Glossop Tennis Club held a spectacular Open Day at the Club recently to celebrate the unveiling of its renovated Clubhouse and to put on a day of fun, food, drink and tennis activities.

Despite forecasts of rain and thunderstorms on the day, hardy tennis goers were out in full force with over 100 people attending during the course of the day. 

Club coaches Alan Cutts and Charles Otigbar were on hand to welcome those curious to start playing tennis or reconnect with a sport they had not played for some time.

 A BBQ was in full swing from 10am in the morning welcoming people with bacon and sausage balms, very generously donated by Roy Green Butchers, with demand exceeding expectations such that an SOS needed to be sent out for more! 

In the afternoon, the BBQ continued with burgers kindly donated by Mettricks Butchers. A bouncy castle was also in situ for the kids (and big kids!) to enjoy throughout the day.

Boasting four immaculate tennis courts (two carpet and two recently painted tarmac) there was plenty of room for people to try out tennis under supervision from the coaches or within family groups. 

There was lots of interest throughout the day with some signing up immediately and others following up on the special offer to sign up for the rest of the season at heavily discounted rates. 

Membership secretary Andy Millican commented: “Even at our normal rates tennis at Glossop is incredibly cheap working out at under £3/week for effectively unlimited tennis!”

Fortunately the forecasted rain was quite sporadic with heavy bursts only forcing off players for short periods on a couple of occasions. 

That also gave people the ideal opportunity to go inside the new Clubhouse and see the wonderful transformation which has opened up so many more opportunities for the club to enhance its social offering including table tennis and a new big screen TV. 

In the afternoon, the Clubhouse was packed as people watched the Ladies’ Wimbledon final enjoying strawberries and cream.

In creating the renovated Clubhouse, Glossop Tennis Club were keen to work with and support local businesses. Glossop-based Monkey Business Construction led on the main works supported by David Lewis Electrics and JP Flooring.

The club was pleased that they could be joined by the Mayor of High Peak, Councillor Peter Inman, in the afternoon who chatted with Members of the Committee and those attending the event. 

After a brief downpour the Mayor was able to get onto the Court and try his hand at tennis, battling with Member Rob Millington.

Glossop Tennis Club Chairman Mike Pocock was delighted with the events, stating: “We have worked so hard on the new Clubhouse that we were determined for the Open Day to go ahead whatever the weather. 

“The support has been overwhelming and it has been great to see so many new faces trying out tennis at the club. It feels like this is a new chapter in the Tennis club and we are looking forwards to engaging more with the community and running more events like this in the future.”