THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Son of Portstewart returns home to open golf club’s tennis courts

From the News Letter, June 4, 1932
Driving off the scenic sixth tee at Portstewart Golf Club in Co Londonderry. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker PressDriving off the scenic sixth tee at Portstewart Golf Club in Co Londonderry. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press
Driving off the scenic sixth tee at Portstewart Golf Club in Co Londonderry. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press

The News Letter on this day in 1932 reported that during the opening of the new tennis courts by Mr J M C Montagu, who was accompanied by Mrs Montagu, had paid a warm tribute to the enterprise of the golf club.

The tennis courts had been built on the Portstewart Golf Course beside the clubhouse and adjoining the picturesque Portstewart to Portrush coast road.

The two full courts which had been built at the club had been constructed “on the most modern lines” and at a cost of £500.

The chairman of the club, Mr Robert Patterson, spoke of the “happy relations” which had always existed between Mr Montagu’s late father and the club of which the late Mr Montagu had been president and for which he had done so much.

Asking Mr Montagu formally to declare the tennis courts open Mr Patterson said that his own earnest wish was that that new section of the club would develop and prosper as well as the main section of the golf course had done since it had been built. Mr Montagu also commented favourably on the “great improvements” which had taken place in Portstewart in recent years.

He said that he had recently been asked by a friend to sum up his thoughts on the Portstewart that he had found on his return home.

He said: “My conclusion was that Portstewart seemed to me like a big, healthy boy. The healthy boy didn't want to be kept inside doors, he wanted to get out, to play games, to exercise himself, to play golf, to play tennis, to have a life filled with healthy and happy pursuits alike for body and mind.”

He continued: “I am glad to see in the two splendid courts that I have been asked to open a practical demonstration of the club’s vitality and enterprise.”

Mr Robert O’Neill of Coleraine in proposing a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Montagu for opening the courts expressed the “unbounded pleasure” it gave the club to have Mr and Mrs Montagu with them that day.

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