Elliswick LTC Newsletter – February 2023
Dear Members,
Welcome to our February Newsletter. With the warm weather upon us, it’s a perfect time for keeping fit and carrying on playing tennis. Please do try to attend and support our social tennis mornings and to socialise with other members with tea/coffee and biscuits/cakes afterwards. Players of all standards are very welcome to join in – just turn up and play. The social tennis mornings are on Tuesdays (Ladies morning), Thursdays (Mix-in), both days starting from 9am, and Saturday and Sunday mornings (Mix-in) from 10am. It would be great to see more of our members joining in our ever-so-friendly social tennis sessions.
A quick reminder that pets and muddy shoes are not allowed in the clubhouse.
CLUB TOURNAMENT
The Elliswick Closed Club Championships 2023 will be soon upon us and will be held on Saturday 24th June 2023. The sign-up sheets for each category is available on the club-house notice board for those members wishing to enter. If you are unable to sign up at the clubhouse, please send an email to our Tournament Secretary, Louise Behan at [email protected].
The closing date for entries is Sunday 4th March 2023. Please make sure that you sign up by this date as late entries will not be accepted.
The draw will be published on 10 March 2023 with the commencement of matches from 11 March 2023.
SUMMER CLUB NIGHTS
The summer season will effectively start on the Tuesday the 28th March 2023 when we hold our first Club Open night. Midweek evening tennis is played every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday giving members, of all tennis abilities, the opportunity to mix in rather than play in fixed pre-arranged fours.
Starting from 6pm and lasting until we can no longer see the ball:
- Tuesday night is for men
- Wednesday night is for ladies
- Thursday night is Club night (mixed) and is run by our club coach Rupert Tillbrooke.
CLUBHOUSE AND GROUNDS
Replay visited on 9 February and removed the creases behind courts 1 & 2, by stretching the carpet and trimming the excess. They did not attempt to remove crease on the playing surface of court 3, but added more sand to the surface, to add weight to the carpet. The crease will be monitored over the next 2-3 weeks – if it remains, Replay will be asked to return to fix it.
The electrical safety testing (EICR and PAT) was completed on 16 & 17 February by Deeks, with no major issues. We await their report which will, however, identify some non-compliances requiring rectification.
The blown bulb on one of the floodlights behind court 5 has been replaced. However, it was not possible to complete the glass and bulb replacement on the floodlight behind court 6, as a corroded and damaged connector was found during the repair. We have been unable to identify and procure a replacement connector to date and are investigating the alternatives.
TEAM TENNIS
We have many opportunities for members to participate in team tennis in the summer months. If you would like to play in a team and/or to be considered to play in a team, please do not hesitate to register your interest by contacting our respective captains as follows:
Mens Captain: Jem Collier-Garrity – [email protected]
Ladies Captain: Kate Curson – [email protected]
Mixed Captain: Tony Ward – [email protected]
Ladies Friendlies: Lynn Frankling – [email protected]
Mixed Friendlies: Andree Haxton – [email protected]
Please note that all members playing in Elliswick teams have to be LTA members – Please register with LTA. Go to www.lta.org.uk/membership – Click Join as a Team Member
Ladies tennis
Winter season is coming to an end with a few matches still to play. Results to date:
Elliswick 40’s A mid table Div 3A
Elliswick 50’s A – bottom of Div 1
Elliswick 50’s B – top of Div 4A
Elliswick 60’s A 2nd in Div 2B (completed)
As we look towards summer leagues, we now have our captains in place which are:
Hot Rackets:
- 1st Team -Sally Dearman
- 2nd Team – Victoria Aitchison
- 3rd Team – Georgina Smith
- 4th Team – Steph Loughrey
Herts League:
- 1st Team – Kate Curson
- 2nd Team – Suzie Collins
Captains will be reaching out to their respective teams over the next few weeks to organise matches
Over 70s – we unfortunately couldn’t find enough players to make a team so we cannot enter this year – will try again next year!
Ladies evening commences on Wednesday 29th March from 6pm each week. Victoria is happy to run as previous years via the What’s App group where she will post out each week asking for those who want to attend social and organised 4’s accordingly. If you were not on the previous group and want to attend Wednesday evenings or want to leave it this year then please contact Victoria on 07429581034 or [email protected]
Any questions relating to ladies teams please reach out to [email protected]
Men’s Tennis.
Winter Vets matches are progressing.
With the summer teams in mind the dates for Men’s team Practice sessions have been set. These are led by Ben Wood (Head Coach) and offer an ideal preparation for team tennis in terms of shot selection and tactics.
Dates are:
- Sunday 12th March
- Saturday 19th March
- Sunday 26th March
Jem would be very grateful if those planning to attend could email him beforehand so that we have an idea of numbers.
Mens Nights commences on Tuesdays 28th March at 6pm each week.
As previous years this had been run via the Whats App group. We are now looking for someone to organise this mens night. Please let Jem know if you’d be happy to run the Mens Nights, otherwise, it will be turn up and play.
If you wish to get in touch regarding any of the subjects highlighted above or for any issue relating to Men’s Tennis, please feel free to get in touch Jem.
Mixed Team Tennis
The Winter Mixed competition is drawing to a conclusion where we have 6 teams competing. Our Mixed 3rd team lead their division and are pushing for promotion and our other 5 teams are currently holding their own in their respective divisions.
The Summer Datchworth competition is due to commence in April! This is a mixed team format with one lady (playing two mixed games) and two men (playing one mixed and one men’s doubles) and we entered 3 teams last year. The matches are held every Monday night for 14 weeks through to early July. Anyone who played in the Summer/Autumn Datchworth last year will be contacted by the team captains to confirm if they want to play again this year. Anyone who didn’t play in the Datchworth last year and would be interested in playing this year please contact Tony Ward via [email protected]. We also have space for one extra team this year which will be placed in the lower leagues if anyone is interested in running it.
MEMBERSHIP
A big welcome to our first batch of new members, who had been on the waiting list for more than 2 years. We will be holding a New Members’ Day on Sunday 14th May, with a reserve date of Sunday, 21st May, in case of atrocious weather (at Elliswick, there is no such thing as “bad” weather; only inappropriate clothing!)
There will be more memberships to offer from 1st March, when we know for sure who is not renewing. In particular, we will be offering some extra junior places, as agreed at the AGM. As turnover of juniors is always much higher than that of adults, we believe this is imperative, so we do not become an aging club. It has also been very disheartening to see a 15 year old on a 2 /3 year waiting list to join.
And to ALL members, new and old, if you feel you do not use your membership enough because you do not know of suitable groups to play with, please get in touch and we will steer you in the right direction!
SOCIALS
February has been a busy month. Over the last couple of months Dave’s Jazz Jams have raised money for Shelter and for the DEC. This month, Dave Pankhurst and his team managed to raise £45 for DEC.
England’s six Nations Rugby matches have been screened at the club with Dugie serving at the bar and pizzas served up by Ella who has been raising money for her world challenge. March is going to be busier still…
Dates for your diary in March 2023:
11th March
We have Ross and Vicky’s popular music night. Tickets are £10 each and you guarantee your place on the dance floor by signing up here: https://forms.gle/PLo4cGsDEXNqh9cdA . Tickets will also be available on the night at £12 each so book early for ££ savings!
23rd March.
We are really looking forward to the Abba Tribute night
Friday 24th March
…And after the success of our last pub night we are doing a Friday Night at the Pub at The George from 7.30pm – just turn up and join the fun!
Wednesday 29thMarch
We are also very excited to have been offered the chance to get a group together to see Follies which is being shown at the Eric Morecombe theatre. The performance is featuring one of our club’s talented members, Mary Watkinson. We have been offered all ticket sales at the concessions rate of £17.00 each. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/FRGhFmqRYc9fMH6VA
Supper Nights
We are looking for some members to cook at our most popular Thursday night suppers on the following dates:
April 20th, May 18th, June 15th and August 8th. Please contact Jane Bisseker at [email protected]
if you are interested to do so.
JUNIORS
Herts National League
This year we have entered 3 teams in the above league. Teams are as follows:
U12 Boys – Captain David Brocklebank
U14 Boys – Captain Amy Martin
U16 Boys – Captain Melissa Sweeney
Junior Night
We are looking forward to welcoming the start of the Junior Nights on Friday 21st April. The bar will be open and hopefully it will be the start of many evenings of basking in the sunshine. As per last year, we will also be welcoming the Ukrainian juniors to participate in the junior nights.
3:30-6pm is for the Young Juniors, who must be accompanied/supervised by a parent or adult.
6-8pm is for the older Secondary Age Juniors who do not need to be accompanied, and we operate a rota system of adult volunteers to help supervise. This session can only go ahead if we have adequate volunteers so we would like to ask if you can please help supervise to ensure the sessions go ahead. Please email Pierre Oliviere at [email protected] or you can enter your name on the rota on the Junior board.
Junior Annual Tournament
The tournament this year will be held on Sunday 17th September with a reserve date of 24th September. Please reserve in your diary – details will follow nearer to the time.
LTA Tennis Leaders Awards Course at Welwyn Tennis Club, Saturday 11th March 2023
Welwyn Tennis Club is running an LTA Tennis Leaders Awards Course on Saturday 11th March, 2023.
The course is aimed at 11 – 18 year olds and is the first step on the tennis and sport career path for volunteering and paid employment. It has been designed to provide young people with the opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience both on and off the court. The programme provides young people, whatever their tennis ability, with the opportunity to gain valuable leadership skills both on and off the court. This is the first step on a tennis and sports career path for volunteering and paid employment.
The course will cover 3 modules, plus assisting on squads and organising a tournament.
Module 1 – Introduction to tennis
Module 2/3 – Leading a practice session / Helping at a competition
The cost of the course is £75. If you have young people who are interested in signing up please ask them to fill in the attached form and after making payment return it to Mark Howard at [email protected]
OTHER NEWS
Donations:
David Kendall is helping a Ukrainian family (mother and two children) move into rented accommodation. The flat will be empty so any offers of surplus furniture (especially a bunk bed, wardrobe/chest of drawers, table and chairs, desk), bed linen, crockery, cutlery, pots and pans etc will be gratefully received. Please email David on [email protected]
Upbeat: a choir for Harpenden.
If you love singing, come and join the fun with one of our talented members, Tim Sutton. Upbeat is a friendly sociable choir – all abilities welcome, and you don’t need to read music. Come for a £5 taster on Thursday evenings at 8-9:30pm at the Indoor Bowls Club, Waldegrave Park.
Please contact Tim Sutton for details at [email protected] or 07976 754741.
Charity
The Harpenden Lions Club CIO is conducting a Charity Easter Egg Raffle at Elliswick, in support of the charity OLLIE. The Easter Egg will be available by the start of w/c 13 March (about 4 weeks before Easter), please look out for the poster and ticket sheet in the clubhouse from mid-March.
For information: Each year Harpenden Lions Club CIO places some 25 – 30 large Belgian chocolate Easter Eggs (30cm/ 1 kg) in pubs and clubs that agree to host a Raffle. The cost of each egg is nearly £30 and we aim to raise in excess of £100 from each Raffle for our nominated charity. Each numbered ticket costs £1.
Kind Regards
Elliswick LTC Committee
PS, Don’t forget to keep up to date with events at our website http://www.elliswickltc.co.uk