On Sunday February 26th 2023 we officially celebrated our 90th birthday to coincide with the official opening of our brand new tennis courts with night lights! We celebrated with a big gathering of past and present Dover Square tennis players 🎾🎂🎈

 

Our long awaited upgrade project was funded by the City of Holdfast Bay, State and Federal governments... and us!

 

Joining us with our celebration, and to unveil our new tennis courts, we were entertained and educated by the fabulous Uncle Tamaru (Elder of our local Kaurna community) - Uncle Tamaru, "ngaityalya!"

 

Uncle Tamaru was followed by speeches delivered by Federal Member for Boothby Louise Miller-Frost, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing Katrine Hildyard MP, Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson, Roberto Bria, CEO of the City of Holdfast Bay, and Dover Square Tennis Club's own President, Paul Hodgson.

 

A huge thank you to Clare Lindop (Deputy Mayor, City of Holdfast Bay) and Janelle Edmonds (Community Recreation & Sports Coordinator, City of Holdfast Bay), who have dedicated many hours to help get our club to it's current destination - thank you both very much for all your amazing hard work and support.

 

We extend a warm thank you to Avis Scrymgour, Tony Northcote, Pat Hodgson, and Paul Hodgson for their personally written speeches which took us all on an unforgettable trip down memory lane across the past 9 decades.

 

Heartfelt thanks to Aileen Merrett for her invaluable contributions, including donating our birthday cake for everyone to share!

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A huge acknowledgement of gratitude goes to Narelle Hodgson, Dover's Social Coordinator and event organiser extraordinaire. Narelle's incredibly tireless efforts towards event planning, hosting meetings and communicating with countless people made this very special event possible for us all. Thank you Narelle, for all that you do for our club.

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Special thanks to the Milne family for organising our very successful raffle draw on the day - huge thanks to our raffle prize donors: Tucker Tennis, Brighton Foodland, al.ive body, Blooms by Bec, Brighton Mitre10, Pizza Pan, Rackets & Strings, and to the following Dover members who generously donated prizes - club coach Gen Dawson, Tony Northcote, Milne family, Aaron Smith & family, Averay family, Narelle Hodgson (Podiatry First Sports), and Christina Zhang & family.

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Thank you also to Dover player Tiffany Stewart, who donated her time and graphic artist skills for our birthday invitations - great job Tiff, we are really grateful!

 

We had a lot of fun on the day, and the afternoon tea was delicious - thank you for all food donations!

 

It was truly delightful to see so many past and present players from across the decades attending. Check out our image gallery below - and don't our new courts look incredible! 🎉