FLTC FOUNDED IN 1912
A SHORT HISTORY
Fairhaven Lawn Tennis Club originated from a meeting held in 1912 and 88 members were duly elected in January 1913.
The (first) AGM was held later that year in the Boardroom of the Fairhaven Estate Company (the owners of the Fairhaven Lake complex) and by this time, membership had grown to 122 and the club had 7 grass courts and a croquet lawn.
Ownership of the Fairhaven Lake complex passed to Lytham St. Annes Council during the 1920’s.
Membership levels fell through the late 1920’s and by 1935 was down to 53. However, a push for new members saw numbers rise again to 110 by 1938. This proved short lived when war broke out in 1939. At this point the club had use of 6 grass courts and a croquet lawn.
DID YOU KNOW?
During the war, the croquet lawn was ploughed up and used by the Council to grow vegetables. When the war ended the vegetable patch was turned into an additional tennis court – we now know now this area best as court 1!
THROUGHOUT THE YEARS
During the 1970’s a crisis arose when the Council declared the pavilion unsafe and demolished it without any prior warning to the club.
However, it was understood that the Council would provide a new pavilion and, therefore, as a temporary measure the club purchased a second hand caravan. It later became clear that the Council would not be providing a new pavilion and the club then embarked on a project to put up a pavilion using grants and loans.
In 2004, the Club finally achieved a long held desire to enlarge and modernise the Clubhouse. Depending entirely on the efforts of members, the existing Clubhouse was roughly doubled in size to cover the same area as the original pavilion. This allowed for a much greater use of the clubhouse for social events, as well as providing a much more comfortable area for relaxation.
MOVING FORWARD
In addition to greater floor space, the working party also installed new kitchen facilities. Replacement furniture and a Table Tennis table were also provided through the generosity of members. At this time, the Club negotiated use of the adjacent public hard courts during the winter months so that an annual playing membership could be offered for the first time.
In September 2006, with the help of a £5000 grant, the Club was able to carry out a major renovation of courts 1 to 4. Using modern technology the contractors completely removed the existing turf and then levelled the whole surface before re-seeding. Favourable weather got the seed off to a good start and within weeks there was a good cover of grass. In the following year the courts were officially opened by the MP for Fylde, Michael Jack, supported by the Mayor and Mayoress of Fylde and other local dignitaries.
Our Club Today
In 2011 the Club celebrated its Centenary with an afternoon then evening Social Event in the Clubhouse attended by current and past members. The Management Committee decided that the Centenary Year should be 2011, on the basis that this was the 100th year after the Club was formed. It is worth recording however that some past members were of the opinion that it should be 2012, the 100th year after the first playing season.
In 2021 courts 1 and 2 were converted into all-weather hard courts. This was made possible by virtue of the Lake complex benefitting from a substantial grant provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The grant was as a result of a bid submitted by Fylde Borough Council and the tennis club gave its full backing to the bid and contributed relevant material in support of the Council’s own submission. As part of the project the courts boundary was redrawn so that all courts enjoyed the same area of play, previously the boundary tapered giving rise to some restrictions on courts 6 and 7. As a result of the re-design the club now had 5 grass courts and two hard courts at its disposal.