Prior to the foundation of Downshire Tennis Club in 1936, tennis was played in two areas of Hillsborough. One was at the ex-service men's British Legion Hut, now the site of the present Health Centre. In the 1920's there was one grass court surrounded by bushes and hedges on what was then the Pleasure Grounds. There were approximately twenty regularly playing members, including Mabel and Ethel Harper, Elsie Kelsey, Sally Spence, Lily McIlwaine, Stanley Gordon and the Bells. In the 1930's tennis was predominately played on farm land near Culcavey at a site called Brickfields where there were three grass courts and some 45 members. Members included Mabel Harper who was secretary for two years, Eric Jackson the schoolmasters son and Peggy Kelsey. Facilities included a tiny hut with no cooking or toilet facilities.

In 1939 the farm was taken over and the players drifted to Hillsborough where a club named Downshire was being formed under the instigation of George Bell. Tennis in these days was pretty elitist sport with only the local doctors, solicitors, land owners etc being invited to join. These included Doctor Stanley Boyd, Johnny Stewart, Percy Bell, Patty Bell, Sam and Bob Bell from Annahilt, Annie Bell from Fruithill and Robin Bradbury. In 1939 there was one tennis court and one bowling green. In 1942 George Bell married Mabel Wright and both her and Ann and Ada Kilpatrick were asked to join the club.

Photograph of Downshire versus Balee (near Ardglass ) in 1940. Tom Kelly in the background, Mabel Harper in the foreground.
Photograph of car is again 1940 with Robin Bradbury and Johnnie Stewart. Photograph of George Bell.

Series of old Photos - see who you can identify (Click the photo below for larger view)

The old pavilion was opened in 1942 by Lady Evelyn, the then Marquis of Downshires wife and it was herself and Canon Matchett who played the first rally. Approximately 40 people attended and everyone wore white attire and all the ladys wore hats. Patrisha Hales, the daughter of Mrs Hales presented a bouquet of flowers to Lady Downshire. In those days, the Tennis Club was the social centre of the village in summer whilst the badminton in the Downshire hall was the social centre in the winter. Miss Widdowson, Doctor Boyds aunt was the main provider of boiling water for the tea in the early days as there was no running water, no toilet and no electricity. Water was later heated on a primus stove. Buckets were used as toilets and the contents were buried in a small garden at the site of the present new clubhouse.

Balls and money were scarce and for the weekly tournament held on Saturday afternoon, you were lucky if you had two good balls and one bad one. The court was made of brick dust and had to be constantly pronged to let the water drain off. Matches were abandoned sometimes after just a shower of rain, however during good summers they had to be constantly watered. Groundsmen in those days included Matt Spence, Charlie McCarthy and reportedly the best of them all - Billy Dewart. After matches, which were nearly all friendlies , a hooley would be held when a wind up gramaphone would be produced and players danced to records including The waves of Troy. During one such event, the floor gave way and a new one had to be laid a short time later.

During the war years, double summer time was announced which meant that play could and did last until midnight. The key to the pavilion in those days was held just inside the door of Doctor Willie Boyd"s surgery in Park Street and the club consisted of 35 - 40 members. Doctor Stanley and Collin Boyd along with the Bradshaws and Canon Matchett and his wife Bunty were the prominet members. The Lucas family of Bobby and Lilly ( Toaty ) were great workers both in the club and in persuading the committee to admit juveniles as members. Lilly in particular worked tirelessly to this end and it was at her insistence that a juvenile part of the club was formed in 1946. It was run in the afternoons by Mr and Mrs McKay, evacuees from Belfast, who lived at the top of Park Lane.

Tennis rackets in those days were expensive and at an auction in the rectory, two were bought for 5 shillings to be presented to Lillies daughters Saffron and Naiomi as they began their tennis journey. Membership of the club was ten shillings. Some years later, gas light and two gas cooking rings were provided in the pavilion and water was run in by Fred Bustard with help from two men from the park.

During the late 50's and early 60's Downshire competed in the Mid Ulster league against teams from Dromore, Banbridge, Dungannon, Newcastle and Portadown, later to become a member of the newly formed Belfast & District league.

Fred Bustard was the first person in the club to own a Dunlop Forte racket purchased for £5 in 1952!

When the army came over in 1972, as part of their community service, they came up to the club and provided a coach for over a year. One weekend they covered the courts with a wooden floor and a marquee and had a BBQ and disco. They also donated a trophy for the most improved young player which was won the first year by an American David Henkel.

In 1976, the new pavilion was built and the two courts were relaid with porous concrete much to the disgust of most of the members, however it was now impossible to obtain the brickdust. Many members fell on the new courts but their ability to withstand most of the weather made them acceptable. For two seasons, to try to get better value, new balls with no hair were tried as in those days it was always a struggle to pay for things. To fundraise, Fred Bustard did a wastepaper collection for the best part of ten years in the mid seventies which earned the club £20 per tonne in its hay day.

Johnny Stewart, who died in July 2002, was probably the most influential person in the history of the club. He was the last surviving founder member and had been a member for over 50 years. He was a member of the committee for 40 years, serving over 30 of those as treasurer. After Lord Downshire withdrew the lease on the grounds, John was instrumental in introducing an interest free loan scheme to enable the club to purchase the land for £760. He also made a substantial donation to the building of the present pavilion.

In 1992, the membership of the club had dwindled to 132. The flat roof of the clubhouse was leaking, the two concrete courts were past their best, the floodlighting was poor and the fencing needed to be replaced. Tennis in Hillsborough and in fact Ireland was dying a slow death. Something drastic had to be done. Against convention, the committee was gradually increased in size from 8 to 30 over the next 5 years. Jobs were created for every individual and by chance a Level 3 coach Louise Tuff came to live in the village. Coaching took off and it was obvious to all that we would need more court space and better facilities with the membership now approaching 250.

With the help of a lottery grant in 1998 for £84,000, a council grant of £10,000 and a hard working committee of now 35, a £210,0000 project was put in progress. This was to replace the 2 existing courts with 3 sand based astro turf courts, replace the fencing, put a new roof on clubhouse, upgrade the floodlights, provide new car parking and erect a balcony around the front of the clubhouse. The work was completed in 1999, however due to drainage and levelling problems, the courts had to be replaced and again. With the help of a second lottery grant of £23,000 in 2003, the courts were re-laid with a Grasshopper Ace sand based surface.

From 1992 the membership has increased every year without exception to a record 533 in 2004. In this year the club succeeded in winning “The Supreme Club in Ireland” a credit to the hard work of the Club’s Committee which have helped to improve all aspects of Club life.