Our History

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  • A brief History

    Bridlebrook Park Tennis Club was formed in 1974 at the tail end of the “fitness boom”. A program that the province had urged citizens to exercise more. The Homeowners Association and several keen local tennis players thought a tennis court would be a good fit for this community. In order for it to precede the City had to be assured that enough community support was behind such a proposal. A meeting was scheduled at the school to determine the level of interest from the immediate neighbourhood. It was a packed house and enthusiastically endorsed. The City agreed to build and a location had to be chosen. Firstly the Appian School yard was considered but vetoed by the neighbours. The south east bank of the Don River at Finch was also considered but discounted. Finally the present location was settled at Alamosa Park as it is now known.

    A tennis committee was formed with Terry Idenouye as its first president. A mailing with an application for membership was delivered to each of the 353 houses in our area and resulted in over 250 initial members for the fist year. This was very encouraging as it showed the degree which people wanted to support the community. The membership eventually settled down to a consistent overage over the last twenty five years or so of approximately 130-140 adult members and 35 juniors.

    The construction of the courts presented considerable difficulty to the contractor as it was swamp land. They had much difficulty with their machinery in the deep mud. Finally enough fill was placed to enable a satisfactory surface to appear and we had our courts. 1980 saw the piping to the courts for a drinking fountain and 1983 the courts were deconstructed to lay weeping tiles around and through to eliminate heaving of the playing surface. This was necessary because of the underground water table. This seems to have solved this problem so far.

    Lights and a club house were not included initially possibly because of budget conditions and or conflict with the province as the land is part of Parks Recreation Forestry Department. The tennis executive requested each following year for at least ten years to have the City include the installation in the budget for lights at least, but each year it was turned down. Bridlebrook remains the only community tennis court in North York with no lights. Initially 45 community tennis courts were built to be run by a voluntary executive. Today only 19 remain which are run this way, the rest are now public courts owing to a gradual lack of interest to keep their club as a semi-private club.