CLUB HISTORY
We are very proud of our long history. Our wonderful club was built with hard work by many individuals, and with generous assistance from Cornwall Park Trust.
Our Club History
1922 Campbell Park Lawn Tennis Club was formally constituted on 30/9/1922. First President, Captain A Whitney, was noted for his enthusiasm and energy in setting up the club. At the first General Meeting he paid tribute to the Cornwall Park Trustees for providing land and other assistance.
1923 First AGM. From the outset the committee was handicapped by lack of funds and difficulty in getting players to give up playing time to work on courts and other improvements. All funds were spent on materials and labour creating two hard courts and three grass courts.
The grass courts later proved a failure. One grass court was formed into a hard court, with plans to create three more hard courts. Tournaments, social functions and dances were held.
CPTC could not affiliate with the Auckland Lawn Tennis Association, who stipulated the club must have a pavilion. Building a pavilion became a priority and it was achieved remarkably quickly.
Image credit: Whites Aviation Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library. Modified from the original image. Image used under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0.
1924 The AGM noted progress of the club was much greater than even the most optimistic members had anticipated. Work was done on the courts by a few committee members right through the winter, meanwhile the Ladies’ Committee organised card evenings and dances.
1924 Mr. Val Barfoot joined the committee, becoming president in 1927. He proved to be a tireless worker for the club, serving in various positions until 1976.
1925 The Club Pavilion was completed. Club membership was limited to 100 members, with ladies’ membership limited to 66% of the total.
1928 With 10 courts and 178 financial members the club had the second largest playing membership of any tennis club Auckland. The clay-based courts with a fine chip surface needed constant maintenance, done some years by members and in others by a paid grounds-man. For many years the court lines were formed by lead tapes, later replaced by plastic tapes. Before any play started the courts were swept with large brooms, then grit was swept from the line tapes. If the courts were dry, water was used to dampen the courts to prevent dust.
As club membership shrank the number of courts were reduced. Two clay courts at the eastern end became a carpark. Two at the western end became a grassed area and volley board area.
A new surface, Techtone, was introduced replacing the chip courts. CPTC was the first club in Auckland with Techtone courts; they were so popular NZ Davis Cup players practiced here. Over time these surfaces became worn. With six courts needed to be completely reformed on better bases, new fund-raising efforts began. The front three courts were surfaced in Astroturf, and the back three in Plexipave, to provide harder, faster surfaces.
1967 The old pavilion, in need of upgrading, was lost to a fire. Temporary accommodation was provided (with long-drop toilets).
1968 With drive and leadership from Terry Williams, and assistance from the Cornwall Park Board of Trustees, a new clubhouse was built. This served the club for nearly 30 years before needing replacement.
1979 Local Judy Chaloner (then Connor) won the Australian Open Women’s Doubles.
1999 On 7th November the new (current) pavilion, in similar design to the 1925 pavilion, was officially opened by the Chairman of the Cornwall Park Trust.
2016 Judy Chaloner, Coach and Administrator at CPTC, retired after more than 20 years. Judy created and built our amazingly successful CPTC Junior club from scratch. She remains NZ’s only Women’s Grand Slam Winner.
The new club pavilion was opened in November 1999, made possible by the contributions of members and supporters.
