Tahunanui Tennis Club members Sam Piper, Ruth Bagnall, Tania Erskine, Alice Anderson and Susan Rooney are all looking forward to this Saturday’s open day. Photo: Charles Anderson.

Tennis club plays on after truck crash

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When Ruth Bagnall first saw the large truck crashed through the Tahunanui Tennis Club’s fence her first reaction was shock.

“We were a bit concerned,” the club committee member says.

Two weeks ago, a large truck towing two trailers rear-ended a stationary parked truck on SH6.

It rammed through the tennis club fence and onto its courts.

The stationary truck was parked up and loaded with batteries for scrap.

The contents of this truck, batteries and acid, spilled all over the road and was blocked.

The larger truck remained there for some time while crews cleared the scene and ensured that no battery acid had leached into nearby waterways.

While one of the courts has been cleared, the other is still “munted,” says Ruth.

She says the club members expressed concern over the woman who was driving the truck, who was later discharged from Nelson Hospital.

“We were pleased that the incident was not more serious.”

However, the crash is not stopping the club from getting on with its business of playing the game that its 120 members love.

“The show must go on,” says Ruth.

So, this Saturday, the tennis club is hosting an open day at 1pm where anybody can come down and try out its facilities, have some afternoon tea and meet its friendly club members.

Ruth says the club had planned on re-doing some of the courts anyway and the damage caused by the truck would be fixed. However, it means that there will be a delay before they are all operational.

It’s not the first time that the area has faced destruction. In 2016, a 15-year-old boy crashed through a fence and into the Bowls Tahuna club.

Ruth hopes that all the courts will be up and running before the club season started in October, at the start of summer.