Fun celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of tennis club
CURRENT and former members of the County Wicklow Lawn Tennis Club (CWLTC) turned up in large numbers at the Clubhouse premises on Saturday night to celebrate the momentous occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Bray unit’s founding.
Originally set up in 1894, the club has been providing an invaluable sporting and social outlet for residents of the seaside town and for nearby areas such as Enniskerry, Greystones and Shankill since well before the start of the First World War.
On their arrival for the jampacked function, guests were treated to a glass of prosecco in the entrance hall. Subsequently the club bar did a roaring trade, with genial serving duo Joe Flynn, the club caretaker, and Sean Fitzsimons being consistently swept off their feet by the glut of orders from thirsty imbibers scurrying to the counter.
Among the attendance were former club chairmen Tony Bellew and Bryan O’Higgins, and also present was Kilkenny hurling legend and ex- CWLTC member John Henderson, whose sons John and Daire featured on the Bray Emmets team that won this year’s Wicklow senior hurling championship, and whose wife Carmel is an active playing member of the tennis unit.
One of the highlights of the evening was an insightful contribution from 50-year-plus member and supreme raconteur Dan Murray, who regaled those in attendance with a series of witty anecdotes about humorous incidents involving some members of the club since he first joined the Vevay Road establishment back in the ’60s.
You could hardly hear a pin drop as Dan, with the aid of a microphone, entertained those present, and the conclusion of each story that he related was greeted with a combination of a massive outburst of laughter and applause.
In addition, club chairman Alan Connolly and club vice-chairman Dave Barry addressed the gathering, and part of Dave’s discourse was devoted to reading out a list of former members from relatively recent years who have now sadly passed away.
As well as this, the occasion was marked by the presentations of awards to members Ciaran Driver and Stephen Hannon, who both have now achieved the landmark of being continuously linked to the club for a whopping 50 years.
In that regard, they now join fellow members George Hennessy, Dan Murray, Jack Murphy and Joe Murphy on the half-century mark of their association with the club.