Warwickshire Ladies Veterans League - a smashing success

Written by Mel Jennings: league secretary

The 2024-25 league champions Kenilworth

When I think of vets tennis, I start by appreciating how fortunate we are to be playing a sport we love well into our 80s and even 90s! I’m not there (yet) but happy to be organising and participating in the ever-growing Warwickshire Ladies Veterans League. Many of us learned tennis as juniors but some league players only became addicted to tennis ‘later in life’ and have reached an impressive standard.

Jane Follett ran the league for 20 years after taking over from Anne Smith in the autumn of 2001. When Jane was at the helm, there was initially only one division with 10 teams and no club had more than one team. Matches were played on Saturdays at 1pm and, because of dwindling light, consisted only of two sets per rubber with no deciding tie-break. Jane recalls the days when she photocopied all the fixture sheets, sent them out by post and waited for results to be returned. Life became easier when online systems were introduced in 2009 and we continue to use MyDivision to this day.

By the time Jane passed the organiser’s baton to me in 2019, there were 30 teams in three divisions and her sound advice set me up well for a new era. However, towards the end of my first season, Covid hit and we called a halt; the following year there was no play at all. Normal business was resumed for autumn 2021 and so keen were clubs to compete as much as possible that a fourth division was added for the 2022-23 season.

That division has grown so that we now have a record 40 teams in all, ranging from large clubs such as Edgbaston Priory to small village clubs like Claverdon. In the season 2024-25, more than 400 ladies took to the courts, clocking up the miles to battle through wind and rain with characteristic good humour.

Demand has increased so much that matches are now played either on Saturdays or Sundays, with every team playing nine fixtures between October and March. A vital component of our encounters is the post-match tea, when we can catch up on all the tennis news - and reflect on how some of us have been playing with or against each other in various leagues for many decades!

Players from Coleshill and Hampton in Division 3.

The coveted silver trophy reveals the roll of honour from 2002-2025:

Kenilworth (8), Blossomfield (4), Leamington (4), Four Oaks (3), Knowle and Dorridge (1), Beechwood (1), Solihull Arden (1) Edgbaston Priory (1) with no competition in 2021.

Increasingly, we have used the league to stimulate interest in county tennis, spreading the word to players who might never have considered it an option. With ladies county teams in the 40s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 65s, 70s and 75s age groups of the Seniors County Cup, there is plenty of room to accommodate players who might fancy a trip to…Cornwall or Scotland!

Thanks to everyone for competing, communicating and co-operating so efficiently and with such good cheer, to Rory Lynas from MyDivision for keeping the show on the road for us, to men’s organiser Bob Harris for useful liaison and to Warwickshire LTA. Entry details for each season go out every June so any clubs interested can contact me, Mel Jennings, on mfjaway@googlemail.com or 07968 236885. You just need to be 40 by the start of that winter season and enjoy eating cake!