Burnham-On-Sea’s Avenue Tennis Club celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special Centenary Open Day at the weekend.
The Open Day, held on Saturday (19th September), attracted large numbers of current and past members, plus supporters and their families.
In addition to tennis coaching, a magic show by club member Richard Ballinger was held, plus kids entertainment with Sarah Coles’ Music with Mummy. There was also a bouncy castle, plus a sportswear display by Tony Pryce Sports and Prince Rackets.
Vinny Duddy, Head coach at the Avenue, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We were really delighted with the turnout and hoped that the efforts made by the coaches would encourage children and adults to come back to the club and take up one of the many tennis coaching courses.”
Junior players, including Sam and Alex Stead, Jessica Griffiths and Heather Duddy, from the Avenue Academy joined in a competition during the weekend when they played with and against the adults.
The final, played by Colin Stead and Lynn O’Dell was against Geoff Thorne and Head Coach Vinny Duddy, and was won by Thorne and Duddy. Eric Davis from Highbridge Caravans presented Thorne and Duddy with a set of new tennis balls for their efforts.
Vinny thanked the ladies from the club – Jane Sanders, Lyn O’Dell and Carol Davies – for their efforts to keep everyone supplied with food and to Sally Christison for keeping the bouncy castle safely managed.
He also thanked club members Phil Hoyland, Randy Salway and Simon Peto for helping the club coaches and to Bar Manager Lenny Cameron for his work throughout the day.
The finale of the centenary celebrations will take place this coming weekend when a Centenary Ball, a black tie event, will be held on Saturday (26th September) with entertainment from a DJ and local band Riverbrew.
The next major event will be the junior tennis camp, which will run throughout the half-term school holidays during the last week of October.
