CAGS Tennis Group
CAGS Tennis Group is the tennis section of Croydon Area Gay Society. It was formed in 1977, and has been playing regularly on Sunday afternoons ever since.
In June 1976 CAGS (then the Croydon CHE Group) held a "fun" tennis tournament for women at the Northampton Road Recreation Ground, followed by another in August.
Tennis however did not become a regular event in the Group's calendar until an article appeared in the July 1977 Newsletter under the caption "Anyone for Tennis". This was the start of the Tennis Group, and by October it was reported that 22 players had taken part. The venue chosen was the Park Hill Recreation Ground, Croydon. In 1981 the group moved to Trumble Gardens, Thornton Heath.
By 2011 the state of the Trumble Gardens courts had been deteriorating for some time, and there had occasionally been homophobic abuse from local youths. So from the start of 2012 the group has moved to the much more auspicious surroundings of Court 4 of the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace Park.
