funds and only paid affiliation fees for those membets who did not belong to a WTA Club.
There were a few members from Lower Hutt, Petone and the Kapitii Coast. Lower Hutt had their own veteran's club and later Kapi-Mana started theirs. The N.Z. Vereran's Club was first run from the Hutt Valley.
The Club has always been well representsd in the N.Z. Veteran's Tennis Assn. fixtures. The oldest trohy is for a Team's Event held in Hamilton in 1988.
The biggest event held in Wellington was the Australasian Veteran's Team Championships held in 1990. There were over 600 entries from Australia and N.Z. Every court in the Wellington Assn., Lower Hutt Assn. and courts in Tawa were used to accommodate all the events. All finals were played at Central Park. The event had great sponsorship from UDC. The tournament was a great success with only one wet day. On that day a local fashion house opened its doors to the ladies as it was a Sunday. The ladies had a ball. Local members and N.Z. players collected overseas teams from their accommodation and ferried them to and from their correct venues.
Competitions have been held with the Hutt Valley for the Irma La Deuce Trophy, first played for in 1987 and with Kapi-Mana for the Over the Hill Trophy.
The Club moved to the Renouf Centre about 1995 and moved indoors about 2005. Club nights are held fortnightly on Fridays and some Sunday afternoons in winter.