1.Sponsorship

I am delighted to inform you that we have recently received our first formal offer of sponsorship. So you will see banners displayed along the end fence of courts 1-3 advertising Slades Estate Agents. These will be in place for a year in the first instance.

You will also see a newly designed leaflet , also sponsored by Slades which has been professionally designed and printed, for distribution locally with the aim of us attracting new members.

A further item of sponsorship which they have agreed is for one of the summer tournaments. So if you or anyone who know has their own business locally do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your interest in sponsoring us.

2.Cardio Tennis

a. Early on Monday mornings you will see a small but very dedicated, extremely keen group of tennis players enjoying their cardio tennis session. This is definitely a great way of getting fitter, more agile and building up your strength as well as developing a need to drink lots of water! There are spaces for more people to join them. See Matt for further details or just turn up.

3.Congratulations to our 1st Teams

Southbourne Mens and Ladies 1st teams have won all their matches so far. We are half way through the winter season so we hope that they will maintain this success until the summer season starts. Congratulations to all of you and thank you for continuing to ensure the good reputation of Southbourne Tennis Club

4.Calling all members:we need you

You will all have spotted the call for help with many aspects of ensuring a healthy future for all the members of Southbourne Tennis Club. However at the moment our attempts to get you to volunteer your time and energy seem to have had little results.

But this could all change! If you subscribe to Amazon Smile they will donate to a charity of your choice. As you will be aware we are now a charity, number 1185919. We look forward to receiving your contribution. Thank you in advance for your help and support

5.Jenny Hawkes – Volunteer Extraordinaire

Jenny has definitely responded to calls for help over many years. She will probably be very embarrassed to read about what she has done and continues to do but her contribution can no longer go unrecorded.

When she(and her husband) are not weeding or tending the flower beds she is baking cakes, mainly for the Saturday afternoon learning disability group. Over the course of five years she has raised an amazing total of £900. Our very sincere thanks to her for this real dedication to one aspect of the clubs’ programme.

6.Members yet to be identified

a. Yes, you too could have your name in lights – or at the very least a mention in the chairpersons update !

b. Social Secretary URGENTLY needed.
Andrew King who did such a great job for the eight months that he took on this role no longer feels able to continue. We are considering how to create a less demanding job for the role, probably by separating out the kitchen and refreshments element of the job. There are a few members who have expressed their willingness to get involved in organising the smaller social events that have been run in the past which should further reduce the burden. Also with such a successful Christmas party we have a tried and tested blueprint in place for that too.

So please seriously consider supporting club by volunteering to replace Andrew.

7. Chairperson

Having been in post for three years I will definitely be standing down at the AGM in October. Ideally I would like my successor to be identified by early summer to give me time to do a full handover in good time. As some of you will know I have already approached about ten of you but as yet there have been no takers.

The Committee has changed considerably during the last three years and I can confidently say that they are a really hard working group of people who get very actively engaged in the rather complex issues involved in running a successful club. We also have a lot of fun whilst exploring the benefits or not of LED Floodlights, the coaches contract, puddles on the court surface, improvements to the club house and how to get more members involved. They would love you to consider taking them on! Please feel free to email me or chat to me at the club to find out more. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Susie Grainger

Just a reminder that myself and 5 other members of the club are taking part in a Bright Ideas Charity 24 hr Tennis Marathon 2020 on 22/02/2020 and we’d really appreciate your support. All the money raised will go into the Southbourne Tennis Clubs Disability Tennis so you will be supporting giving people with a disability more opportunity to play tennis.

Thank you so much to all that have donated so far.

If you would like to Donate please go to my JustGiving page – just follow this link and click on the JustGiving option and click Donate:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/David-Sanger8

A reminder to members….for those wishing to be included in this year’s Southbourne Tennis Club Wimbledon ticket ballot, please make sure you have chosen to ‘opt-in’ by logging into your British Tennis account, via the LTA website, and selecting the option to opt-in. The LTA website can be found at https://www.lta.org.uk/

A poster giving further details and instructions on how to do this can be found on the Clubhouse noticeboard.

Well, it’s been just under a year now since taking over in my role as Social Secretary and whilst I’ve tried my best to devote all my efforts into making the role a success, I simply no longer have the time required to give it the attention it deserves.

I have, therefore, taken the decision to step down as Social Secretary and to hand the reigns over to somebody who will be able to devote more time to the job than I am currently able.

The Committee are always on the lookout for more willing helpers to assist with any number of tasks at the club. If you, or any other member you know, would like to consider taking on the role of Social Secretary or helping in any way you can, please make yourself known either to me, a committee member, or to one of the coaches.

I am sure this will come as a surprise to many of you, but I hope you will all understand my reasons for making this decision. I want to say a big thank you to members for their support, in particular, those who have given their time to help me in my hours of need!! I couldn’t have done the job without you.

I hope it won’t be too long before my successor is found and a new year of exciting events can begin!

All best wishes

Andrew King

Happy New Year

Now is the time to make those new year resolutions and to contribute to the ongoing success of your tennis club. We really can’t do it without more of you coming forward to help.

VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY NEEDED (opportunities for you to use your skills and make sure the club keeps going!)

*18 January 12noon-2.30pm Scorers for tournament
*Every Saturday 2.30-3.30 pm helpers for learning disability session
*Clubhouse and Grounds Maintenance Team Leader/Co-ordinator (year round)
*Sunday morning maintenance team members (monthly)
*Court brushing team members (when needed but specially in the rainy season!)
*Fund Raising team members (six months in the first instance)
*Marketing team members(six months in the first instance)

Your Committee all give their time willingly to ensure that we can enjoy playing tennis at Southbourne. But sadly it is getting more and more difficult for us to find other people who are willing to come forward and give their time to keeping the club going. We would all be extremely grateful if you would give the above your serious consideration to enable us all to remain confident about the future. Please email and/ or talk to any of us to let us know how you can help.
Thank you very much for your co-operation, I look forward to hearing from you.

Susie and the Committee