Tennis Club - Lower Sea Lane - Charmouth
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Charmouth Tennis Club was a very select club and only high-ranking service officers, landed gentry, doctors, lawyers and those of independent means were allowed to join.  It seems to have remained like this until well after the Second World War.  The four Whittington sisters - Beryl, Winnie, Dorothy and Joan - were of the Victorian era and mould, and were the last living descendants of Sir Richard Whittington, Lord Mayor of London in his day.  The sisters ran a small prep school, called The Limes, which was in Little Lodge, a building adjacent to the Whittington's home.  Joan drove an ambulance for the LCC during the war.  The sisters seemed to have run the club from the early part of the 20th Century and once seen, never forgotten!  All four played in long black skirts, white blouses and black cardigans.  They all wore their hair plaited and close to their heads.  Joan was the best player and was accepted for Wimbledon, but was not allowed to play as she declared winning prize money from a tournament in Cairo.  At least two of the sisters played for Dorset.
 
 
 
This photo shows a group seated on the gate of the field in which the Community Hall was later built. Opposite was another field where the village Fete and Flower Show were held.
A busy scene from the 1908 FlowerShow and Fete that was held annually in the field in Lower Sea Lane on the south side of he Almshouses (Hall View). In the distance can be seen the outline of "Devon Edge" then known as "Sunnyside" on the Street.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
One area of the village that has changed very little are the Tennis Courts which were started about 1880 by General Eliot and George Pavey, father of Reginald, and are still going strong today. The Whittington sisters -Beryl, Winnie, Dorothy and Joan virtually controlled the club for many years as well as run a small prep school in Little Lodge adjoining the Limes, where they lived.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The famous Charmouth Historian - Reginald Pavey in 1950 when he opened the Tennis Club changing rooms with the builder W.Mills. 
As we see it today with a few more houses in Lower Sea Lane.