The Muff’s Tennis Club built a court at the rear of the Walcha Witness printery, the building on the immediate left hand side of the photo. A.S. Gill Sr wrote about the origins of the Muff’s Club and Walcha Sports Club.
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“In the latter half of 1908 a move was made to form a club where the men of the town could gather, the prime mover being Mr. Kemmis, a dentist in Walcha at the time. It was decided to form the Muff’s Tennis Club, and limit it to 18 members.”
“Ground was leased from Mr. Frank Townshend at the rear of his newspaper office and a court was built by labour of the members. In 1910 it was decided to enlarge the Muff’s Tennis Club with a view to adding billiards, cards and a library. There was such a big response that it was decided to close the Muff’s Club and form the Walcha Sports Club, which opened with 54 members.”
“Arrangements were then made with Mr. Townshend to build a billiards and card room at the rear of his printery and lease it to the Sports Club together with the tennis court. Billiards and cards proved more popular than tennis, which gradually faded out.”
Walcha’s second Apsley Tennis Club was formed in 1919 due to the efforts of a committee of three, A.T. Fenwicke, John Gill and A.S. Gill Sr. The three, as trustees for the club, purchased land in Hamilton Street on which a timber-framed clubhouse was built and three ant-bed courts laid down during 1920. A fourth court was added later.
The Walcha Sports Club merged with the Apsley Tennis Club in 1969 and built a new clubhouse on the court at the eastern end of the Hamilton Street land. Tennis continued to be played on the two remaining courts with local competitions as well as visits to other centres including Guyra and Quirindi. The number of people playing tennis dwindled over the years until, by the late 1980s, the courts were used infrequently at best.
The old clubhouse on the corner of Hamilton and South Streets was sold and removed in 1992. The remaining court was sown to lawn grass with a view that it might be used for croquet; it can still be seen in Hamilton Street.