Club News

Held 9th June

Huge thanks to those who took part! Keith was kept out of trouble painting fences.  The patio was tidied and we started a deep clean in the mens’ changing rooms, Ladies and Disabled to be done shortly.

Celia has kindly provided news of what happened with our club tennis teams in May. You can view this here.

Hello and welcome from your new Social Secretary!

Before I go on to tell you about our fantastic raffle prize, I first just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and to say a huge thank you, on behalf of everyone at the club, to my predecessor, Sarah Stout, for all her time and energy as social secretary. I know she will be greatly missed by all on the committee. Fortunately for me, Sarah has kindly agreed to help as I get familiar with the role. I have very big shoes to fill!!!

Also a big thank you to those members who currently volunteer their time to help run events at the club. It is very much appreciated. I am hoping to expand the list of helpers, so if anyone else can spare an hour or two of their time, that would be great!

In order to have a mix of different social events, which appeal to as many members as possible, I am always keen to hear your suggestions. Please email me at andrewking31@virginmedia.com with any ideas you may have.

One of our members, Colin Gilbey, has kindly donated the use of his Beach Hut for a week (Saturday 27th July – Saturday 3rd August 2019) as a raffle prize.

Situated between Manor Steps and Portman Ravine, the hut comes complete with the use of: 2 Sun Loungers, 2 Reclining Chairs, 2 Plastic Chairs, 2 Parasols, 2 Hob Gas Ring, Wind Break (and hammer!) Tea, coffee and sugar are also provided!

To be in with a chance of winning this much sought after prize, raffle tickets can be purchased from the clubhouse at £5 a strip.

The lucky winner will be announced at the forthcoming Members Open Day on Saturday 29th June 2019.

Thank you to Jan Lawson for sourcing new door mats. This is much appreciated and will hopefully help with the endless task of trying to keep the sand outside.

Peter Richardson will be running another maintenance morning on Sunday, 9 June so put the date in your diary if you can spare a half hour or so to pop along and help out with a chore or two in and around the club house. Thanks again to the volunteers who painted the fence last weekend. It’s looking very smart.

Here is a reminder to members of the fixed club playing times for red, green and team players.

Red members morning session – Tuesdays 9 – 11am
Green members morning session – Mondays – 10-12am

Red members club night – Thursdays 6-8pm
Green members club night – wednesdays 6-8pm

Red and green mixed club session – Friday 9-11am and Sunday -10-12pm

Team players only session – Monday 7-9pm

A gentle reminder that Colin Gilbey and Paul Woods are hosting a fun tournament 10-12 on Sunday, 2 June in place of the usual Sunday club session. Demand for the tournament has been high so currently they expect to use the 5 available courts for the tournament. Therefore the usual Sunday morning session/courts will not be available that week.

Please allow me to welcome, on behalf of all the committee, our two new committee members:

Andrew King – Social Secretary
Carolyn Day – Treasurer

Thank you to both of you for agreeing to give your time to the club and become members of the committee. We’re all sure you’ll both be excellent in your new roles!

A huge thank you to Martin Cavey who has served on the committee for eight years. Your time and commitment as Treasurer is greatly appreciated.

I have stood down as social secretary however I will stay on unofficially (although not on the committee) as junior social secretary. Andrew and I will be working out how best to share the role going forward. If anyone would like to offer time, energy and ideas to social events, please do contact us as Andrew will be looking to get an idea of who is interested in contributing to social events over the next few months.

Sunday 2nd June 09.45 – Midday. To be followed by baguettes, various cheeses, ham, wine, soft drinks & other delicious nibbles.

Numbers limited so sign up quickly to avoid disappointment. Sign-up sheet in the clubhouse.

Cost £5 per entrant.

Summary of rules:

Doubles, initial partners drawn from hat, 15 mins timed play, winners move up one court and split up, losers stay on same court and split. Total six matches to be played

Note – normal Sunday morning Club Open session will be suspended.

Do you or any one you know have skills to help us think through a makeover for the clubhouse?

If you know about interior or exterior design, architecture, construction or just a flair for making a little money go a long way, we need your help.

We are looking for things we can do simply, easily and cheaply to make the clubhouse a more sociable space, useable by as many groups in the club as possible.

Not got much time? Don’t worry a quick chat and a few ideas will do. More time? Help us get stuck in and make some changes.

Please ring Richard on 07831 657145 or drop him an email at richard.dear@btinternet.com

Please note that there will be a maintenance morning this Sunday from 10am, weather permitting.

Peter plans to paint the fence so if you’re able to spare a half hour to pop along and assist, all help is always very much appreciated 🙂

You will soon receive the usual reminders/request for payment of annual membership fees. This email simply highlights some of the changes for the new membership year.

The annual fees due from 1st June are as follows:
Adults £215
Over 65’s £161.25
Juniors £90 – as last year, but reduced to £80 if paid before June 31st
Family £420 – this is a new membership group for 2 adults and 2 children

All fee changes were agreed at the 2018 AGM, with the exception of the one-month reduction for Juniors, which is subject to approval at this years AGM.

Finally, we are in the process of finalising the details of a reward scheme to reward any member who introduces someone new to the club. More information will be available in due course.

Unfortunately quite a few matches had to be postponed in April due to various reasons; these have been rearranged for later in the year.

However, Ladies 1, Ladies 2, Ladies Vets, and Mens 2 have all managed a win.

The Ladies Vets team got off to a good start by beating East Dorset 8-0 thanks to Jo Jones, Kirsty Holmes, Jackie Yorke and Kate Harris. Ladies 2 have already played 2 of their summer season matches, beating Southbourne 2, 8-0 (Rachael Best, Sarah Winter, Carol Young and Vicki Stein), but losing to St Leonards 1 by 6-2.

On the last day of April Ladies 1 had an excellent win against Bournemouth Gardens (Cleo Reid, Kirsty Holmes, Mel Castagna and Jo Jones) with Cleo playing her first match since having surgery on her shoulder. The match ended all square on rubbers but Southbourne managed to win that vital extra set which gave us the win (4 points to 2)

On the same night Mens 2 (Owain Gosling, Nigel Carter, Marcin Paluch and Russell Barnes) also had a very good win against St Leonards 5 ( who played 1 of their 2^nd team players!) winning 6-2.

Please note that we will be hosting our annual primary school tournament between 12.30-3.15pm on Tuesday, 7 May.

We have almost 100 children attending plus student helpers, teachers and parents. The courts are booked out for that time and the club will be a busy hive of excitement as young children try their hand at tennis, some of them for the very first time.

SCORERS – we need about 4-6 more volunteers to help score the matches so if you’re free to assist, please speak to Dave who would be most grateful for the extra help.

We will be running the kitchen throughout the afternoon offering cakes and teas/coffees. If anyone can spare an hour to assist, drop me a line (07971 267631). I don’t receive replies to this email) and if any bakers out there are able to donate a cake, again please let me know. All help is very much appreciated!

Thank you to all who attended the meeting about updating our memorandum and articles for the club to apply for charitable status. More information to follow in due course.

Finally congratulations to Chris Lane for completing the marathon in London yesterday, He will be at the club again soon once he’s recovered and ready for tennis. Well done, Chris from all at the club.

Sally is running this tournament this weekend. If anyone would like to take part, especially any mixed doubles pairs interested in playing on Sunday, please get in touch with her or one of the coaches.

Reminder – We Need You!!!

This evening, 7 pm, is the EGM to discuss and hopefully approve a very important part of our development.

We are proposing to convert the club into a charitable organisation which we feel better suits what we do and will increase our access to funding. This involves us updating both our Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Club Rules.

This is an important part of our development and it will be very helpful if you are able to attend to share your thoughts and opinions.

Please attend if you can , we need enough members present to make this possible!

A little reminder of our box league social 7pm in Ludo Lounge tomorrow evening (Thursday 25th).

Small apology in advance that I got the dates mixed up so the medals won’t be available tomorrow but from the club at a later date – tbc

Still a great excuse for a drink/bite to eat for anyone who’s free and if you have more ideas on how to run future box leagues, come along and chat about it. Thank you to those who have sent their ideas in, the coaches will be looking at them all in due course.

Hope to see you there!