Junior Club Night
from Fri 18th April
Wimbledon Ticket Draw
Thurs 24th April 8.00pm
Jack Wilford Tournament
Sun 27th April 1.00pm
Southport League
from Mon 28th April
Play Tennis Open Day & Road to Wimbledon
Mon 5th May 12.00pm
Family Night
Sat 17th May 6.30pm
Dave Sherwood's
Sat 31st May 7.30pm
It would normally be my responsibility to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and while to those members who have chosen not to play through the Winter that sentiment still remains — it just shows what a difference the new courts and floodlights have made to the outlook of the club.
As we move towards spring, instead of coming out of hibernation and trying to find your racket I believe we should be better prepared than ever for the new season. The winter league has been an amazing success and sincere thanks should go to all who have contributed — Martin for the concept — Joyce and Mark for putting it into practice — the captains for arranging the teams and finally to the 50+ members who have participated. The weather has been kind to us and there are so many positives that we should all be proud to belong to a tennis club that offers tennis all year round.
However, besides the playing side there have also been plenty of other actions taking place — these include:
Genuine thanks should go to all committee members who have turned out on a monthly basis to plan and prepare for the new season and to all those who quietly contribute to the ‘continued improvement’ of the club.
The new season offers the mouth watering prospect for the most competitive tennis seen at the club for perhaps a quarter of a century with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams in the top 3 leagues and with the continued success of the 4th, 5th and 6th team we need to show are a match for any club. To supplement the staple league tennis there will be more social tournaments and the usual club nights and friendlies.
I trust you are looking forward to the new season as much as ever and I hope everyone has a successful and enjoyable season both on and off the court. Please ensure you support all the events particularly the socials as this is one area we could do with greater commitment from the members.
At the AGM there was once again a full and open discussion about all aspects of the club and with all officers and committee members being re-selected we are now in a period of consolidation. Clearly we need to be mindful of our increased overheads but all things being equal we can look forward to next summer with immense optimism. With this in mind we are planning to utilise the facilities and improve them over the winter months. All we ask is that you play your part in either using the playing facilities or better still helping to improve the general infrastructure of the club. Look out also for some new social events at which your support would be much appreciated. Let’s try and make the normally dormant winter period a lively and enjoyable part of club life.
Bring it on!
Barry
Given the importance of this exercise we would really appreciate your response as you can see that throughout this newsletter we are holding back so that we can respond to the members views and suggestions.
The trends so far on the 30 or so returned are very positive and point to the club being run in the right way and the direction we are headed being agreeable with the vast majority.
Some of the headlines include:
This is only an interim report and a full analysis will be issued at a later date — with this in mind please return any questionnaires — your comments really do make a difference.
This year we intend to hold an Open Day either during Wimbledon or just after it is hoped to attract new members.
It is essential that anyone who is not in the 100 Club join this year! — with monthly prizes of £20 and £25 plus a bonus prize of £50 in June + £100 in December — forget the lottery you always get a chance in our draw! On a serious note at a cost of £1 per month the club benefits to the tune of over £500 per annum in much needed revenue. For further details please phone our ‘100 Club Helpline’ on 01695 575391 (Kath Spurr) or 01695 574577 (Sue Kennedy). Many thanks to Kath and Sue for their unstinting work. You’ve got to be in it to win it! Yes its true Sue K did win the ‘big one’ at Christmas — well done.
Many thanks to Kevin O’Sullivan for constantly improving and updating our website. Many people comment on how impressive it it — any worthwhile stories let Kevin have them ~ we are looking to get more ‘hits’ on the website this year and any good idea would be much appreciated.
Congratulations to John for another successful year — and it really is a year as the CTP activities continue for 12 months. John is keen to introduce new members to the club as between junior and senior levels so please support his worthwhile efforts. There will be the usual coaching sessions, coffee mornings and courses which will be advertised — try to encourage friends and families to participate. The school coaching program is an exemplar of good practice ~ well done to john and his team. This winter extra sessions have been run for juniors and seniors and this can only be good news for tennis in the area.
John, as the club coach, will be offering coaching both individually and collectively to young and old alike. The juniors will be using a ‘squad system’ and Judith will be helping with this activity. See the coaching notice board for further details or contact John direct on 01257 462143. This is a section of the club that should flourish and expand with new families. Ideally we need more people coming forward for coaching as it will definitely develop your game.
The shale courts will re-open on the weekend of Saturday 27th March (weather permitting) and to prepare for the coming season there will be a team practices starting on the following dates: 29th 30th 31st March.
The practice sessions will be open to anyone wishing to try for a particular team and while Mondays are aimed at 1st & 2nd, Tuesday 3rd & 4th and Wednesday 5th & 6th — we would rather people attend whenever they can. We will have only 4 weeks to organise our teams and Janet as the Club Captain needs to know who is available for what team ASAP — so please if you cannot make the practices let Janet know.
Team Captains for 2004 are:
1st: Anne Rhodes/Jenny Watling [01257 462847/01695 579034]
2nd: Daryll & Jacqui Birchall [01704893412]
3rd: Joyce Pierce [0151 526 6691]
4th: Steve Charters [01174 822189]
5th: Ian Duffy [01695 720822]
6th: Sandra Duffy [01695 720822]
Match fees remain at £2 for seniors and £1 for juniors, collegiate, intermediate and unemployed.
N.B. The clubhouse has a new lock and Martin has extra keys if you wish to purchase a set (£3.50)
The league commences on 26th April with again no breaks for Whitsun.
The Jack Wilford Tournament will start the season and will take place on Sunday 18th April from 1pm — 5pm and 4 teams will be organised — watch the notice board for further information — the four teams are as follows:
Chair’s Team: Barry Sherriff
Secretary’s Team: Phil McConnell
Treasurer’s Team: Martin Trengrove
Club Captain’s Team: Janet Crompton
Each team will consist of 4 gents and 4 ladies.
Social tennis will then continue throughout the session on club nights and Sunday mornings. Social tournaments will be organised on one Sunday afternoon from May to August. The organisers are as follows:
May: Linda and Janet
June: Kevin and Phil
July: Barry and Sarah
August: Kevin and Dave M.
We have also arranged several friendlies against Aughton, and would welcome further such matches if at all possible.
Please support the club tournament again as last years finals reflected a high standard of participation and competition. This year the club tournaments will be staged in early September in response to members requests — and the provisional date is Sunday 12th September.
Please support the events which this year will include the ever popular DJ DS Pop Quiz, the JC General Knowledge Quiz and Treasure Hunt as well as perhaps a Race Night. The first event will actually be a wine tasting evening hosted by our own Alan Ratoff on Friday 23rd April at 7:30 pm. Other events as well as the dinner dance will be added once we have had time to analyse the club questionnaire — personally I hope our Blues Brothers follow their highly acclaimed performance at Mossock Hall with perhaps a full concert!!
If you wish to be put forward into the ballot for this year’s tickets (senior playing members only) then either sign up against the appropriate list or let Phil McConnell know well in advance. Remember on the night of the draw (TBA) you or your representative will need to be physically present to accept the tickets and pay for them.
We are delighted to announce that Stephen Roche has agreed to continue as our Junior Tennis Organiser for the coming season. He will work in conjunction with John (the Club Coach and CTP organiser) and we hope to see this aspect of the club continue to flourish.
Friday night will again be allocated to Junior Club night and supervised sessions will begin on 23rd April and finish on 23rd July. Please note the change of times for coaching:
5:00 — 6:00 Mini Tennis ~ Red/Orange (age 5 — 8)
6:15 — 7:15 Mini Tennis ~ Orange/Green (age 8 — 11)
7:30 — 8:30 Tennis (age 11 — 15)
Please also note that juniors will be allowed to play up to 6:00pm on weekdays as the courts will have been prepared in the afternoon. This will put extra emphasis on the captain and team players to ensure that the courts have been brushed prior to the start of the matches (ideally by the juniors as they leave).
This year no charge will be made for the coaching or tennis balls on a Friday evening. Also there will be several junior teams playing so members need to be aware that, certainly at the beginning of the season, they are likely to be junior matches on Saturday morning. Why not go along and support the youngsters!
Finally please note a JUNIOR NIGHT ROTA will be posted which requires 3 members to supervise a session from 5:00 — 8:30pm. The responsibility is on the named individual to attend or find a suitable replacement. Team captains have been excluded from the rota due to their commitment during the earlier part of the week. It really is important that people support this important role.
Any used tennis balls are extremely useful for the juniors and can be left behind the bar.
We have also issued a separate Junior newsletter this year which is aimed at giving the juniors a greater feeling or ownership.
NB Breaking News ~ this year we have entered an U17’s Boys team in the National League — good luck to all who represent the club.