Strictly Come Dancing Fundraising Event, Villa Rose Hotel, Ballybofey
Friday 16th April 2010

We all had another wonderful evening of entertainment on Friday the 16th April 2010, where our three couples representing the Tennis Club, were competing against 6 other couples, 3 from Finn Harps and 3 from Mac Cumhaill.

Moyah and John qualified with 'panache' to the final round, ahead of Phyl & Ivor and Cora & Freddie.

Click here to see photographs of the Final, which took place Friday the 16th of April 2010 in the same venue.

But it wasn't meant to be. Treacy & Chris, two brilliant dancers from Mac Cumhaill won the overall competition. Our congratulations to them.

Once again a huge thank you to EVERYONE involved in this very successfull fundraising event.

Strictly Come Dancing Fundraising Event, Villa Rose Hotel, Ballybofey
Saturday 4th April 2010

We all had a wonderful evening of entertainment on Saturday the 4th April 2010, where our six couples representing the Tennis Club, were showing off on the dance floor.

500 persons turned on the night to support their dancers (many more were turned down because of full capacity reached). The enthusiasm of the crowd and the well polished organisation made it a true success. All the money raised is going towards the building of the four new courts.

Click here to see photographs.

A HUGE Thank You to our dancers Phyl & Ivor, Maggie & John, Edel & Leonard, Moya & John, Sylvia & Brian, Cora & Freddie, for making this event such an enjoyable night.

Three couples (Phyl & Ivor, Moya & John, Cora & Freddie) are now thru to the final evening, which is taking place in the same venue on Friday the 16th April 2010 at 8pm. They will be joined by 6 couples, 3 from Finn Harps and 3 from Mac Cumhaill. Bring it on!!!

The Butt Hall Tennis Club

Since the demolition of the tennis courts behind the old Butt Hall building in Ballybofey in 2006, there have been no public tennis facilities for the people of the Twin Towns, Finn Valley and South-West Donegal.

Thanks to the generosity of Joe and Barbara Bonner, seasoned tennis players and players seeking coaching have been facilitated on a year round basis on their private omni-surface, floodlit court.

As a result of this revival of interest in tennis in the locality, we came to the realization that more courts were needed to cater for the increasing number of people wishing to both play on a leisurely basis and to receive coaching to participate in inter-club tennis.

Following the formation of a tennis committee in February 2006, a lease agreement was secured on a two acre site at Dreenan (one mile from the centre of Ballybofey). Subsequently, full planning permission was secured for four omni-surface floodlit courts with clubhouse and adjacent car park.

June 2008 saw the success of a detailed grant application to the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism. The club was allocated a funding of 80,000.00 on the provision that the courts be constructed by December 2009. The plans have gone to tender and we hope to commence construction at the Dreenan site in September 2009. [download the plans - 1MB]

Thanks to the generosity of the people of the Twin Towns and surrounding areas we have to date accumulated approximately €30,000. In order to succeed with the completion of stage one of the project (groundwork and court construction), we are embarking on a major fund raising effort on Saturday, 18th July when volunteers hope to collect €2 from every house from Donegal Town to Lifford, Mountcharles to Killybegs and from Glenfin to Ardara. Everyone’s support would be greatly appreciated as we endeavour to bring back tennis playing facilities to the south-west of the county. It is a sad indictment of the prosperity of the last ten years that we no longer have the facilities we had a decade ago.

Contact sports and team sports are not for everybody. Tennis is a sport which caters for all ages and abilities. Players with a disability are catered for in wheelchair tennis and people who are not interested in competitive sport can enjoy tennis in a more leisurely fashion. Those who are more serious about the game can be facilitated through intra and inter club competitions all year round due to modern surface conditions and flood lighting. At present senior players from the club have achieved major success in inter-club leagues involving teams from Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Omagh, Lisnaskea and Sligo.

Senior members of the club were victorious recently securing wins in the Western Spring-Summer league whilst dependent on Irvinestown tennis club allowing them to use their courts for their home matches. Junior members of the club have been hugely successful in Omagh, Enniskillen and Irvinestown in the summer Junior tennis tournaments. Both boys and girls under-age players are performing to a very high standard thanks to the professional instruction provided by the club’s coach, Francis Venzon.

Once again, the club wishes to thank everyone for their generosity to date. We hope to be able to count on their continued support as we persue our plan to revive the sport of tennis from the South West to the North West of the county through the construction of these courts in Ballybofey.

If you would like any further information about the club , please feel free to contact either Barbara Bonner or Tracey Alexander at the numbers below:
Mrs Barbara Bonner - 087 4179069
Mrs Tracey Alexander - 098 9328381

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