Snitterfield Tennis Club has come a long way since the open meeting in the Village Hall in March 1999, instigated and chaired by John Parnham, and ably abetted and supported by his late father, Maurice (known to all in the village as Bill)
It is difficult to relate how the idea was conceived, but it is acknowledged that John, and a number of like minded residents discussed the formation of a committee and fund raising for the construction of two tennis courts as a millennium project for the village.
Although a main lottery application was turned down, grants from Stratford District Council, and, latterly, from the lottery funded ‘Awards for all’ together with generous donations from the Parish Council and numerous individuals in the village and surrounding area enabled the construction of two all weather hard courts in the spring of 2000, with the first games played in July of that year.
Presently, the club has 115 adult and 120 junior members and benefits from being part of Snitterfield Sports Club with facilities on the Wolverton Road.
In 2002, a major programme of coaching under the stewardship of LTA coach, Ralf Neilsen, was undertaken, made possible by matched sponsorship from the Birmingham based stockbroking firm Harris Allday and Sportsmatch.
This programme was developed further in 2003 and 2004 with a new sponsorship deal, this time with Bliss (Flights of Fancy) and Sportsmatch.
Since then, the coaching programme has been sustained withs funds from various social activities and Ralf has been ably abetted by David Howard of Henley in Arden Tennis Club.
Junior coaching for 4 years old to teens has regularly taken place on several early evenings a week as well as 3 day courses in the school holidays.
For adults, there has been coaching for beginners and intermediates with clinics to look at specific problems with one’s game. These coaching sessions attract players from Stratford, Warwick and as far a field as Morten Morrell, some 10 miles away, as well as, of course, Snitterfield and the surrounding villages.
The club continues to grow in stature and is keen to facilitate use of the courts all year round, and to this end, a floodlighting scheme has been implemented and floodlights to both all weather tarmacadam courts were available from early November 2005.
With the majority of members having email facilities, an innovative online booking system has been developed by one of the club's members in order to save wasted journeys for distant members and provide much needed feedback to help the committee determine future policies.
For further information about any topic concerning the club or if you wish to act as a sponsor in anyway, please contact one of the following officers: