CBTC COURT NAMING

Saturday March 21 was a significant day in the history of Careel Bay Tennis Club.

Each of our five tennis courts has now been named in honour of members as permanent recognition of the significant and historical contributions they have made to the formation of our Club. Henceforth, the five CBTC courts are named:

Court 1 - John & Betty Ebsary court
Court 2 - Ken & Kay Howarth court
Court 3 - Keith & Pam Gibb court
Court 4 - Charles Kerr court
Court 5 - Doug (Raymond) O’Key court

Signs with these new names are now proudly hanging on each court, while outside of each is a small plaque briefly outlining the contribution made by those members.

At the ceremony on Saturday it was wonderful to have Betty Ebsary, Ken & Kay Howarth, Doug Raymond and their families present, as well as family friends of Charlie Kerr and Keith & Pam Gibb. Also present was long-time Committee member and life member Marilyn Warner and life member Robyn Wells.

Court by court, Club President Steve Koolloos outlined the contributions made by the respective recipients and then invited them and their representatives to speak. Suffice to say as the afternoon wore on there was lots of reminiscing and great stories told about the Club’s early years in the 70s & 80s – weekends away, fund-raising chook raffles, country & western nights and working bees to build a proper Clubhouse to replace the previous tin garden shed! It was also special to hear memories of our now-deceased members John Ebsary, Charlie Kerr and Keith Gibb.

Without the work of these members, Careel Bay Tennis Club would not be the unique, special place it is today, so we are honoured to mark their outstanding contributions with the new court names. The Committee acknowledges that many other members have made significant contributions over the years that we are fortunate to benefit from today and this is the first step in recognising these contributions.