Tennis Xpress

The Waimairi Tennis Club was first formed in 1929. It was started as a small club by the late Messrs Tillman and Radford and operated at the Waimairi School in Tillman Avenue for the first two years, after which it moved to its present address in Watford Street. The land was bought from Mr. D. Beaton for an unknown sum, (thought to be about two hundred pounds) but it is noted that the final payment for the land was not made until 1946, so finance was difficult to raise then too.

The Club did not become incorporated until 1934, hence the 50th Jubilee being celebrated in 1984. The Club started with two courts and a small clubhouse costing ten pounds, which was moved to the site from the Addington Tennis Club by the late Mr. R. Banks. Two more courts were added sometime during the next ten years, and the last two were laid down in 1949.

In 1950 a special building fund was started for the new clubhouse, which was built in 1959, being officially opened in December 1959 by the Patron, the late Mr. R. Banks. Over a period of two years, 1974-75, new cyclone fencing, requiring little maintenance, was erected around the boundaries.

During the whole time of the Club’s use of the present site, drainage difficulties had been a recurring problem, necessitating frequent up-grading of the courts to keep them in a playable condition. In 1980, after consultation with the Christchurch Drainage Board and a firm of consulting engineers, a decision was made to excavate the existing courts and start afresh with good drainage and new Road Carpet courts.  Work on this commenced in April 1981 and was completed in November 1981, St. Andrews college allowing the Club members to use their courts one morning a week while our courts were out of action.