Life Members
Here are some of our wonderful life members who have contributed tirelessly to the club and volunteered too many hours to count, thank you from all the members.
Aaron Toddun
Aaron first joined the tennis club in 2005. Aaron was made a life member in 2023 for his contribution to the tennis club where he was president for 3 years and 4 years as treasurer to the club.
Over his time, he oversaw the resurfacing of courts one and two as well as assisted in the removal of the carpets 3 and 4 in 2023.
He is an active tennis player playing Monday nights mens and mixed double on Thursday. He has organized mens inter club with some other clubs. Aaron is very social and outspoken on and off the courts.
He has been mixed club champion with his wife Katsue. Both he and Katsue are keen players and have assisted the club in numerous ways.
Stella Woolnough
1933 - 2019
Stella joined the tennis club committee in 1987, and with a few years off, by 2004 she remained on the committee for many years. She took on the role of secretary in 2018 and continued in this role until her sad passing.
Stella played into her 80s and was still playing Thursday night mixed doubles when she was 82. Up until 2019, she was always there if the Monday and Wednesday ladies morning tennis needed another player.
We miss her and her little dog, Chilli, who always accompanied her to the tennis courts.
Jim Henchman
Jim has been a tennis club member since 2007. He joined the committee in 2008 and stayed on it until 2018.
Jim was the convenor of Thursday night mixed doubles tennis for 8 years.
Jim spent 3 years working solidly with Rick Smith, the president at the time, to get the 2 new tennis courts up and running.
Jim and his wife, Ngaire (previously our secretary), are appreciated by the club for their sense of fun, level of dedication and support.
Rick Smith
Bio TBC
John Phillis
Bio TBC
Vale Noel Cashmore
1927 -2015
In 1997, Noel joined the tennis club committee and brought considerable business and tennis club governance experience with him.
Noel was an accountant and he was very fastidious. He got the lease with the Domain Society organised and started the “carpet fund” where annually the club put money aside for re-surfacing the courts which would need to happen every 15 years.
Noel first introduced the idea of getting the courts Astro turfed, putting locks on the gates and adding wind breaks to make the tennis environment better. Below is his first letter to the club before he came on the committee, about the ways he saw the tennis courts could be improved.
He was instrumental in getting more significant grant fundings from larger organisations for the first carpeting of the hard courts and lighting for the courts. By 2005, these improvements resulted in nearly doubling the membership numbers to the club.
In 2005, Noel stepped down as president but remained on as treasurer, and in 2012 he retired from the committee.
Barry Markwick
1949 -2010
Barry was an integral part of the early Mangawhai tennis club and contributed to it for well over 50 years. He was the president of the club for many of those years and was a committee member for over 40 years. He played tennis for all his life at the Mangawhai tennis club. He was the club’s #1 player for a vast part of his life and was a representative for Otamatea, Rodney and Northland.
Barry organised the interclub, A grade, B grade and kids’ teams. He organised twilight tennis teams and games for many years. He organised nets, balls, keys, selling and collection of subs and casual keys and fees. He coached kids and adult women in Mangawhai, Tomarata and Kaiwaka.
He and his wife, Desma, did countless fundraiser events, cake stalls, sausage sizzles and themed evenings to help raise funds for the first 4 courts we have at the domain. They were there alongside “the Michies” during this challenging time and Desma was the treasurer through all of the building and paying for the new courts. At one point, Desma was organising, baking cakes and selling them every Friday.
Prior to that Barry and Desma helped organise games at the 3 concrete courts on Insley Street that were shared with the netball club. The netball club used the tennis courts and put up their hoops in winter. In summer when it was tennis time, hoops came down and nets went up.
Barry was the Mangawhai tennis champion at 17. He was still leading and organising the Mangawhai mens’ interclub as their #1 player the week of his sad premature passing.
Kath Michie
Kath was first the secretary for the club in 1981 and was on the committee and then was the president when the fundraising for and building of the 4 new courts happened for Domain courts.
She took on the president’s job for the sole reason, to along with her husband Colin, organise the building of the new tennis courts at the domain. Colin and Kath were both players and farmers. The work involved not only the building of the new Domain courts but a huge amount of time went into fundraising for the courts.
When Kath resigned in 1986, after courts were completed, she wrote in her AGM president’s report (attached below):
“For Colin, myself personally the new courts cost us physically, financial & mentally so it is our hope they are used to capacity for young and old alike."
After the courts were completed, Kath stepped down as the president but stayed on the committee until 1989 when they moved away from the area.
Colin Michie
Kath’s husband, Colin Michie, was also on the tennis club committee for the time when the courts were being planned and built. He and Kath were farmers, and they did tremendous work with the fundraising and organising of locals and farmers to assist in the project to build the courts.
Colin project managed the positioning of the courts, laying of the foundations and building the 4 new tennis courts. He organised farmers and volunteers who had the machinery needed for the earthworks at the domain. Daily teams of workers and their machinery turned up and did their bit. Thousands of dollars’ worth of work was done voluntarily, and through the organisation of a few, but the effort of many in the community, the courts became a reality.
Fundraising was also done the same way, farmers would donate bobby calves, “the Michies” would raise them on their farm and then organise the selling of them later, which would result in funds for the tennis club. Colin could butcher the animals and this meat could then be raffled off. Mullet were caught and smoked by Colin and Brian King and sold. Anything and everything was done to raise funds for the new courts.
Colin was a huge asset to the club as he has many varied skills, he knew exactly what was needed on site and worked there tirelessly for the courts to be finished.
Phyllis Mills
Deceased
Phyllis was the tennis coach at Mangawhai tennis club for many years and she coached our juniors encouraging them to be involved in interclub. She also coached women’s tennis.
She stayed with the club until she retired in 1998 after over 25 years of service to the club.
Phyllis was on the tennis club committee for many years starting in 1981.