IT has been 16 months in the making, but Kendall Tennis Club celebrated another milestone in its redevelopment on Sunday with the opening of the new clubhouse.
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The completed clubhouse was the second of a four-stage project with another two mini courts and two larger courts hoped to be completed in the next couple of years.
President Wendy Hudson paid tribute to the funding granted from the federal and state governments and the assistance of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council in securing land from state rail on which to expand the tennis club for its 300-plus members.
“The main thing for us is it now gives a bit of relief to our members who haven’t had as much room to move previously,” she said.
“Not only that, but we now have somewhere to put all our memorabilia on the wall and photos of our ball kids and things like that.
“Everything will now be in the one place.”
Hudson said the builders Martin Hocking and Mark Fyffe, and labour donated by local tradesmen and volunteers made the funding dollars stretch even further to deliver a clubhouse better than the club expected.
“80 per cent of the work was done with volunteer labour which means you get a good combined product,” she said.
“It’s amazing how much work you can do.
“Now it makes life a lot easier because we can now run more programs.”
The community asset also includes a full commercial kitchen in the clubhouse which will also have disabled access.
Wheelchair tennis champ Janel Manns was on hand for the opening and said she had a hand in consulting on the finer details of accessibility to the courts and clubhouse.
The effort of the tennis club committee and the community of Kendall in supporting them, shows people living in a small town can enjoy the best facilities when they work together and secure the support of government.
Federal MP Dr David Gillespie was suitably impressed with how the finished facility looked.
"This has got to be the best tennis facility in the district," he said.
Dr Gillespie paid tribute to the tennis club’s committee and driving force Wendy Hudson on their effort to deliver a state-of-the-art clubhouse to the community.
The clubhouse completes the latest stage of construction for a multi-purpose sports facility for the Camden Haven community in Kendall.
Hudson said fundraising would commence soon for the upcoming stages.
“Stage one was the courts which were completed in August 2015, stage two was the clubhouse and now we want to do stage three and four as soon as we can,” she said.
“But we need to get the funds first.”