About us

Winstanley Tennis Club, the earlier years

Winstanley Tennis Club began life around 1920 but papers from the pre-1940s do not appear to have survived. The original site with one court and latterly with three shale courts was situated in the middle of Winstanley Estate owned by the Bankes family.  An annual rent of 2/6 per annum (12.5 pence) for the tennis and cricket clubs was paid in alternate years by each. The site was 1 mile down a dirt track road in a secluded situation surrounded by trees and rhododendrons. The children of members found exploring the woods and climbing the trees sufficiently diverting to allow their parents uninterrupted tennis. Tournaments and teas were common in the summer (which seemed to consist of       long hot days).  The shale courts reckoned to be the best in the Warrington League were maintained by constant rolling and brushing by the members overseen and assisted by Jimmy Winstanley. 
However by the late 70s it was decided to purchase our own land just off Winstanley Road where we could expand the club and increase our junior membership. The land was purchased from the local farmer with help from Gerry Rickards and donations and loans from members allowed the erection of 3 hard courts and later, a very basic wooden clubhouse. The early days on the new site involved the membe

rs running jumble sales, afternoon teas, sponsored walks, and various competitions to help raise the money to run the club.  League matches took place on our old shale courts, on hard courts at Winstanley College, as well as on our new courts. In order to maintain our reputation for providing refreshments to visiting teams at these other locations, teas and biscuits were dispensed from car boots. 
An expanded clubhouse was built in 1993 and 2 extra courts were laid down in 1994.  Following a bequest from Jimmy Winstanley’s estate, land for the 6th court was purchased in 2000.  The new court has been named in his honour.

The old courts 1973	The New Court 2008

Tennis Facilities

• 1 x Floodlit Astro Turf Court
• 5 x Hard Courts
• 1 x Club house and parking spaces.
• Social Tennis will take place throughout the whole year on Saturday and Sunday Afternoons between 1.30pm and 5pm

Clubhouse and Car Parking

The Club has ample parking facilities for over 50 cars.
The Club is currently in the process of applying for planning permission to replace the outdated existing facilities
The new Clubhouse will have showering and changing facilities, a fully equipped kitchen and large function room (available for hire!).  It is anticipated that work should start in sometimes in 2008.
To view the photos of the existing club facilities  please click the link below.

Coaching

NICKY BUTLER

DCA TENNIS COACH – HEAD COACH WLTC
DCA LEVEL ONE QUALIFIED COACH & BTCA INSURED
0791 955 6121 (anytime) – nickybutler@fsmail.net (anytime)

WLTC Official Club Sponsor
*** SCHOOL WORK / GROUPS / INDIVIDUALS / CLUBS / PARTIES / SPORTSWEAR & EQUIPMENT ***

YEAR 2008 TENNIS COACHING SESSIONS – WINSTANLEY LTC

WINSTANLEY LAWN TENNIS CLUB, Off Winstanley Road, Hall Lane, Wigan

www.winstanleytennisclub.co.uk

Friday’s	Junior Social Night – come join in and meet new friends, new non-members welcome!!  Tuck shop, tennis, fuzz ball, socialise.  Your child must be picked up or accompanied by an adult if younger than 11yrs old.  Volunteer on premises at all times (unless otherwise stated on arrival).
Friday’s	5pm to 6:15pm Mini Sessions U10’s               £3.00 M & £3.50 NM Starts in: 04 April 2008                                  Finishes on:     October ‘08
Friday’s	4   to  8 (dark)pm Junior Sessiions 11+yrs No fee for M & NM pay visiting fees Starts in: 04 April 2008                                  Finishes on:     October ‘08
Saturday’s	9 to 10 am                Mini Red Session                    £3.00 M & £4.00 NM
Saturday’s	10 to 11 am              Mini Orange Session              £3.00 M & £4.00 NM
Saturday’s	11 to 12 noon          Mini Green Session                 £3.00 M & £4.00 NM
Saturday’s	12 to 1 pm                Junior Improver Session       £3.00 M & £4.00 NM
Sunday’s	10 to11am       Family Hour (1 Adult, 1 Child U10)            £3 Adult, £2 Child Starts in: 13 April 2008
Sunday’s	11 to 12 noon  Adult Beginners / Improvers  £4.00 M & £5.00 NM Starts in: 13 April 2008

Please note that some sessions may not take place on the day due to holidays, sickness or bad weather.  If you are unsure if it’s on or not, please phone Nicky.  This is all year round.                              

** FOR ANY DETAILS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE PLEASE CONTACT NICKY PLEASE ALSO FEEL FREE TO PASS ON ANY OF MY DETAILS TO YOUR SCHOOL.  THURSDAYS DATES TBC EARLY 2007 **

** FOR ALL PRIVATE SESSIONS PLEASE CONTACT NICKY **

** FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON COACHING SESSIONS, TOURNAMENTS, FUN DAYS ETC; PLEASE CONTACT NICKY OR SEE CLUB NOTICE-BOARD **

** NICKY ALSO HAS A FULL RANGE OF TENNIS CLOTHING AND RACKETS ON SALE, OLD AND NEW PLUS OTHER USEFUL EQUIPMENT – SEE NICKY NOW **

!!! ENJOY YOUR TENNIS – KEEP LEARNING, PLAYING & HAVE FUN !!!

Membership

Membership fees for the present season are as follows:

Membership Fees 2008

Full Playing	£112
Off Peak	£56
Student (i.e. student over 18)	£56
Student LIVING AWAY (more than 25 miles)	£42
Unemployed (Need Evidence)	£56
Over 65	£90
Chaperone	£25
Ground	£2
Advanced Junior (under 18)	£50
Junior (under18)	£35
Mini Tennis	£10

2008 Fees

	Over 18's	Under 18's
Match Fee (at home and away matches)	£2	£1
Visitors Fee (Maximum of 6 visits)	£3	£2

WINSTANLEY TENNIS CLUB
Hall Lane, off Winstanley Road, Billinge, WIGAN (Founded 1920)

NEWSLETTER 2008 no.1, 18th February 2008

Club Committee : Following the November AGM, the Committee comprises : Geoff Bradshaw (Chairman), Alan Green (Treasurer), Stan Meredith (Secretary), Andrew Carey, Olivier Cavaliere, Monica Clarke, David Denner, Bill Dow, Kath Moss and Howard Platt, with Chris Clarke as Club Captain. There is always room for other Members to be co- opted or to help out in other ways without serving on the Committee – please speak to one of us if you’d like to become involved
Facilities update: as you may have seen in the local press, the Application for a new Clubhouse, storage facility and practice wall is slowly making its way through the Planning process – more on that in a future newsletter; courts 1-5 are being professionally cleaned at the moment, in time for the new season.
Wimbledon Tickets:  details of how to apply for tickets from the Club’s allocation will be posted on the notice-board in early April - as in previous years, however, priority in the allocation of tickets will depend on your helping with maintenance or some other Club activity
Subscriptions : if you’ve not  paid up yet – remember to do so before the end of March, so as to avoid the extra ‘late payment’ penalty!; please also complete and return the renewal form – this is very important as we need to update the Club database; also, do tell us whenever you change your phone/email
200 Club: Still time to pay 2008’s subs of £12 per number. Contact Barbara Lawton  (01942 211144)

SOME IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Saturday 15th March at 10.00 am:  Maintenance Day, prior to the opening of the summer season. Tasks include fence repairs, weeding, clubhouse cleaning, court brushing (but don’t forget that the Jimmy Winstanley Court requires brushing after every session of play!).  If you can't make the above date, try to do some tidying at a time convenient to you. The code for the locks this year is on your subs receipt and will come in to use on Maintenance Day - please note that the courts will not be available for play that morning (apart from mini-tennis/coaching).
Sunday 30th March from 2.00 pm: the start of the Senior summer season.  Balls provided by the Club. Friday 28th March from 4.30 pm: the start of Junior Club Nights.                                                     

Sunday 29th June – Club Open Day

Tournaments: the Committee has decided against a traditional Club tournament for 2008, in the light of the difficulties encountered over matches not running to schedule (only 1 event was completed in 2007); nevertheless, if sufficient interest is shown by Members and someone is prepared to make the necessary arrangements, such an activity (even in reduced form), would still be possible. Instead, the Committee has agreed to put on more ‘American’ tournaments throughout the year – on the following dates :

                                                 Monday 24th March (Public Holiday
                                                 Sunday   27th April
                                                 Monday   5th May (Public Holiday)
                                                 Sunday     8th June
                                                 Sunday    13th July

Also, the Ridout Cup - Monday 25th August (Public Holiday)
and the Winstanley Shield - Sunday 14th September.

In addition, we are pleased to announce the revival of the OLTEC Tournament, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Ollie Cavaliere, to be held over the weekend of 26 & 27th July; this will be an Open tournament, so we are hoping to attract entrants from other Clubs also; its format&details are currently in the planning stages so further details will follow; if you would like to help in running it, you will be very welcome – please contact Ollie directly on 07775993444. Through the tournament and in other ways we are hoping to raise the Club’s profile, membership and funds - we are trying to step up the Club’s Marketing; this is also to be done through better publicity – we have 5000 attractive leaflets and a brochure awaiting Members to hand out where they can (please contact Geoff Bradshaw) and Ollie has kindly sponsored the construction of our website – have a look at www.winstanleytennisclub.co.uk; this will be developed in due course but already links have been established to other sports sites.

Social Tennis : at the AGM there was agreement that the nature of Social Tennis be examined with the aim of encouraging more Members of all standards to attend and participate at weekends; a working party was set up from within the Committee and its report has been unanimously accepted to apply with effect from Sunday 30th March. The key features are as follows :
1. Social Tennis will take place throughout the whole year on Saturday and Sunday afternoons between 1.30 and 5.00 pm;
2. An order of play listing format will be introduced. Players will place their names on the sheet provided in the order they arrive at the Club, so –
the 1st person to arrive places a ‘1’ against their name; this person can then select 3 others from the first 7 people to make up the first match; the 3 people selected will have a ‘1’ placed against their name and a line drawn through their name as they go on court; the next person on the listing will have a ‘2’ against their name and will select the next match using the same format as above; on completion of each set of play, the players will place their names at the bottom of the list – winners first/Ladies first in the case of Mixed sets; those people selecting the sets should always try to achieve balanced sets;
3. Play will consist of doubles; every effort must be made to achieve balanced sets;
4. A set will comprise 7 games, with all 7 games to be played. Only 1 ‘sudden death’ point will be played if any game reaches deuce;
5. No other form of tennis may take place during Social Tennis (e.g. fixed fours, singles or coaching). Our expectation is that Senior Members will not bring their children (unless ‘Advanced Juniors’) to knock up or play during Social Tennis;
6. Juniors may play during Social Tennis times if there are courts available; however, should the courts become required by Senior Members, Juniors will be obliged to give way immediately.

Leagues

Winstanley Tennis Club is active in a number of leagues throughout the season for Adults and Juniors

American Tournaments

» Monday 24th March (Public Bank Holiday)
» Sunday 27th April
» Monday 5th May (Public Holiday)
» Sunday 8th June
» Sunday 13th June

Oltec Tournament

» 26th & 27th July

Ridout Cup

» Monday 25th August (Public Holiday)

Winstanley Shield

» Sunday 14th September

Contact Us

For all your enquiries please contact one of the following emails:

chairman@winstanleytennisclub.co.uk

secretary@winstanleytennisclub.co.uk 

treasurer@winstanleytennisclub.co.uk

marketing@winstanleytennisclub.co.uk

Club Address

Hall Lane 
Off Winstanley Road 
Billinge 
WIGAN
Lancashire
WN5 7XG 

Click here for Map

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