Pambula Tennis Club

22/08/2026

01/07/2026

July 2026 Newsletter

Autumn 2026 Competition
The Autumn competition grand final was robustly contested. Speed’s team pipped Leon’s team at the post. It’s been a long time between drinks for Speed and his teams and he was probably thinking father time was starting to weigh on him. As usual Speed and Nicole not only ran the competition, but they also did all the spade work week after week to make sure teams had the numbers to play full games. As well as that, their business, Sapphire Plaster, sponsored the prizes. Many thanks to Pato for providing the BBQ on Grand Final night.

Spring 2026 Competition
The Spring competition will start on Monday the 7th of September. Grading and hits up will occur from 6pm on Monday the 24th and 31st of August. Let Speed (0407 956 548) know if you are going to play so he can start organising teams.

Annual General Meeting
The Pambula Tennis Club Annual General Meeting is set for Tuesday the 18th of August at 6pm in the clubhouse.

Working Bee
We are having a Working Bee on Sunday the 20th of September starting at 10am so put it in your diary. We have plenty of jobs to allocate and equipment will be organised to do the jobs that need doing.

Grant Applications and Court Improvements
We were unsuccessful in attracting a Crown Reserves Improvement Fund (CRIF) grant for resurfacing courts 3 and 4 for a multipurpose surface. The feedback we received was positive but only 7% of applications were successful.
Active Regional Communities Packages have opened and closed but we weren’t in a position to apply due to tight time frame and a 20 % co-contribution requirement.
The $13,000 grant from the NSW Government under the NSW Sports Grants program for courtside seating has arrived and we have ordered and paid for the new seats which arrive this Monday. We have a project plan in place and we will keep you posted as to how you might be able to help with it.
We are chasing quotes for LED lights from Lakeside Electrical and Core Infrastructure so that we have estimates at hand for grants of around $60,000. We might be more successful aiming at a slightly smaller grant.

Meeting with Reflections Manager
I had a meeting with Tiarne Cronk from Reflections, our Crown Land manager. Tiarne informed me that the lights have been looked at and they are waiting on parts. Apparently it’s the same problem as last time, the light ballasts, but on a different set of lights. I informed Tiarne that we are organising to install the replacement of the seats soon. Reflections require a licensed builder to oversee this. Luke Unicomb has indicated he would like to assist with this and we will have a meeting to discuss the nuts and bolts of the seat replacement project.
Tiarne is also looking into a QR code for the court hire which would be in addition to the honesty box.

Tennis NSW Membership
Our Tennis NSW membership renewal is due. I have updated the Working with Children Register of committee members in preparation for this. I have queried our membership category with Tennis NSW again this year and have sent Tennis NSW our licence and an explanation of our circumstances.

New Membership Year
Club members will be able to sign up for the new club year - 1st July 2026 to 30th June 2027 – now. Please check the website this week (last week of June) to access membership renewal online or use the link to download a hardcopy membership form if you prefer to do it that way.

Social Tennis
Remember that anyone is welcome to come and play with the Social Tennis group on Monday and Thursday mornings between 9am and 11am. Just turn up and have a fun hit, or a more serious one if you want.

10/05/2026

The seven Autumn night comp teams have been battling it out Monday nights for the past couple of months. The sem-finals are on this Monday (tonight) and the Grand Final are next week, weather permitting of course.
Our latest Club Grants Category 3 was unsuccessful and we are yet to hear the results of the Crown Reserves Improvement (CRIF) funding application for a new acrylic surface on two of the courts.
The Active Regional Communities Packages funding rounds have opened – which we have not seen before or I was unaware of for some reason. However, it turns out that there a couple of stumbling blocks for these for us. One is the short timeline since discovering their existence and the other the co-payment and other financial requirements amount on one funds. They are called the NSW Community Participation fund ($100,00 to 1,000,000) and the NSW Local Priorities fund ($10000 to 100000).
We are pleased to announce we have attracted a $13,000 grant under the NSW Sports Grants program for courtside seating to replace the bench seating around the courts. Thank You to the NSW Government for this funding. We are polishing up the project plan for this. The club will be checking with members who have an appropriate trade background to help organise their installation in the near future.
We are chasing some new quotes for the conversion/replacement of the lights on all courts with newer more energy efficient LEDs so that we can apply for the grants that have a limit of under $100,000.
Some of you might have noticed the new nets on courts 1 and 2. Hopefully they will stand the test of time and use.

Thanks to Bernie Keating for placing the wreath on ANZAC on behalf of the club. Thanks also to Frank Davey for picking up the wreath from the florists.

We are still trying to organise a meeting with Reflections to discuss the nuts and bolts of the grant and several other topics regarding the club. By the way we have new caretakers at the caravan park and will introduce them in the next report.

We are aiming to run our January Holiday Twilight Tennis next year on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays in January.

On Monday and Thursday mornings our SOCIAL TENNIS happens all year round - anywhere between 9am to 11am. All levels of player are welcome and we encourage beginners to come and have a go and maybe learn some of the bad habits the regulars have picked.
Come and join us for some fun.

12/03/2026

Spot the change.

16/02/2026

A lot of activity has happened since the last report about the club.
The 2025 Spring competition concluded in early December and Mark Venebles team of Mark, Bronwyn Venables, Alan Dawson, Leisel Haar (filling in for Clara McKinnel) and Mick Grealy took out the top place. Runners up were Glenn Leggatts team comprising Glenn, Jack Gamlin, Taylor Venables, Frank Davey OAM and Josh Leggett. The comp itself was well attended and good fun.
The prize vouchers were supplied by Sapphire Plaster.
The 2026 Autumn comp has had practice and grading sessions the last two Mondays with the action to start on Monday the 16th of February at 6pm. Contact Speed Gordon on 0407956474 for further details.
The two Summer holiday Twilight tennis competition were well attended and lots of fun. A big group of the Wentworth family were present and did well on the court and in the draws. The first week was won by a regular visitor, Sacha Vidler and runner up was Sarah Wentworth another regular visitor to the area
The second night was well attended by locals and was won by two Pambula veterans Mark Venables and runner up was Speed Gordon.
Half yearly memberships are now available especially for those who are only playing the Autumn competition.
The new club constitution was voted in at the General Meeting in December and has been registered with Fair Trading by our Public Officer of the club Sandy Farrell.
Next meeting of the clubs general committee is this Tuesday February 16th at 6pm at the club house.

18/01/2026

Twilight tennis is on tonight. The courts have recovered well from the moisture and are playable.

15/12/2025

2025 – 2026 Committee
Thanks to all those who stood for the new management committee again this year.
The 2025-2026 gang is:
President Rick Farrell
Vice President Speed Gordon
Secretary Vacant but a late entry by Cato Bailey
Treasurer Nicole Gordon
Committee members
Vicki Barber, Frank Davey, Bernie Keating

Special thanks to Sandy Farrell for her efforts over recent years as Secretary. Sandy has wrangled a lot of the organisational aspects of the club which makes it much more straightforward to run. Sandy has made herself available to help with things when I stuff them up. We were looking for a new Secretary but we may have snaffled Cato Bailey to come onboard with that.

We have compiled a yearly calendar of tasks that need attending to by the committee throughout the year. This might be of interest to anyone thinking of putting their hand up for a committee spot should all of us have an accident!

Spring 2025 Comp.
The Spring comp has attracted six teams with a good number of reserves. The Grand Final is being played on Monday the 15th of December from 6pm. Good luck to Glenn Leggat and Mark Venables teams we hope you have a good tussle tomorrow night and well done on making it that far.

Management of Jack Martin Park
We have had no further news to report about Crown Lands plans for the management of the park at the moment. Responsibility still rests with Reflections Holiday Parks.

Maintenance and Infrastructure
Making our best efforts to catch up with Tiarne Cronk to do a walk around inspection of the facility to update her on what is happening with the tennis club’s needs.

Working Bee
We held a Working Bee on Sunday the 17th of August and I would like to thank the following members for a STERLING effort. Sandy Farrell, Vicki Barber, Bernie Keating, Sue Chancellor, Peter Muffet, Kel Arthur, John Hart, Pek Woods, Denise Channon, Greg Wiley, Angie Allen and Wayne and Deb Metcalf. All courts were given a comprehensive grooming, some court fencing wire was replaced and the clubhouse given a good thrashing.

Holiday Tennis and Twilight Comp
It has been decided to run the Holiday Twilight tennis again in January. We are going to run them on a Sunday afternoon/evening on the 11th and 18th of January between 5.30pm and 8 o’clockish depending on how big a tussle occurs on court. Rules will be the same and there will be good prizes for both the top points earners and the random draw winners.

Social Group American Tournament
One off event for the social players was played on the 7th of August. A play off between Peter Muffet and Frank Davey resulted in Frank being top ranked (must be the daylight that gave him the advantage) and Peter runner up – not that they were competitive at all. For the random draw we pulled a hat out of the cupboard and it was won by Deb Metcalf. The slightly out of date chocolates were won by yours truly but most of them didn’t make it out of the building so they couldn’t have been too bad.

Grant applications
Our Previous Cat 3 Club Grants application was unsuccessful and a new application was put up which was also unsuccessful. Another entry is being finalised for the December 2025 round and we continue to keep our fingers doubly crossed. Our application for the Local Sports Grant (for new seats) is still undeclared. We have also applied for the November 2025 Crown Land Improvement Fund (CRIF) which we will hear about early next year.

All we can do is keep plugging away at the grant applications. Rick and Sandy have put together a lot of information to make answering the grant questions more straightforward. The businesses giving us quotes are always very facilitating and swift with their updates.

New Club Constitution
The new club constitution will be tabled as a special resolution at a general club meeting on Tuesday the 16th of December at 6pm with the committee meeting to follow. A copy of the new constitution came by found on the website.

Social Tennis
As mentioned many times the Monday and Thursday mornings our mixed social tennis happens all year round - between 9am to 11am. People come and go as their time allows. No, we don’t lock people in and make them play the whole two hours. Although some of our group are masochists and play for 2 and a half! All level of players are welcome and we encourage beginners to come and have a go and maybe learn some of the bad habits the regulars have picked! The Christmas Party for social group is being organised by Vicki Barber and is set for Monday the 15th of December down at Lions Park Beach after the mornings session.

Club Membership
For any prospective new members or those renewing their membership you can do so on the club website by paying with your credit card - this is once only online registration that you can use again and again in the future and it makes our job easier.

Online via your mobile phone or computer:
Search for “Pambula Tennis Club” in your search engine and click on “Website”.
Click on the ☰ tab near the top right-hand corner.
Choose “Membership” from the drop-down menu.
Scroll down to the membership selections and choose the one that suits you best.

You can also do a bank transfer to our Bendigo Bank account for the amount required - remember to include your surname on the description line.
Or you can pay by cash on Monday evenings when the comp is running.

12/09/2025

Good Morning

I wanted to take the opportunity to welcome current and former members to the new club year. Memberships are now due and you can renew on the club website by paying with your credit card - this is once only online registration that you can use again and again in the future and it makes our job easier.

Online via your mobile phone or computer:

Search for “Pambula Tennis Club” in your search engine and click on “Website”.

Click on the ☰ tab near the top right-hand corner.

Choose “Membership” from the drop-down menu.

Scroll down to the membership selections and choose the one that suits you best.

You can also do a bank transfer to our Bendigo Bank account for the amount required - remember to include your surname on the description line.

Or you can pay by cash on Monday evenings when the comp is running.

Those who are playing comp also need to pay comp fees of $25 each player and that can be done online now too via the website by including it as an add-on. You can also do it using the other two methods mentioned above.

We have a six team Spring comp. underway with a good number of reserves.

We will also be running a happy holiday tournament during January again so keep an eye out for dates on the website.

Lastly, the committee has been putting a big effort in to update the clubs constitution to bring it into line with current regulations. We will be advertising a Special General Meeting of members in the next two or three months in order to vote on adopting the new constitution. Special thanks go to Vicki Barber, Sandy Farrell and Bernie Keating for the work they have put in towards this - its been a mighty effort.

P.S. We still haven't found a Secretary for this year so if you have been thinking about putting your hand up please drop me an email.

Sandy Farrell will be available to consult with anyone who would like to put their hand up for the Secretary role. If you have wanted to learn a role like this for your Resume it would be a good place to start.

On Monday and Thursday mornings our SOCIAL TENNIS happens all year round - anywhere between 9am to 11am. All level of players are welcome and we encourage beginners to come and have a go and maybe learn some of the bad habits the regulars have picked!

Come and join us for some fun.