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Locals from the small rural community of Te Mata, near Raglan, turned out in force to support their local tennis club this month, with more than 15 community members attending a club working bee to lay the groundwork for a revamp of the club’s facilities.
After more than two decades in hiatus, the Te Mata Tennis Club’s committee was re-established earlier this year and committee members have been busy over recent months fundraising and attracting sponsorship with the aim of restoring the club to its former glory.
In August, the club was announced as the winner of Rabobank’s Good Deeds competition, which saw them pick up $5000 to use towards the project.
As part of their prize, the club also received a day’s labour support from Rabobank and 25 of the Rabobank team from across the Waikato region were there last Thursday to help out.
Run in conjunction with The Country radio show, the Good Deeds competition has been running since 2017 and has featured winners from a range of different rural community groups across the country.
Te Mata Tennis Club treasurer Trina Parker said the revamp of the courts was an important project for the local community.
“The club used to be really strong and had good membership numbers from the 1970s through to the early 1990s but, after this, the numbers dwindled and court condition deteriorated due to lack of use and maintenance, leading to the eventual cessation of the club in 2003,” she said.
“Over the last ten to15 years there has been strong growth in population within the surrounding rural community and, as a newly-formed committee, we’re really focused on revamping the courts and providing a facility that can be used by locals as well as Te Mata School students.”
The work took place on Thursday, October 3.
Parker said plenty was achieved on the day with 40 sets of hands to utilise at the working bee.
“The rain cleared about 8 am to an amazing day of hard mahi, great food and community building,” she said.
“The group moved about 18 tonnes of drainage metal, weed matted, planted and mulched to help develop a new 300-square-metre native garden, water blasted the courts, and also installed a new tennis net,” she said.
“I came back on Friday morning and the courts looked an absolute picture!
“The next phase of the project is to seek funding for new fencing and court astroturf but, with what was achieved on Thursday, the courts are now very much usable for the upcoming summer tennis season.”
Parker said the working bee had also helped draw a few more local tennis enthusiasts out of the woodwork.
“We had a couple of people turn up for the working bee on the day who I hadn’t met before, and who said they are keen to play tennis,” she said.
“There have also been several community members who have reached out to the club over recent weeks via our Facebook page, and I’m sure the courts will get plenty of use over the months ahead.”
Rabobank New Zealand chief executive, Todd Charteris was there to help and said the Rabobank team thoroughly enjoyed the day.
“Our teams really do enjoy supporting good causes in their local communities and there is usually no shortage of staff putting their hands up to take part in the working bees for Good Deeds winners,” he said.
“Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend plenty of these days myself, and they are always well supported by the locals and highlight the community spirit that is a hallmark of rural New Zealand.
“We got plenty done, but there’s still a lot of work to do to complete the court’s revamp, and we’re keen to stay in close contact with the club and provide further support to ensure the project gets completed.”