15th March 1939 – 23rd March 2026
A stalwart of tennis in Wiltshire, we recently heard the sad news that Norene had died. Her funeral service was held at St Mary’s Church, Purton on 6th May, followed by a celebration of her life at North Wiltshire Crematorium and Basset Down Golf Club. Representatives of all aspects of Norene’s tennis life were in attendance. Norene was born in Staffordshire and trained as a P.E. teacher before moving, with her husband Reg, to Purton where she taught at Bradon Forest school.
She played a high standard of tennis for Purton Tennis Club which she joined in the late 1960s, contributing to the winning team in the Regional Silk Cup of 1984 and in local league tennis. She put her meticulous powers of organisation to good use for many years through active membership of the committee, arranging clubhouse cleaning rotas, fund raising events and the like. In the 1970s Norene started the free weekly club session for junior members, running these until 1994. In recognition of this, Norene was awarded Honoray Membership of the club. These sessions continue to this day.
Fellow players recall meticulous measuring of the net, long warm-ups, one racquet for serving – three balls in her hand for serving – and a different racquet for receiving, all of which helped her Wiltshire Ladies’ LTA Cup winning team in 1990.
In 1989 the Delta Tennis Centre opened, and Norene was soon contributing there, greatly assisting Wiltshire LTA when the red ball and other junior events were held. More recently, she brought all her skills to bear on Wednesday mornings, running the ‘Evergreens’ Pay and Play sessions, hand bell at the ready! She was knowledgeable and fair, thus achieving balanced fours amongst the disparate crew. Her obvious affinity for tennis meant that she loved watching all the players and clearly enjoyed the on-court tussles. Objective but involved, praise from Norene was praise indeed!
She kept up her social links with the tennis community until the end. For all the above and more, Norene will be sorely missed.