Conway Lawn Tennis Club in Palmers Green is celebrating its centenary this year, writes Dan Brotzel

Members of Conway LTC during the club’s first full season in 1926

The year 2025 marks the centenary of Conway Lawn Tennis Club. For one hundred years the Palmers Green club has been a local landmark offering exercise, competition and fun.

Over this time, Conway LTC has seen highs and lows, but its 100th year promises to be among the most successful in the club’s long history.

The club began when, in 1923, local residents petitioned the council to build tennis courts on a vacant 2.5-acre council-owned site situated between Cannon Road and Conway Road, which later came to be known as Conway Rec. Approval was secured in 1925 (from when we date our centenary) and the club played its first winter season in January 1926. The cost of an initial season subscription was two guineas (about £110 today).

Lawn tennis was booming in the early inter-war years and had quickly become the poster sport of the new suburban sprawl. In our area, Bounds Green Bowls and Tennis Club was formed in 1887, followed by Bush Hill Park LTC (1905), Enfield LTC (1907), Hazelwood Sports Club (1908), Southgate Weld (1924) and Mayfield (1925).

Like most clubs of the time, Conway did not admit complete beginners. Players wishing to join had to be ‘played in’ and their level assessed by a committee member before they could be accepted. Matches in the early years were arranged between clubs on an infrequent, ad-hoc basis.

Conway initially had two grass courts and two hard courts. An additional hard court was added in 1930. However, over the first two decades, the grass surfaces became unplayable and one court was frequently waterlogged. The courts went completely all-weather around 1950.

The tennis boom faltered in the 1930s and 40s due to economic woes and to war. To boost numbers, Conway was permitted to introduce Sunday play in 1940, despite a protest from neighbours. Members serving in the forces were allowed to play tennis free when on leave, along with nurses from 1942.

The cost and supply of balls was an ongoing anxiety throughout the 1940 and 50s, with a committee member given official responsibility for ‘custody of the balls’. To prolong life, balls were washed, reinflated or sent back for reconditioning (Slazenger ran a scheme). Today, the club recycles balls for use in children’s homes.

After the war, tennis clubs quickly bounced back, but by the end of the 1950s Conway was struggling for survival. Cost-cutting measures included reducing the number of balls per court and securing refunds on returned squash bottles. But what seems to have kept the club afloat during this period was the income from a series of highly lucrative jumble sales.

In 1971, Conway entered the Guinness Book of Records when four of its members took part in a marathon non-stop tennis tournament – for 50 hours and one minute! Neighbours were informed that, in these exceptional circumstances, the courts would be lit up all night for two nights running. The money raised was shared between the MS Society and a fund to rebuild the clubhouse, recently destroyed in an accidental fire.

Glenn Hoddle and other Spurs stars of the 1970s line up for a match against Conway members

A new pavilion was officially opened in 1974 by Ralph Coates, the Spurs winger and England international. The club enjoyed a long connection with Spurs through member Jean Bell, daughter of legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson, a frequent guest of honour. There were annual Spurs v Conway tennis matches in the mid-1970s. The line-up for the 1976 game included Neil McNab, Keith Osgood, Martin Robinson, Chris Jones – and even a young Glenn Hoddle. Apparently the Spurs players weren’t especially good at tennis but always won because of their superior fitness.

The 1990s was another time when the club’s future was in jeopardy. By 1997 senior membership was hovering at around the 40 or 50 mark and both courts and clubhouse were in a serious state of disrepair. Funding from the newly-established National Lottery enabled the club to renovate the clubhouse and five courts, greatly increasing its appeal to potential new members. A group of inspiring coaches and enthusiastic members worked hard to develop the junior membership too.

There were more improvements in 2003, when the club revamped its stop-netting at a cost of £5,000 and Jo Durie – the former British number one and a Wimbledon mixed doubles champion – cut the ribbon to reopen the courts. Floodlights were added to two courts for the first time in 2005, with a third in 2010.

Conway is proud of its many community initiatives, which include coaching sessions for people with mental health issues from Chase Farm Hospital, for students with special needs from local schools Durants and Oaktree, and for Barnet and Southgate College students with learning difficulties.

In 2010, a group of volunteers formed the Friends of the Rec group with the mission to care for and develop the parkland that surrounds the club. Lots of friends are tennis players too, and the two groups work productively together in many useful ways. In 2022, under chair Graham Sievers, Conway was named Middlesex County Club of the Year at the annual LTA Awards.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the club gained lots of new members – especially women – as gyms and pools remained out-of-bounds or fell out of favour. Most have stayed, increasing our membership and improving the club’s gender balance. The opening of a cafe has further cemented the club’s appeal, along with innovations like cardio tennis, coffee and play mornings and more group coaching options for all levels.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and King’s Coronation in 2023 both inspired lively events that drew hundreds of visitors to the park. Many burgers were consumed, £3,000 was raised for charity, and head-coach Corina saw off all-comers using only a frying pan as her racket.

Here’s to the next 100 years of Conway fun!

Conway LTC is marking its centenary with a range of events this year, including the Centenary Club Finals (from 10am) and Festival Day (from 2pm) on Saturday, 19^th July. There’s a silent disco on Saturday, 3^rd May, plus other events that will be listed on the club website. For more information:
Visit conwaytennis.co.uk

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