Abertillery Lawn Tennis

Abertillery Tennis Club and Courts.
I am not sure when the sport of tennis was first introduced and played at Abertillery. I believe that it began on the Barn Field at Abertillery. In the early days, the Barn Field was used for the sport of rugby and tennis, although the local tennis players who used the fields desperately needed their own tennis courts. The following information is a timeline of the establishing of such courts and teams in the district etc.

Aberbeeg Tennis Club.
The first purpose laid lawn tennis courts in this area were at Aberbeeg, they were laid in the 1880’s. Mr Noel Bagley was an active member at the club, other members were as follows – Mr L. Rogers; Mr R. Devonhill; Mr E Rogers; Mr J. H. Jones and Mr N. Bagley; Mr E. De V. Lamb; Mr A. Price; Mr Partridge; Mr Ridgeway:

The Blaina Tennis Club.
In April 1890 the Blaina and Nantyglo residents proposed a lawn tennis club, Mr J. Jeffreys was a founder with the support of the Messrs J. Lancaster Co. Mr John Dakers was their president and Rev Howell Howells the vice-president. The committee consisted of the following gentlemen – Mr W. H. Buddicombe; Mr Jas Phillips; Mr J. P. D. Williams; Mr Theo Vatchell; Mr G. B. Hammond; Mr W. Gregson; Dr W. E. Williams and Dr Soper:
The Blaina team consisted of the following members – Mr G. B. Hammond; Rev Rees; Rev Timothy; Mr T. Jeffreys; Mr F. Soper; Mr G. Jenkins and Mr T. Parry: The Courts were in the Rectory Field.

The Abertillery Tennis Club Proposal.
On Tuesday 13th of May 1890, the proposal to have lawn tennis courts laid out in Abertillery was first heard. A meeting was held at the National School Rooms Abertillery. Mr W. T. Michael was (Hon Secretary) and Mr J. T. Baker the (Treasurer). It was stated that the committee already had courts laid out on the Barn Fields at Glan-y-dwr, Abertillery.

The Ebbw Vale Tennis Courts.
In May 1890 Ebbw Vale proposed a lawn tennis club, Mr J. Williams of Mount Pleasant Road was secretary.

The Abertillery Tennis Courts Official Opening.
Wednesday 18th of June 1890 was to have been the official opening of the Abertillery Lawn Tennis Courts, though because of bad weather conditions the ceremony was postponed until a later date.

On Tuesday 24th of June 1890, the Abertillery Lawn Tennis Courts were officially opened. The opening ceremony was presided by Mr John Ward Williams (Iron Foundry owner). Also in attendance was Rev D. O. Evans.

After the ceremony games were played between the following – Mr W. Bence; Mr R. James; Mr H. Ward Williams; Mr A. Durant; Mr W. T. Michaels; Mr A. Gilligan; Mr D. J. Michaels; Mr T. Davies; Mr W. Lloyd and A. Michaels: Later in the day an exhibition game was played by the lady members of the club.

The Abertillery Clubs First Game in the League.
In August 1892 the Abertillery Lawn Tennis Club played their first proper game when they played the Aberbeeg Club in an away game.

The Taking in of the Tennis Courts.
In May 1898 the secretary of the Abertillery Tennis Club, Mr A. Price, asked the council to receive a deputation from the club to discuss the “taking in” of the tennis courts into the Abertillery Recreational Grounds. Arguments broke out over the terms and conditions concerning the courts, though Mr Price stated the tennis club had “first rights” to the grounds as they “the tennis club” were there first in 1890! This argument seems to imply that tennis was the first sport played on the Barn Field long before the Abertillery Council made the fields into a recreation grounds!

It was also reported that Mr A. Price, with the deputation insisted that when the tennis courts were taken in by the council, there must be no cricket or football to be played on the tennis courts. The deputation also passed a ruling that proper footwear had to be used by tennis players while on the courts.

The New Tennis Courts Proposal.
In April 1901 the council were informed that new tennis courts were required by the club, the surveyor stated that new courts would cost about £150.00 and questioned the need as there were only between 50 to 60 players participating in the sport of tennis at Abertillery and the money would be better used elsewhere. It was said that if the new courts were to be built, they would be placed in the center field as the other two fields were taken by football and cricket. This seems to imply that originally there were three fields in the park, different from its current layout?

The Cross Keys Club.
In July 1908 a tennis club was formed at Crosskeys and they played from the Wain Fawr House, Capt. Lawrence Heyworth’s old residence at Risca, which had been sold a few years earlier in 1905. The house was vacated after his death in 1903 when Mrs Rose Heyworth moved to Devon.

The Brynmawr Tennis Club.
In August 1909 a lawn tennis club was formed at Brynmawr, Mr S. H. Andrews was captain and Mr E. Williams was the secretary.

The New Courts at Abertillery.
On Friday 15th of July 1910, the new Tennis Courts at Abertillery Park were laid (as seen on the old image right). Four courts were planned, though at this time only two were finished with the other two nearly completed. The Council charged 1s. 2d. per hour for the courts to be reserved.

The Crumlin Tennis Club.
In May 1912 a lawn tennis club was set up at Crumlin, Mr Tom Harris was the secretary and Mr A. Bowen was the treasurer. The tennis club were playing from the Crumlin Hall Tennis Courts.

The Nantyglo Tennis Club.
In the same year Nantyglo Tennis Courts were laid out at Surgery Road, Blaina.

In February 1920 a new tennis pavilion was constructed at the tennis courts in the recreation ground at Abertillery (as seen in the center of the image left), the dimensions of the pavilion were 25′ x 15′ feet with ladies and gentlemen’s compartments. At this time, it seems as though tennis was still being played on the main field (as seen on the main featured image above) a playing area was laid out and fenced off and women can be seen on these temporary courts. The purpose-built courts and pavilion can be seen on the image though they may have been closed for repairs.

In April 1920 there was a resurgence in the sport and advertisements were placed in the local newspapers inviting new members to join the Abertillery club. Mr Harry Harris of 7 Portland Street, Abertillery was the secretary at this time and they held their meetings at the Liberal Club, Abertillery. There must have been a formation of another tennis club in Abertillery, as besides the Abertillery Lawn Tennis Club there were also reports of the Abertillery Athletic Tennis Club. (More information to come).

The old courts in the Abertillery Recreation Grounds were laid with gravel and even though they were layered with calcium chloride to prevent weathering, the courts were becoming unplayable. At this time new courts were desperately needed, so plans were put forth for the construction of six purposely built courts to be laid at a site further to the east of the present courts. On a site at the bottom end of the extension.

On Friday 2nd of June 1922, the New Abertillery Tennis Courts, three of the six which had been laid, were officially opened. The opening ceremony was conducted by Mr Tom Mytton. The six new courts were made of 1-inch-thick clinker asphalt laid out on a base of reinforced concrete 3″ inches thick. There was a space of 12′ feet behind the base lines with a space of 6′ feet on each side, the whole six courts being surrounded by wire netting 8′ feet in height.

In declaring the courts open Mr Mytton stated the whole scheme cost £5,000 and also mentioned the council may lay more courts if they were well attended. The new courts were constructed by the unemployed men in Abertillery under the supervision of the surveyor Mr Lionel D. Lewis (son of the late Mr Daniel Lewis, Manager of the Cwmtillery Collieries and ex-Councillor) The first game in the new courts was doubles match-up contested by Mr D. Walters and Mr W. J. Owen (Secretary of the Abertillery Town Tennis Club) against Mr T. Mytton and Mr H. Selway (Secretary of the Abertillery Athletic Tennis Club). The site of the old Abertillery Tennis Courts to the west of the grounds were later used to construct a children’s playground with swings, slides and roundabouts etc.

There were a few other tennis courts constructed in Abertillery, there were courts on Ty-Bryn Hill which I believe belonged to the Manse, belonging to the church, though this is difficult to prove. The Abertillery Intermediate School had courts in the grounds, these were later removed to construct the gymnasium at the school in the late 1960’s. There was also a tennis court in the grounds of the Technical School on Spring Bank at Clyn Mawr.

The Six Bells Tennis Club.
In 1925 the Six Bells Recreational Grounds were opened with two ash tennis courts laid out at the grounds.

The Later Years.
At Abertillery the tennis courts were used up until the 1970’s though fell into disrepair, with no interest being shown in the sport the council abandoned them. The Six Bells Tennis Club however had a strong following and has been well patronised.