Elliswick LTC Newsletter – March 2021

Dear Members,

Welcome to our March Newsletter.

We would like to welcome you back on court and extend a very warm welcome to our new members. The courts have been very busy since we reopened our beloved club on Monday and it has been a real pleasure to see many of you back, enjoying the sport we love.

However, the clubhouse remains closed for the time being. Please may we remind you that SOCIAL DISTANCING MUST BE MAINTAINED BEFORE, DURING & AFTER ALL OUTDOOR TENNIS ACTIVITY. Use of toilets is now permitted, however we advise you that you should arrive changed and ready to play, and to change/shower at home.

Once again, we urge all members to familiarize themselves with the LTA guidance documents as well as the ELTC guidelines before using the club facilities (for details, please see the Chairman’s email to members, sent last Saturday). Covid-19 remains a real threat and we must all continue to respect the basic principle of social distancing.

COURT BOOKING

Please do make sure that you adhere to the club booking policy, which is available on our website (https://www.elliswickltc.co.uk/book-a-court-2/) before you book a court.

Please remember the following guidelines:

  • Full paying adult members and intermediate members (age 16 to 21) can only book one court. Multiple court bookings by one member are not allowed at the same time.
  • Courts may be booked for 1-hour slots only (singles) and 1 ½ hour slots (doubles) and players must vacate the courts and the club grounds at least 5 minutes before the end of their slot. Do not congregate before or after play.

Any person not abiding by these guidelines may be asked to leave the premises immediately and may be subject to the Club’s disciplinary procedure.

Due to the current court congestion, for the time being please play tennis only once a day to give other members a chance to get back to play tennis again after the lockdown.

Members who wish to book a court, please do so via our Clubspark website:

https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/ElliswickLawnTennisClub/Booking/

After setting up your account, then please email [email protected] in order to activate your account.

BRINGING A GUEST

Guests will not be allowed for the time being as the courts are extremely busy.  However, we will advise you as and when guests will be welcomed again.

WIMBLEDON BALLOT

The LTA has changed the rules for the Wimbledon ballot so that for this year, it will be run centrally by the LTA who will communicate directly with all LTA members who opt-in for tickets. There will be no set allocation for the Club. We will check that members who have opted-in are still members of the Club but we will not be told which members have been successful in the ballot.

ANNUAL TOURNAMENT

We are pleased to announce that the 2021 Club Tournament will be taking place this year with finals day being held on 2 October 2021 with a back-up day on 3 October 2021 in case of poor weather. Pushing back the event provides enough time for all tournament rounds to be completed. It will also hopefully ensure that full service can resume for a great finals day, which all members and family can enjoy with fantastic tennis and great food and refreshments. Full details of entry dates and round dates will be issued to all Members during April 2021.

SOCIAL TENNIS

Our club has in the past held well-organised social/mix-in sessions for adults and intermediates on certain mornings and evenings. Though we cannot yet hold these in the same way as in the past, we will be reserving the following times for specific fixed-four sessions (one playing session only per person per day):

  • Ladies mornings on Tuesdays from 9am-10:30am – Starting Tuesday 30th March – Please register your interest by emailing Andree Haxton at [email protected]
  • Thursday mornings (all welcome) from 9am-10:30 am and 10:30am-12pm – Starting Thursday 1st April – Please register your interest by emailing Andree Haxton at [email protected]
  • Ladies Nights on Wednesday evenings – Starting Wednesday 31st March – Our Ladies Captain, Victoria Aitchison is organising Ladies Nights on Wednesdays from 6pm to 8pm. If you wish to join in, please contact Victoria at[email protected]
  • Club Nights(all welcome) on Thursday evenings from 6pm onwards – starting Thursday 1st April – The Thursday night format prioritises mixed doubles. This will be organised by Ben Wood, our Head Coach, and it will be on a first-come first-served basis. Ben will ensure that players of like ability are matched together for enjoyable games.  If you would like to be part of this please email Ben at [email protected]with your mobile number, so that Ben can organise a WhatsApp Chat Group.

Tuesday evenings have traditionally been Mens Night. We will hold Mens Night fixed fours should a volunteer organiser step forward.

MEMBERSHIP

A big, warm welcome to our 57 new members! We hope to hold a New Members’ Day and regular social tennis sessions as soon as we are allowed. In the meantime, please sign up to our WhatsApp groups for playing opportunities. Otherwise, you can contact Andree Haxton at [email protected]  if none of these times suit you and you would like to meet other people to play with.

We are not issuing shoe tags this year. We monitor court bookings to check who is playing. Please make sure you always book your court in advance, unless you are playing in a club-organised session.

The last few places are being filled at the moment, and we still have a waiting list of 250!

CLUB SOCIALS

Our Social Secretary has been busy planning our social events for this year.  Assuming that all the restrictions are lifted on the 17th May, please see below the proposed events:

  • New Members Day – To introduce our new members to the club and to other members and arrange a couple of games on court – Saturday 3rd July
  • Bank Holiday Tournaments – May 31st and August 30th
  • Jazz Evening – Date tbc
  • Wine tasting evening – July 17th
  • An evening of magic and music, ragtime songs.  A ‘something for everyone’ variety night with our most talented member, Tim Sutton – Date tbc
  • Junior Tournament – 19th September
  • Macmillan coffee morning – Friday September 24th
  • Finals day – 2 October 2021 with a back-up day on 3 October 2021
  • Quiz Night – October 23rd
  • Comedy Night – November 27th
  • AGM – Saturday November 20th

Please put the above dates in your diaries as our social events are very popular, and watch out for specific emails for each event.

GROUNDS & CLUBHOUSE

Courts 4-7 have had some additional treatment and sanding which should improve the playing surface in wet weather.

We continue to have a problem with one of the floodlight masts which we are following up with the floodlight maintenance company Abacus.

TEAM TENNIS

Mens Tennis

Our men’s teams should be in action before long so hopefully we’ll have some great team results to inform you of in the not-so-distant future. If any new members or current members who haven’t played in those teams before, but are interested in playing, and would like to be considered, please email our Men’s Captain, Rupert, at [email protected].

Ladies Team

We are hoping that the Summer matches will begin again soon now that restrictions are beginning to lift. If there are any new members or players who would like to be considered for match play, then please do not hesitate to register your interest by contacting Victoria Aitchison at [email protected]

Ladies weekday friendly matches

Lynn Frankling has some dates for these already.  If you would like to be considered for friendly matches played with other local clubs please email Lynn at [email protected].

Mixed Team Tennis

The Summer Datchworth league has been delayed and the latest news is that it’s likely to begin in June and run for 7 consecutive weeks. Matches are held on Monday evenings.

If anyone would like to play in a mixed team, please do not hesitate to register your interest by contacting Kate Curson at [email protected].

JUNIORS

Junior teams entered into the Herts National Summer League in the Boys U12, U14, U16 and Girls U14. Teams to be finalised.

The Junior Tournament will be on 19th Sept. A notice will be put up on the Junior noticeboard for entries.

As per the current LTA guidance, reflected in the section above on social tennis, we cannot hold mix-ins as we have done in the past. So, sadly, the popular Junior Nights cannot yet be held as they had been traditionally. However, all courts will be prioritised for Junior play from 4-8pm on Fridays and parents are encouraged to book courts for their children to play singles or fixed fours at that time.

LOST PROPERTY

Our lost property boxes are now extremely full.  We will leave them outside the clubhouse everyday next week from Monday 5th April for one week.  Please collect your belongings before we donate them to charity.

TENNIS BALLS PURCHASE

Tennis balls are available to purchase from the club for £4 per tin of 4. If you wish to purchase them, then please make payment to the Elliswick Account and then email [email protected] after you have done so.  We will then advise you when your tennis balls are ready for your collection at the club.

Kind Regards

Elliswick LTC Committee

PS, Don’t forget to keep up to date with events at our website http://www.elliswickltc.co.uk