SALLY TOFT

Sally began playing tennis at a very young age, if you could call it tennis! She found a Dunlop Maxply racquet lying around the house, a tennis ball with no fuzz and hit the ball around the yard at her childhood home in Britain. She fell in love with the game.
Sally mentioned that the racquet was perfect, if she turned it upside down with became a cricket bat.

Later on in Senior School tennis was taught as part of PE and Sally joined the tennis team. Her gym teacher recognized her passion for the game and she was enrolled in a class promoting tennis development.

Wherever she went, Sally had her tennis racquet with her. She said that with her racquet she was always able to meet people, tennis provided an entrance to communities new to her.

Sally moved from Great Britain to Prince George in 1974. I asked her why Prince George and she said it was a wonderful opportunity to explore the great outdoors, to learn to ski and to hike in the back country. True to form, she joined the Prince George Tennis Club and met her tennis community. Sally still connects with these friends almost 50 years later.

From Prince George Sally moved to Edmonton where she raised her family and yes continued to meet new friends through tennis.
It was in Edmonton that she was asked to play “league”. Being new to the club, not knowing many members and not entirely sure what playing league meant, Sally found a partner and jumped in with both feet. This was the beginning of league play which until recently she played at Cap, representing our club well, playing a great game with a calm and respectful demeanour on and off the court.

Sally moved to Vancouver 25 years ago and yes she was looking again for a tennis community. She saw an advertisement in the North Shore News for Cap and decided to give it a go. Her first experience at the club was a game changer. She arrived at the club for one of our monthly Wednesday night socials, people were playing, milling about in and around the clubhouse with drink in hand and a wonderful salmon dinner was being prepared to be enjoyed by all. She thought, this is the place for me.

Sally became involved fundraising for then new clubhouse and enjoyed working with other members to bring Rudy’s dream to fruition. As well she served on the Board as Play Director and doing all that the position entailed with that smile on her face.

I asked Sally to comment on some of her experiences over her time at the Club and she had only positive things to say. She applauded Howie’s Junior programme from which her two sons learned to play. It was Howie who encouraged her to compete in Senior’s Tournaments, something that had never occurred to her. According to Sally, Howie helped her prepare and she did relatively well (her words, not mine) to achieve a minor Provincial ranking.

Sally enjoys both the competitive and social tennis aspects of the club. There are many opportunities to play league and to simply come and hit the ball with fellow members.

With respect to changes she’s seen at the club, Sally commented that when she first joined the members were North Shore residents and the believes that because of our reputation of being a fun, social and welcoming club, people are coming from other Lower Mainland communities to join us.

Sally shared a few things that people may not know about her, she’s a passionate environmentalist, concerned with food security and volunteers at Loutet farm.

I asked Sally what advice she would give to her younger self or to younger people. She said that she would encourage people to have courage, not to be fearful, to embrace every opportunity and to live the life you choose to live.

One of Sally’s favourite Seamus Heaney”s quotations says it all, “The way we are living, timorous or bold will have been our life”.

ELIZABETH MCLAREN

Today I had the opportunity to meet with another of our long time Cap members and I came away believing that I’d just spent an amazing 1 hour+ with a Renaissance Woman, Elizabeth McLaren, a pianist, an artist, a researcher and one heck of a tennis player!

Elizabeth began her tennis “career”in her 40’s and was following the advice of her Doctor. Having undergone a number of hand surgeries, the Dr. suggested that tennis would help Elizabeth strengthen her hands and increase her manual dexterity.

She began playing at Lions Gate Tennis Club in the early 80’s. A number of LGT members were members at Cap as well and Elizabeth had heard from them that Cap was a great summer club with a very active social component so she decided to join.

Having been a member for a couple of years and volunteering in a variety of roles, Elizabeth was invited to join the Board by then President Rudy Durton and Treasurer Frank Gardner. She had assumed, as many women did at that time, that she was to take on the position of Secretary. She was incorrect in that assumption, she was being asked to become the club President.

Elizabeth’s previous work and volunteer leadership put her in a good position to serve the Board in this capacity. She had been a medical researcher at UBC, lead Market Research on Public Opinion for BC Hydro and served on a variety of Not-for-Profit Boards including the North Vancouver Recreation Commission.

When I asked Elizabeth of her accomplishments as Board President. She responded that being on the team that helped to build our club house was an accomplishment of which she is proud. She was able to “stick-handle” the building of our new facility through the very political process of working with the District of North Vancouver and ensuring that we were able to maintain our Not-for-Profit status.

One other accomplishment was increasing member participation at the Annual General Meetings. She said that in past years the meeting had been attended by a mere handful of members. Elizabeth decided to turn the meeting into a more social event and introduced guest speakers in the hope of enticing more members to attend and this was met with success.

Elizabeth shared that she is enjoying the energy that our “younger members” bring to the club and especially the fact that they have taken on Leadership roles. She suggested that new Leadership can and often does encourage new volunteers to surface from our membership, volunteers that assist with the ongoing operations of the club.

I asked what advice she would give to her younger self and her response was”embrace life and all that it offers, never give up”.

Something that few people know about Elizabeth...her ancestry includes Lord Rutherford, the man who split the atom!

HAMISH JACKSON

I had the opportunity to chat with Hamish who has been a CTC member since 1971 when the club used the community centre in our lower parking lot for its tennis facilities. Hamish told me that  our Board meetings  and  AGM were held in a room rented from the Community Recreation Department

Hamish joined the Board at a time when the club was struggling and he was asked to step in to help. True to his nature, a propensity to do the right thing, he did just that to become the club's President.  He did mention that he won by one vote! When the community centre was closed the club bought a portable trailer unit and used it as our clubhouse. With time, as the trailer began to fall into  disrepair, Hamish said "we built our own new clubhouse which we as members still enjoy today!".

I have known Hamish since I joined the club 7 years ago and I have always appreciated his demeanour, both on and off the court. As we participated in Breakfast at Wimbledon and watched the Gentlemans Final, I thought of Hamish - a more than proficient tennis player who exhibits a sense of grace. I asked him how he became a “ man of calm”? His response was that he learned through playing competitive sports and accepting that there are times when one doesn’t always play one”s best  and that’s ok.          

Hamish's advice to his younger self would be to balance life between  family, work, and social time. In response to my question to tell me something about himself that others may not know,  Hamish said that his Christian faith helps him to bring a relative balance to all that he does. 

SHARON MOXON

Sharon began her illustrious tennis career, (my words, not Sharon’s), in her mid forties when her children were at an age that they were less dependent on her. She joined a small club in Toronto. Sharon described the club as “cottage like”, situated on Lake Ontario, a beautiful place to play tennis and she fell in love with the game.

Sharon and her family moved to Vancouver in 2000 when her husband retired from his Law practice and shortly thereafter found their tennis community at Cap.

Sharon is turning 80 and I asked her if she is in agreement with the statement that 80 is the new 70? She is and attributes her longevity to genes and to remaining active both physically and mentally. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to play tennis with Sharon, she’s a “play maker”, knowing when to hold steady and when to finish the point.

Sharon told me that one of her fondest memories of being a member at Cap was when Rudy Durton decided to live his dream and to build a clubhouse for Cap, the clubhouse that we enjoy currently as a result of his generosity. Prior to that the club had operated out of a trailer.

According to Sharon, it was an exciting time for the club and as the Board President it was fun and rewarding to work as a cohesive group to help to bring Rudy’s dream to a reality’.

For Sharon the social life at the club was as important as the tennis. Saturday Tea’s became somewhat competitive with members trying to outdo one another with the weekly treats. Sharon misses that part of the club yet understands that the “younger” group likely have busier lives with both partners working outside of the home than in her day.

Sharon’s wish for the club is that we continue to work to maintain our longstanding reputation of a friendly welcoming club. She said “let’s just be kind to one another, help each other to become the best that we can be”.

I asked Sharon what advice she would give her younger self, her response “try different things, make decisions for yourself and don’t allow others to hold you back.

My last question to Sharon was tell me something that others don’t know about you? Her response, I’m a member of a scotch tasting club!