This year marks the 105th edition of the Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament and for almost half that time Chris Holt has been associated with the championships.
The event across 38 courts on the Hunstanton Recreation Ground from August 17-23 features about 1,200 competitors taking part across junior and senior events, making it Britain’s largest tennis tournament.
Holt’s 50-year involvement in the tournament, once again sponsored by The Hoste Arms in Burnham Market, will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 20 with a party for players and their families, former competitors and event helpers over the years. Special guests due to attend include Sandi Proctor, president of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).
There is no job linked to the tournament’s organisation that Holt has not performed over the years – frequently juggling many at one time – from managing player entries to emptying rubbish bins during the week and organising sponsorship and trade stands to erecting tennis posts and nets.
Few people, if any, in British tennis have been associated with one event for 50 years and during that time the work of Holt has been rewarded nationally.
Notably, the LTA recognised his “outstanding voluntary service to tennis, and to the Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament in particular, over a long period of time” with a Meritorious Service Award in 2020. That recognition came in the same year that the tournament was named LTA Competition of the Year.
Additionally, in 2013, Holt received the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to the tournament as well as to the local community through work as an active member of the Hunstanton Lions Club. In the same year he was named Competition Organiser of the Year in the annual British Tennis Awards organised by the LTA.
Holt, 78, known fondly as ‘Mr Hunstanton Tennis’, first became involved in the tournament in 1975. Roped in to help, his first job was as ‘tennis ball monitor’. Subsequently co-opted on to the tournament committee, six years after first being involved he took on the role of secretary. It is a job he has continued uninterrupted.
Holt, who lives in Snettisham and is a former teacher at Hunstanton Secondary Modern School (subsequently renamed Smithdon High School), said: “I thought I would do the job and year-on-year I have just carried on. I was one of the few committee members to live locally so I became a key tournament contact for local organisations including King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council (responsible for maintaining the courts and the whole Recreation Ground site), parish councils and the police.”
Organising the event, founded in 1920, became a 51-week a year task for Holt, culminating in the now seven-day championships. When he joined the committee in 1976, he recalled: “The tournament ran with about 350 entries with matches played on 18 courts. We would have a leisurely start each day around 10am, have a break for lunch and then go through to 5pm or 6pm and relax in the evening. Now we start promptly at 9.30am most days with play continuing until dark.”
Tournament chairman Andrew Creighton said: “Chris’s dedication to the tournament is unsurpassed. I first played in the event as an 11-year-old and I am still playing aged 57 along with my three sons and many other family members.
“That is how this tournament works and Chris has been ever present throughout that time! Under Chris’s leadership, the tournament has become one of the great institutions of the British summer.”
Highlighting the ongoing success of the event, Holt said: “It is a family tournament. mums, dads, grandparents, children come down. Tennis players who entered the tournament 50 years ago are now grandparents and even great grandparents and their various children have all played in the event which is testimony to its success.”
Looking to the tournament’s future, Holt said: “I have seen it become the largest in the country and in terms of player numbers we have just about reached capacity. We can barely afford to lose an hour of play with about 1,200 competitors.
“I have always been supported by a terrific committee and organising the tournament has always been a real team effort.”
That ‘team effort’ has included Holt’s wife, Linda, and son, Stephen. Linda has been the ‘behind the scenes’ helper assisting with administration tasks and answering telephone calls at all times of the day. Meanwhile, Stephen popped into the tournament some 20 years ago and has been involved ever since, taking on numerous tasks just like his father!
As for Chris, he will be stepping down as tournament secretary after this year’s event, but will remain a key committee member. Taking on the new position of community liaison officer, he will remain the tournament’s link with the borough council, parish councils, police and the community of Hunstanton and surrounding villages and will be on hand to advise and assist. Furthermore, son Stephen is to take over as tournament secretary, thus keeping the role in the family!
Holt concluded: “The tournament is part of my life. Health permitting, I will continue to be involved leading a volunteer team of helpers that spend a day before the tournament starts ‘dressing’ the 28 temporary courts that have been marked out by groundsmen on the cricket outfield and assisting with running the round robin event for under-10s and under-12s.
“I take tremendous pride in how the tournament has grown and the playing standard increased. The tournament’s success has been its attraction as a family and social occasion as much as a sporting one.
“It is a major event for Hunstanton and the surrounding villages. People stay locally and go out to eat and drink, which brings in revenue for the whole area.”
