By Sue Ponsford

The weather recently may not have been very conducive to playing tennis but the committee planning the centenary of Cuckfield Tennis Club has been hard at work thinking up memorable ways of celebrating such a special anniversary.

Saturday 2nd May will be crammed with events and there should be something for everyone. It will be held in conjunction with the annual Cuckoo Fair (this year on a Saturday as there is a special VE Day bank holiday on Friday 8th May). Non-member coaching will be on offer, memorabilia covering the last 100 years of tennis will be on view in the clubhouse and Wisdom Sports will be demonstrating their ball machine with tennis racquets to try. At teatime, there will be a formal cake cutting ceremony, and we hope to invite a local celebrity to do the honours. We plan to have willing members form the figure 100 on the courts and be photographed for posterity by a drone.

On Saturday 13th June there will be a themed tennis tournament, open to current and past members, when players and spectators will be encouraged to dress in the style of one of the decades since 1920.

Sunday 5th July (the middle Sunday of Wimbledon) will see lots of earnest people going round Cuckfield working out the clues in our family anniversary treasure hunt. The local shops are being encouraged to dress their windows appropriately and incorporate clues in their displays.

We hope to hold an anniversary dinner and to have a 100 hours tournament - players sign up to play for an hour, either singles or doubles. Plans are also afoot for more events for young people. More information will be available as the year progresses.

So save these dates and look out for more information as the summer approaches.

Published in Cuckfield Life magazine, March 2020.