On Sunday, 14 September 2025, Hilton Tennis Club proudly celebrated its 75th Anniversary, a milestone that honoured not only the game of tennis, but also the friendships, dedication, and community spirit that have sustained the club for three-quarters of a century.
More than fifty current and former members gathered to share memories, laughter, and stories of times long past. Some guests travelled from as far as Cape Town, while two families rearranged their holiday plans to ensure they could be part of the occasion. The sense of belonging and loyalty to Hilton Tennis Club was clear to see.
In recognition of their service and achievements, commemorative bottles of wine were presented to past chairmen, honorary life members, and to the club’s two enduring champions, Darrel Slaughter and Moira Ryder, two players whose names have graced the winners’ boards more times than any other over the past 50 years. Special anniversary wine, featuring labels decorated with the club logo and the names of past chairmen and champions, was also made available as a keepsake of the day.
The celebrations were enriched with reflections on the club’s long history. Founded in 1950, Hilton Tennis Club began as a small gathering of local enthusiasts on modest courts, yet it quickly established itself as a hub of sporting and social life in the community. This short history, pieced together from the recollections of past members, reminds us that Hilton Tennis Club has always been more than just a place to play tennis: it has been a meeting point, a community, and for many, a second home.
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Humble Beginnings: Hilton Road
The club’s story began with the original Hilton Road court on the McIntosh’s property, opposite today’s Garden of Remembrance. Erected by local residents, it was clear that a larger facility was needed to grow tennis in the area.
A turning point came in the early 1950s, when James Craib generously donated five acres of land for the establishment of a sports club. Under the leadership of Kenneth Fowle (Chairman) and with the help of Roy Inglis (Treasurer), George and Muriel Florence (George was Secretary), Shirley and Neil Forsyth, and Hazel and Bill Dunn, the first three courts were laid and a log clubhouse erected.
George Florence later recalled:
“We battled along for some time at James Craib Park with very little increase in membership. The clubhouse was of log construction, the water was from a borehole, and we boiled water for tea over an open fire. The Health Committee eventually granted us a labourer who watered, rolled and marked the courts weekly.”
According to the 1989-1990 Chairman, John Phipson, the club was officially founded in 1950 by Lance Roberts and has progressed steadily over the years to the lively organisation that it is today. It is situated in the beautiful surroundings of the James Craib Park in Hilton, bounded by Club Lane and Committee Lane on its northern and southern sides respectively. Mauch Road and Daisy Road form its western and eastern boundaries.
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1960s – Growth and Clay Courts
In the 1960s, Hilton expanded rapidly as young families moved into the area. With municipal water finally reaching the Hilton village, the club grew, enabling the eventual hardening of the original clay courts. Brian Rowlands, who joined in the late ’60s, remembers the original wood-and-iron hut clubhouse, the long-drop toilet, and the good humour of early stalwarts like Roy Inglis, Billy Dunn, Bill Hayter, Neil Forsyth and George Florence. He recalls that hardening the courts was “a dream out of reach, financially” at the time, but one that was soon realised as the club prospered.
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1970s – A New Era
By the early 1970s, the club was still rustic. Dave Douglas, who joined in 1972, recalls “three sand courts surrounded by rusty chicken wire and a crude wooden pole hut that leaked when it rained.” Matches were often cancelled for weeks when summer rain soaked the courts. Yet membership was beginning to grow, with families like the Harvetts, Segers, Rhodes and Chapmans involved.
Dave recalls being unexpectedly elected Chairman after Terry Edwards left Hilton, and together with Colin Harvett, they approached Dr Keith Wimble, Chairman of the Hilton Health Committee, (the forerunner of the municipality) for funding. Dave recalls submitting an ambitious business plan and being delighted when it was accepted. However, he noted that there was a proviso.
“There was a stipulation that we had to accept as members any resident of Hilton, irrespective of their standard of play. As we all know, for a tennis club to succeed, there have to be standards set. After much haggling, it was accepted that there were to be three classes of membership. Those who met player standards were able to play on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Then at a lower fee, those of a lower standard could play at other times. There was also a junior membership fee.”
Here is the account of one fundraising event, as recalled by Dave Douglas.
“The HTC bank account had little in the way of surplus cash. We needed to raise money ourselves. It was decided to hold a big fund raising party. We asked Mrs Harkness, the then owner of the Hilton Hotel, if the old ballroom could be used. It had not been a ballroom for many years and was being used as storage for lots of unused hotel furniture. She was not at all keen, but after much pleading, she agreed, provided we cleaned the place up. That was done. We asked the John Gay Five, the top band in Pietermaritzburg at the time, to provide the music. As it was a fund raiser, they kindly agreed to perform at half rate. The date was set and we had posters printed. The response was amazing. I don’t remember how many registered, but the Ballroom was packed, to the extent that we had closed off bookings. We sold coupons for drinks at the door, which enabled us to earn some of the bar takings, with the Hotel providing the drinks at a discount. As a fund raising event, it beat all our expectation, and no doubt surprised the Health Committee.”
Combined with the extra membership fees, film evenings in the clubhouse, and a bridging loan from the Health Committee, the construction of the new brick clubhouse was soon completed, standing in the same place as it is today, and the hardening of the three courts was undertaken by Barretts.
As Dave Douglas noted, “the result was a rapid increase in membership and the ability to field men’s, ladies’ and mixed league teams in the Pietermaritzburg and District League, featuring players like Ewald Seger, who had been a Transvaal schools player in his youth. We won our divisions so convincingly that the next year we were promoted by two league divisions.”
Ewald is now 90 years old and clearly remembers joining the Hilton Club when he was thirty-nine where he played in the local league with Lloyd Wilson from Greytown. He remembers having to hold Lloyd back when their opponents made some very questionable line calls. Ewald is fairly certain that they were unbeaten in the league.
As Dave Douglas had recalled, earlier, Ewald had played in the South African Junior Championships at Ellis Park. Ewald, himself points out that he was only 14 years old at the time, playing in the under 18 age group. Another vivid memory from his Hilton days is from the time when he took off his Omega watch before a match and placed it on a bench beside the court. He never saw it again and says that he is still looking for it to this day.
A young Jonty Rhodes, son of Digby and Trish, could often be seen on the side lines, already showing ball sense and determination at just five years old.
In 1974, Vernon Hickinbotham, a long-standing member and an electrical contractor, installed floodlights at cost. As Brian Rowlands recalls, “The poles were constructed by Neville Chapman, another long-standing member, the holes were dug on the court, and a large number of members arrived on the day to lift the poles into position and pour the concrete. This made evening tennis possible and further increased membership.”
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1980s – Community Spirit and Camaraderie
By the 1980s, Hilton Tennis Club had become the heart of the community. Membership peaked in 1983 with 115 full members, so many that the committee was forced to close applications. Brian Rowlands recently came across the club’s 1985 Men’s Singles Club Championships draw. He noted that there were 32 entries and asked, guess who won? The evergreen, Darrel Slaughter - who is still playing excellent tennis today, in 2025.
Social life flourished alongside tennis. Brian fondly recalled club weekends away in the Drakensburg. For many years, Dave Cook, a club member and Parks Board employee was able to book the whole of Coleford, a parks camp near Underberg for club members and their families. Brian also remembered sit-down dinners prepared by members like Gail Slaughter and Chris Burczak, with Veryll Mackrory providing the desserts - and the time-honoured Friday evening gatherings at the pub. He also recalled light-hearted incidents: his own bakkie falling into the azaleas, and having to be towed out the next morning, regular Tuesday night tennis, a jug of water being poured over a certain lady in the pub, and a Saturday night game called “blow the feather” with a ping-pong ball, which became the talk of the village. One year a piano was hoisted onto the back of a truck and members drove around Hilton singing Xmas carols. There was a certain amount of drinking going on and Brian recalled someone falling off the truck.
The Christmas Concert became an annual highlight. As Ron Cooper recounts, it began in the early ’80s when Sandi Cooper encouraged the Scheltema children to perform. Soon adults insisted on joining in, leading to legendary performances and unforgettable acts: Brian Rowlands, as Freddie Mercury, and Vernon Hickinbotham’s comic “Barcelona” duet when Vernon’s wig fell off and he hastily replaced it back to front, covering his eyes, Derek Hornsey and Kate Hess doing "Dinner for One", all the men doing “Swan Lake” in tutus, Sandi Cooper, Nicole Edwards (nee Cooper) singing 'The Rose' and 'Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble' sung by Jim Reekie and Ron Cooper, and a dance routine, choreographed by Janene Cooper and performed together with Angela Junkuhn.
Family quiz nights also became a fixture, with fierce competition and heated debates but great enjoyment and the Reekie family invariably coming out on top. Meanwhile, youngsters amused themselves in sometimes hair-raising ways, such as climbing the tall conifers along Committee Lane and daring each other to travel from tree to tree, much to the concern of members playing on court 1. The guilty parties were namely Lloyd Rowlands, Stuart Reekie and Brett Cooper.
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1990s – Expansion and Junior Tournaments
By the 1990s, the club offered seven different membership classes and boasted 209 members. The annual Club Championships were hotly contested, while the Hilton Junior Tournament became a five-day event, each July, drawing more than 200 entrants and using courts at St Anne’s, Hilton College, and Laddsworth. Many children, some now around the world, still recall the junior tournament as “the” event of their school holidays.
We must express gratitude to Claire Sherriffs and Maureen Rowlands, who first initiated the junior tournament. Then Gail Slaughter took over the responsibility in 1986 and ran it for the following fifteen years (!) Lloyd Rowlands took over the responsibility from Gail, ably assisted by having Chris Folker and Richard Katandika to organise the children’s matches while the club focused on the refreshments and tuck shop for parents and players. Chris Folker, CF Tennis, made a considerable contribution to the club by substantially raising the standard of junior tennis as well as of coaching in general, in the whole area.
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2000s – Consolidation and Tournaments
In the mid-2000s, the club began hosting weekend doubles tournaments, attracting players from across KwaZulu-Natal. These annual events quickly became highlights of the local tennis calendar and have been able to generate income for the club thanks to the very generous sponsorship by Greg Downs of Hilton Quarry Spar, who had initially sponsored the Junior Tournament since 2007. Greg has continued to support the club not only providing meals and prizes for all the tournaments but also providing benches for the James Craib Park and funding the ongoing maintenance.
A Founders Tournament, an internal club event was usually organised in August or September. The Founders Trophy, donated by Lance Roberts, is presented to the winning couple in a mixed doubles turn-about event. The Founders Tree, a Liquid Amber, planted in 1952, had to be removed nearly 50 years later when it became unsafe and dwarfed the clubhouse, but a replacement was planted in the early 2000s, continuing the legacy.
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2010s – Challenges and Renewal
In late 2017, the club received National Lotteries funding, enabling the resurfacing of five courts by Barretts. But in early 2018, disaster struck when lightning destroyed the floodlights and much of the clubhouse wiring, melting appliances in the hall and kitchen. Renovations led to a modernised layout, including expanded kitchen facilities and new showers in the ablution blocks.
Those who remembered the legendary Christmas concerts encouraged a large contingent of members to perform in one last concert in 2019, emulating the golden years of the club concerts.
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2020s – Resilience and Changing Times
Like everywhere else, COVID-19 brought strict playing restrictions, including temperature taking and recording, but members were grateful simply to be able to play at all.
Sadly, Chris Folker immigrated to England in 2022. CF Tennis was taken over by Mitch Deetlefs of Ground Strokes Academy, who employed a number of coaches. The Friday night junior coaching had been incredibly popular with juniors of all ages and standards. As from 2022 the numbers began to wane as the older children moved away. Troy Rowlands must be acknowledged as having worked extremely hard and efficiently to run the bar on Friday nights for a few years but eventually the dwindling number of juniors negated the need for refreshments for parents.
By 2025, the Junior Tournament, once a 200-player event, now in 2025, struggles to attract 50 entrants, and is completed in just one or two days – a reflection of changing times, the competing events and multiple distractions for children.
In 2025, thanks to the generosity of member, Lindsay Bam and Matelec, the old floodlights, installed by Vernon Hickinbotham all those years ago, were modernised to current standards.
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A Living Legacy
From a single sand court and a log hut to today’s six all-weather courts and thriving clubhouse, Hilton Tennis Club has grown through the dedication of its members. Brian Rowlands wished to make special mention of Ted “Swampy” Walker, who was a most generous and popular member of the club, who sadly had heart failure and died on court 3 one Saturday afternoon. Brian added, “Many clubs from 75 years ago have closed down, but ours is still going strong thanks to you guys.” Seventy-five years on, Hilton Tennis Club remains a place where tennis, friendship, and community spirit flourish.
Based on a collection of memories from the following people: Brian Rowlands, Dave Douglas, Vernon Hickinbotham, Ewald Segar, and Ron Cooper.
Top image Award Winners – past chairman, honorary life members and 2 living legends so left to right Gail Slaughter, Darrel Slaughter, Moira Ryder, Brian Rowlands, Lara Cliff holding a photo of her mother who had been a chairman, Ron Cooper, Guy Hickinbotham and Brett Cooper (supporting his father).
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