A popular sports club in Wolverhampton is welcoming Grand Slam tennis champion Frew McMillan to help mark a special 80th anniversary taking place this weekend.
The Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis & Squash Club is holding an anniversary dinner, with special guests including the five-times doubles Grand Slam champion, who played – and won – several tournaments at the club during its history.
The club is marking 80 years on its present site, having started out in 1885 on the premises, moved to Albert Road in 1913, before purchasing the ‘Neville Lodge’ building and returning in 1938.
Saturday night’s event is part of an overall celebration of the 80th anniversary, including long-serving club member Rod Willetts producing a history of WLTSC from its inception to the present day.
“There is a gang of us who play racketball on a Monday and Friday night and have a pint in the bar afterwards,” says Rod, who has been a member at WLTSC for 42 years.
“One of the guys Roger Malpas, who has since been helping me with the project, was asking if anyone had ever done a history of the club and that sparked my interest.
“We found some boxes of minutes, including one which had been brought in by the family of the former secretary Mike Tomlinson, and the information blew my mind.
“There were minutes books all the way from the year 1905 to the present day – all in beautifully kept books and beautifully written in italics.
“Roger and myself have been going through those books and I have also been up to Wolverhampton Archives, where I have found some fantastic photographs.
“It is very time consuming but has been great fun and amazing to see how the club has progressed through the years.
“The idea now is to turn the work and the research into some form of publication to mark this anniversary and the club’s history to date.”
Rod has discovered there were three main reasons why the club moved back to Newbridge Crescent from the 12-court site on Albert Road eight decades ago.
The lack of parking at their previous home, the need for a venue for more ‘winter’ sports, and a more substantial property, with Neville Lodge being purchased for £2,000.
And so it was that the new and current home not only housed tennis courts at the start, but also two squash courts and separate rooms for billiards, table tennis and cards.
WLTSC also hosted a top class tennis tournament over the years which included ranking points towards events such as Wimbledon, and attracted competitors from as far afield as South Africa and Australia.
It was that event which McMillan won on three separate occasions, in 1962, 1963 and 1970, and why he is delighted to be returning this weekend, along with other guests including former British number one squash player Anna Bullock (nee Craven Smith) and another top tennis player in Ted Beards.
“We are delighted that Frew and all of our guests will be joining us and are looking forward to a nostalgic night,” added Rod.
A group of WLTSC riders who completed the Wolverhampton to Aberdovey bike ride have handed over the cheque for the money raised to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Forty riders from WLTSC took part in this year’s event in June, and combined to raise a fantastic £8,285 which was handed over to Sophie Carroll, Fundraising Officer from the hospital, at the club on Wednesday afternoon.
“Aberdovey was a great challenge, with WLTSC putting in the team with the most riders at the event,” says Operations Manager Marc Hughes.
“It was another real show of support from the club, with the majority of the team being made up of WLTSC members, and completed by some close friends.
“There was also a lot of support from everyone else at the club, and that has seen us go past our fundraising target and donate over £8,285 to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.”
There were many reasons why WLTSC chose the Queen Elizabeth to be the beneficiary of this year’s ride.
The hospital treated hugely popular former club member Robert Marshall in his final days before passing away last November whilst also helping Ryan Hughes, Marc’s nephew, in both treatment and rehabilitation following a brain tumour.
Ryan actually joined the cyclists for the 105-mile ride this year, along with his Dad Paul, and Marc.
Many other club members are also indebted to the care of the QEH, including Emma Tilley, who was there at Aberdovey to cheer the WLTSC group which included her Dad Dave.
“I was diagnosed with leukaemia three years ago when I was 19,” says Emma.
“For the specialist treatment that I required, I could only go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and I was admitted to Ward 625 where I spent seven weeks undergoing a stem cell transplant and programme of intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
“The hospital has done so much for me, Professor Charlie Craddock and the consultants and specalists.
“They are the reason why I am still here today – I owe it all to them – and throughout my treatment the hospital has always really helped me.
“I am now in remission, and still go in for checks every few months, and was only in last week to see the consultant.
“I saw some familiar faces from three years ago, and they can’t believe how far I have come since that time – it is amazing.
“So I was very proud that the club decided to support the QEH, and it was fantastic to see how everyone came together to do the ride to Aberdovey and raise such a large amount of money.”
*Thanks to Sophie Carroll, from the Fundraising team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who came over to WLTSC to receive the cheque.
WLTSC Personal trainer Brendon Turner and his intrepid team are back in training for another gruelling fundraising challenge, in memory of his father Dennis.
The latest Lord Bilston Big Challenge is entitled ‘Carry the Load’, and will see the adventurous group transport two members of staff from Compton Care – previously called Compton Hospice – on the back of a tandem, on a stretcher, and in a canoe, without their feet touching the floor.
Just the small matter of 140 miles to cover during the event which takes place on Saturday, July 21st, and will raise money for Compton Care.
Dennis Turner became Lord Bilston in 2005 having dedicated his life to service to the community, including many years as a Wolverhampton Councillor and Deputy Leader – and serving as the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West.
He passed away at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer in 2014, and the Turner family remain indebted to the care he received in his final days with Compton Care.
That inspired Brendon to start these epic bi-annual challenges in memory of his Dad, and to raise funds for the crucial charity – and challenge three is now just around the corner!
“We were really impressed with Compton Care and the care and dedication which they showed to my Dad,” he explains.
“In the July after he had passed away in the February, we decided to do a fundraiser, just as a way of saying thank you.
“I wanted to organise an event that represented a real challenge like the one Compton staff and cancer patients face on a daily basis.
“For the first one it was a group of my mates, around 12 of us on total, and we did a cycle ride, canoed at Bala and walked up Snowdon in a 13-hour challenge which raised £13,000.
“Two years ago we did it again, starting with a cycle ride form Anglesey, carrying our bikes of the top of the mountain and swimming in Lake Bala, and that raised about £15,000.
“Now it is time for our biggest challenge yet!
“We’re doing a cycle ride starting from Swansea, which will include taking two members of Compton Care’s staff – Grace Lee and Debbie Smith – in a trailer, followed by an eight mile hike when we will carry them on a stretcher, back on the tandem, and then in the back of a canoe down the River Wye
“Then it’s back on the bikes at Hay-on-Wye for the final journey back to Wolverhampton.
“The message of the ride is that we know that the staff at Compton Care carry a load for so many people at their most stressful and sad times, and that can be really difficult.
“They give people so much help and comfort, and they make it as painless as possible for those going through such a tough experience, just as we were with my Dad.
“So on this occasion we are going to ‘Carry the Load’ for the members of staff from Compton, all the way back from Swansea to Wolverhampton.”
Training is well underway for the mammoth challenge, with several among the team having also been part of the WLTSC contingent which took part in last Friday’s ride to Aberdovey in aid of Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Ironically, Dennis himself was not necessarily a keen fitness enthusiast, and so Brendon’s inspiration for the challenges is more down to his sense of community than time spent in the gym!
“I wouldn’t say my Dad was too keen on exercise,” Brendon explains.
“He used to turn up to the gym in his suit and say he couldn’t do much because he had to go off to a meeting!
“So all this is quite ironic really!
“But he was a great public servant, and he was all about meeting people, being in social circles, and was very much a driver of the sort of teamwork which we will need for this challenge.
“He would never turn anyone away if they had a problem, and even if he was out for a drink and someone approached him he would try and help – he was never off duty.
“He was always committed to people helping others, and a strong sense of community spirit, and those are the values and the philosophy which we are trying to keep going.
“I am just keeping my Dad’s memory alive in a positive way, whilst at the same time helping out a really caring and important charity.
“No wage or salary would have been enough to repay the love and affection the nurses from Compton and Dad’s beloved NHS displayed in his last days in this world.”
A golf day was recently held to kick off this year’s fundraising, and the target from the Lord Bilston Big Challenge is to surpass last year’s total of £15,000.
Brendon’s Mum and Dennis’s widow Patricia has helped out with contributions to the kit for this year’s race, and she and daughter Jenny will be supporting every step of the way.
When the party return to WLTSC on the evening of July 21st, a celebration dinner will be held where family, friends, sponsors and supporters can get together and, hopefully, toast another successful Lord Bilston Big Challenge.
Grace Lee PR, and Marketing Manager at Compton Care, who is one of those being ‘chauffeured’ for the challenge, says:
“Brendon and the rest of the Lord Bilston Big Challenge have been fantastic supporters of Compton Care, always pushing themselves to the limit to help raise essential funds so we can continue to deliver extraordinary care for local people living with incurable illnesses.
“When Brendon first approached us with the ‘carry the load’ idea for this year’s challenge we were so impressed and really moved by the sentiment and motivation behind it.
“It is true to say that Compton carries and guides people through their experiences of life with an incurable condition, and so we’re touched that the group want to give something back in such a thoughtful and imaginative way.
“As one of the people being ‘carried’ I’m not quite sure what to expect from the challenge, but I do know that we will all be working incredibly hard to raise as much as possible for Compton Care and honour the memory of a great local man – Lord Bilston, Dennis Turner.”
