Good on you Neil

from w
Our friend Neil is eighty and they've named the Denmead Street tennis pavilion after him. These courts are less than a minute from our house and some of our family were playing there this week - well, having a hit. Neil was one of the men from the East Geelong churches that invited Peceli to work here as a minister. Maybe when Neil and his wife Elaine met us, he discovered that Peceli and the three boys all played tennis. Actually Neil and his wife had come up to Hopetoun a week later than the rest of the Geelong East Parish Councillors - 'inspectors' and we thought they were somebody's grandparents but invited them home for a pot-luck lunch. Neil is a great chap with such a love for tennis and for coaching youngsters.

Article by Nathan Currie | October 27th, 2010
Neil Lamond, still going strong at 80.THERE'S a saying that says you're only as old as you feel, and that's certainly the case with Neil Lamond. Lamond, who started playing tennis in 1945, has just celebrated his 80th birthday and is still going strong in section 13 of Tennis Geelong competition.

He also has a social hit at his beloved Geelong East tennis club every Thursday, and received the surprise of his life when he arrived last week to find the club's pavilion was now named after him.

On top of that, his family and friends were waiting inside to celebrate his birthday and thank him for all he had done for the club.

"It hasn't really sunk in," Lamond said. "It's certainly a tremendous honour to have one's name plastered up there on the front of the pavilion where everyone walking past can see it, it's quite remarkable. There's also a lot of people from other clubs here, and it was very delightful to see them. Not only do we play against them but they're also our friends which is one of the great things about tennis."

Lamond and his family brought the club back to life in 1977 after it had been in recess for almost two decades, and said the fact he was still playing shows why tennis is a great sport. "I don't know how much longer I can keep playing but I'll be playing as long as I can," he said.

"I've decided it's a good game and why not continue to play? It's just great to be out in the open air hitting a tennis ball with friendly people."