Club News

First up, don’t forget we will be holding our summer beach party, this coming Friday 23rd August, at Fisherman’s Walk beach from 5.30pm. This is an open invitation for all members to attend, along with your friends, family and anyone else who wishes to enjoy an evening of summer sun…we hope! We are intending to meet close to Fisherman’s Walk zig-zag.

People are reminded that they are to bring with them, their own food, drink, bbq’s chairs/blankets etc and any beach games you may wish to play.

Of course this is very much weather dependent! In the event that we have to cancel our beach party, I will be sure to email everyone in good time on the day.

The good news is the medals are in. This can mean only one thing….it’s time for our regular Box League social! Yes indeed, our worthy winners and runners-up will be presented with their medals at our next Box League social evening. This will be held at The Ludo Lounge in Southbourne, on Thursday 29th August at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

A note from Celia Barron our Match Secretary….

Are there any members out there who have never been asked to represent the Club in one of our teams, yet think they are strong enough to be considered?

If so, please make a point of making yourself known to either Celia or Dave Sanger (Head Coach) as soon as possible, as they are currently sorting out the teams for the winter season.

Our Summer Open Junior Tournament is now in full swing (no pun intended)!

As there will be no play taking place tomorrow, Tuesday 20th August, the Tuesday morning club play session will now go ahead as planned.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.

A reminder entry forms for this year’s Club Championships are now available from the club house.

The deadline for entries is Sunday 25th August, so please make sure you hand your completed entry form to one of the coaches or pop it in the post box when you’re next at the club. Best of luck to all members taking part!

Enjoy stepping back in time and reliving the sounds from years past, with an evening of music and dance! Whether it’s the “Old Tyme” music hall melodies, or you prefer the sounds of the 60s and 70s, then this event is for you!

Aidan Foy, one of our club members, is organising a “Vintage” Social Evening at Corpus Christi Church Hall on Saturday 24th August, starting at 7pm. Tickets cost just £10. Tony Patching, another of our members, will also be performing on the night.

To encourage as many of our members to attend and support this event, £4 from each ticket purchased by a member will be donated towards the amazing work the club does with our disability groups.

So get your family and friends together for a great night of musical entertainment. People are invited to bring along their own food and drink for the evening.

For further details and to purchase tickets, please call Aidan on 07775868253

Our thanks to Aidan for supporting the club in this way.

Entry forms for the Club Championships will be available from this Monday in the club house.

The entry deadline is 25 August so hand your form in to one of the coaches or pop it in the post box when you’re next at the club.

Best wishes and good luck!

As you are probably aware, we are hosting our annual Summer Open at the club week commencing Sunday 18 August.

Below are details of the times and dates when there will be reduced court availability due to the matches.

The referee will be releasing the courts during the day as the tournament progresses so keep an eye on the booking system for court availability if you wish to play.

SUN, 18th – 12 noon onwards (morning club session will take place as usual)

MON, 19th – FRI, 23rd – play commences at 9am

SAT, 24th – 9am start

A huge thank you to the volunteers who gave up their time to support both the second Nature Valley British Tennis weekend and the Littledown Family Fun Day. The main aim of taking part in these events was to attract new members so that we remain in a healthy financial situation and continue to improve the club .

More help is desperately needed in the following areas:

• fund raising energy ,expertise and enthusiasm
• fund raising ideas e.g. one off donations, annual giving as part of membership renewal, founders fundraising ball, £100 club, your ideas please
• maintenance – Peter Richardson is no longer able to co-ordinate this crucial element of the clubs’ responsibility. We need someone to take this on. There is a small team of volunteers who undertake the work but we need someone to oversee the work and ensure that the club is maintained to the high standards that we expect.
• Kitchen health and hygiene – another plea. Please ensure that you not only wash but also dry up and put away your used crockery. From time to time there are whole bowlfuls of washing up waiting to be done by the first person who arrives in the morning.

• We have finally submitted our application for charitable status. This required many hours of work as we had to provide full details of all our documentation including accounts, annual report, memorandum and articles of association,business plan etc (see later) .The Charity Commission will appoint a specialist caseworker to consider our application: however, they have a backlog from February 2019 so we are unlikely to hear anything for some time.
• The Committee held a meeting with the team captains to discuss a number of issues with them but also to ensure that they and the regular team members receive the recognition that they deserve for the major contribution that they make to the excellent reputation that Southbourne Tennis Club enjoys. Whilst we are rightly extremely proud of the fantastic programme of community tennis across the whole ability range that we offer we need to equally acknowledge the people young and older who turn out all year to represent the club.
• Clubhouse – you will already have spotted a few small changes to the layout of the clubhouse. This is largely due to the ‘Members Experience Working Group’ arising from the Club Business Development Plan ably chaired by Richard Dear. He and his team have been meeting regularly to explore how we can improve the overall ‘feel’ of the club and continue to ensure that it is attractive to existing and potential new members. They are seriously considering purchasing a coffee machine, buying new chairs and tables to create more of a cafe style space and altering the notice board layout to make it more user friendly subject to sufficient funds being available. We hope that you will all feel that these small scale changes will be an improvement. We are also hoping to engage with a student from Bournemouth Arts University to develop a plan for the redesign the overall interior of the clubhouse.

There has been some confusion recently during the redesign of the club web site about who these sessions are for . So I would like this opportunity to clarify this once and for all to avoid further confusion and upset. They are only for members who are of team standard. We would be grateful if all members would respect this so that those members who are of a higher standard have the chance to play with people of a similar level. Thank you for your help and support.

With the start of the new Premier League football season just weeks away, that can mean only one thing….Fantasy Premier League!!!!

Southbourne Tennis Club would like to invite members’ entry into the FREE Southbourne Tennis Club Fantasy League! No prizes, it’s just for fun!

For those already familiar with the game and have a team set up:

Simply login to your team.
Click create and join leagues, followed by join an existing league.
Under the heading, ‘choose a league type to join’, click join private league.
You will then be asked for a code. To join the Southbourne Tennis Club League you will need to enter code: gqrz15 then click the join league button to confirm.

For those new to the game, before selecting your team, you will first need to create an account by going to https://fantasy.premierleague.com/ and clicking on the sign up now button in order to register. Enter your details using the online form and follow the on screen instructions to complete your registration. Once registered, build your team, then follow the instructions above to enter the Southbourne Tennis Club League.

Any problems please speak to either Matt Sanger (league admin) or me.

Please note: Ideally teams should be confirmed before the first match kicks-off on Friday 9th August. However, members can join the competition at any stage.

Best of luck!

Andrew King

Just a note to say that Peter Richardson will be organising a maintenance morning for Sunday 4th August. Jobs will be allocated on arrival! We are always grateful for any offers of help members can provide in assisting Peter with making sure the club is kept looking it’s best at all times.

Preparations are now in full swing, ahead of the Littledown Family Day on Sunday 28th July, 11am – 4pm. This will provide a great chance for people to see what a fantastic club we are and to learn more about the different opportunities we provide for both members and non-members alike.

We are still on the lookout for offers of help throughout the day which will include talking to visitors and providing information about the club, as well as assisting our coaches with fun tennis games and demonstrations. Again, if there are any members, especially junior members, who are willing to spare an hour or two of their time, please get in touch with Dave, the coaching team, or myself, if you would like to get involved.

A further reminder to members, that on Saturday 20th July, the club will be taking part in the LTA Great British Tennis Weekend. The aim of this event is to encourage more people to get involved playing tennis, as well as taking the opportunity to showcase what our club has to offer. The club will be running a three hour session from 10am – 1pm, which will involve a range of activities, including junior and mini tennis, cardio tennis, disability tennis, as well as free use of the facilities for all the family to enjoy.

We would really appreciate it if any members, particularly junior members, would be willing to help Dave and the coaching team run any of the activities throughout the session, or to offer any general help when required. Please either speak to Dave and his coaching team or drop me an email andrewking31@virginmedia.com if you are happy to help in any way.

Southbourne Tennis Club will once again be taking part in the Great British Tennis Weekend. This is a national event, run on behalf of the LTA, with the aim of encouraging more people to get playing tennis. The club will be running a three hour programme of events on Saturday 20th July, 10am – 1pm, which will involve a range of activities, including junior and mini tennis, cardio tennis, disability tennis, as well as free use of the facilities for all to enjoy.

If any members are willing to help Dave and the coaching team run any of the sessions throughout the day, or to offer help with signing people in, that would be great. Please speak to Dave and his team should you wish to get involved or for more information.

A big thank you to everyone who came and supported our Members Fun Day. Despite the intense heat, it didn’t put people off attending and taking part in the many activities on offer throughout, what was a very enjoyable day.

Another big thank you to those members who all bought tickets and supported the club, by entering our raffle to win the use of a beach hut for a week. In total we raised a magnificent £227! Your support is very much appreciated. To conclude our fun day, the draw was made to reveal our lucky winner. Congratulations to Aidan Foy who wins this fantastic prize!

The club are excited to announce that we will be taking part in the Littledown Family Day on Sunday 28th July between 11am – 4pm. This will provide a great chance for people to see what a fantastic club we are and to learn more about the different opportunities we provide for both members and non-members alike. Preparations are still ongoing. However, we will be looking for offers of help throughout the day. This will include talking to visitors and providing information about the club, as well as assisting our coaches with fun tennis games and demonstrations. Again please speak to Dave, the coaching team, or myself, should this be something you might like to get involved with.

Don’t forget there is still time to sign-up for our Wimbledon Fun Tournament this coming Sunday 7th July, 10am -12noon. I would be grateful if members that are intending to play could sign up, as soon as possible, to ensure the tournament can go ahead as planned. Please note: Wooden rackets for this tournament can be supplied if needed! £5 entry to include cream tea refreshments!