Jingalup Tennis Club celebrates 100-year milestone

The Jingalup Tennis Club celebrated its 100th year this month, drawing in about 100 attendees from the district and State.

Young and old, including a number of ex-members, gathered to join in the festivities and catch up around lunch and a special cake marking the event organised by Jingalup’s Melita Jefferies.

Attendees were invited to don the club’s uniforms, past and present, as part of the celebrations.

In 1923, at the time the club formed, there were many tennis clubs in the Kojonup shire and interclub competitions were regularly held.

Now, 100 years on, Jingalup is the only social tennis club that remains in the shire and it is still going strong, with about 50 fee-paying members, as well as the occasional guest.

While there is no roll of honour at the club, it does boast a few lifetime members, including the Wright family.

During the celebrations, Chris Wright read out a short history of the club which highlighted the first AGM for the club was held in the Jingalup Town Hall in November 1923, which was the site of the very first tennis court in town.

In 1927 an application was made to the Kojonup shire for one acre of land with road frontage to Bridges Road, which is now known as Jingalup Road, which was granted, and the afternoon tea shed and four tennis courts were erected on the site in 1929.

In 1980 a fifth court was added for the juniors.

“The clubhouse was where some of you would have attended school,” Mr Wright said.

“This was moved from Mornington mill to Jingalup in April 1954, and was officially opened on October 12, 1954, and continued as the local school until it closed at the end 1970.

“The golf club used it for their clubhouse for many years and it was also used for various meetings and was the local voting booth at election time.”

Mr Wright said in 2002 the golf club was approached to see if they would be keen for the tennis club to relocate the clubhouse to the tennis courts, with both clubs continuing to use it.

“The building was starting to get in a state of disrepair from vandals, minimal maintenance and the white ants were just about to start moving in,” he said.

“We didn’t have the funds of $6000 to move the building, as we were also in the process of resurfacing our tennis courts the same year, so we drafted up a letter which was sent to all the Jingalup residents asking for donations and if they were keen to support the moving of the building, and we were amazed at the wonderful support we received.

“Thanks to our generous community, in September 2003 we had the funds to go ahead.”

He said RA Pomery, from Albany, arrived on site with its removal truck and all the gear required, jacked it up and carted the building in one load.

It was re-stumped from timber cut at Ciro Manolini’s mill and has since had a decking built on the front, had its walls re-gyprocked and the outside painted and roof replaced.

“I feel if we didn’t move this building I don’t think our tennis club would still be here today,” Mr Wright said.