Otumoetai tennis Club is blessed with several members who can count the years of their association with the club in not just years, but decades. They will recall the days when the club operated out of a shed in the grounds of the Otumoetai College, and had to surrender the use of their courts in winter to the netballers!.

The club literally came of age in 1990, when after years of patient work and fundraising, we obtained the use of the current site in Bellevue Park and built the current clubhouse.A special committee was formed to find a site and build the complex , consisting of:

A Town Planner – Christine Ralph
A Lawyer – Chris Bierre (a male Chris 🙂
An Architect – Brian Davies
A surveyor – Ross Dean
A Builder – Bernie Coleman
An Accountant – Warwick Brew
A Business/Retail owner – Barry Lowish

 

Below for the interest of new clubmembers, and the nostalgia of the club oldies, are some photos and an article from the BOP Times published in September 1990 when the clubhouse was officially opened. (thanks to Chris Tustain for the newspaper article)

OTC Patron Bernie Coleman in front of the new clubhouse, September 1990. Alongside bernie is Christine Ralph, who was the club’s project manager for the setup of the complex at the time.

 

The article that appeared in the BOP Times at the time of the opening of the new clubhouse in September 1990. Yes, thats Peter Trass in the photo, albeit a younger and obviously more athletic version (just joking, Peter!)