Community loses after unkindest cut to club

NO LOVE LOST: Thieves have hit the Carterton Tennis Club, taking a section of net from the community court, and Carterton deputy mayor John Booth, left, is hoping a new net will be donated from the community. Pictured with Mr Booth at the club are club committee member Denise Richardson, member Sam Hunter, 11, and club treasurer Jocelyn Kinnell. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA WTA170114LFTENNIS

The Carterton Tennis Club has been left hundreds of dollars out of pocket after thieves stole a section of net from the town community court.

Club treasurer Jocelyn Kinnell said almost three metres of the nylon netting had been sliced sometime over the Christmas and New Year holiday season.

She said that several years ago thieves had cut away and stolen the entire length of netting that had been used in the same club-maintained community court, which sits on Carterton District Council land.

Mrs Kinnell and club committee member Denise Richardson believe children are the culprits in the latest theft and that the netting in both instances of theft had been used for fishing.

"We think they took it to go fishing down at the creek - what else would you use it for?"

Carterton deputy mayor John Booth, whose grandmother Tiny Booth was a North Island tennis champion in the 1930s, was hoping "a community-minded person out there may want to donate a new net to the club", especially since the court was for public use.

"The club is getting stuck in and trying to encourage families and younger players to come back to tennis, and with the town growing so fast we have a lot of young families moving here.

"We need groups like this to promote their facilities that young families can use, that the community can use. It concerns me that this sort of thing happens, especially on a public court. We don't want this ruined."

Mrs Kinnell said a new net costs about $300 and the club had only a single spare net to service the three courts the club runs for members and interclub competitions.

Anyone who may want to donate a net to the Carterton Tennis Club, please call the club on 06 379 8810.