Game, set and match for Lakeside Tennis Group after 73 years of operation

After 73 years in operation, the tennis group is set to be dissolved.

Belmont 71-year-old Maria Tillock, who joined the group in the 1980s and has been secretary for "20-odd years", said numbers had been slowly decreasing.

"We've been playing pairs competitions now for a couple of years but when we had the AGM in August I knew that it was going to be closing," Tillock said.

"There is not enough left in division one to have a competition.

"We knew it was coming. It's sad that it's coming - 73 years, it's an era gone. It's sad but it had to finish, we're getting too small."

Lakeside Tennis Group started in Lake Road, Swansea on January 24, 1949. It was registered with Fair Trading by foundation secretary Hazel Henderson.

It began as men and women. The men played a Sunday competition and women on Thursdays.

Tillock believes the men stopped playing before the 1960s but the women continued on with competition spread around several courts and play lasting all day.

"It started off with 11 divisions, that's what I can work out, and there was over eight teams in each division, so that was over 300 women," Tillock said.

"We're down to playing now with two divisions and pairs competition, roughly 40 members."

There have been plenty of changes over the years, such as the court surfaces and the uniforms, but one thing has been a constant - the "friendships".

"Lakeside has meant a lot because you met lifelong friends, some of them become part of your family," Tillock said.

The final act for Lakeside Tennis Group will be their presentation day for past and present members at Club Macquarie, Argenton on December 8.

In the new year, some of the women will continue to get together for a social hit. That includes Tillock, who is out of action after a knee replacement, and Bolton Point 84-year-old Barbara Weimer, who is Lakeside's oldest player. She joined in 1960s but is sidelined with "trigger finger" and cannot wait to be back on court.

"I just enjoy the game and I enjoy socialising with everyone," Weimer said.

"You make friends for life. It's been a good journey."

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