Elliswick LTC Newsletter – October 2020

Dear Members,

Welcome to our October Newsletter.

2020 ZOOM AGM – Saturday 21st November at 10.30am

As per our email correspondence yesterday, the preparation work for the club’s AGM is well underway. Apologies for any confusion caused by the Agenda sent yesterday, which stated that the meeting was going to be held at the clubhouse. Actually, this year the AGM will be held via Zoom (there will be no one present at the club). Please do try to zoom into this important meeting and support your club.  If you are unable to attend the AGM, would you please send your apologies and appoint your proxy for the meeting by emailing [email protected]. Unless you have an alternative preference, please appoint the Chairman as your proxy. It is very important to the club to get as many proxies as possible before the AGM so as to achieve a quorum.

COVID-19 UPDATE

The incidence of Covid-19 is on the rise and we continue to closely monitor the UK Government, NHS, and LTA rules and guidance. The rule of 6 is still in place and the authorities are relying heavily on the NHS Test and Trace system to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

All members and visitors must be disciplined in their behaviour at the club to ensure social distancing and minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission. All members should read the latest guidance for players from the LTA (https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/news/2020/lta-guidance-for-tennis-players—covid-19.pdf) in order to understand their obligations. Here are just a few reminders:

  • Members, visitors and spectators should make use of the newly installed hand sanitising stations at the front and side of the clubhouse.
  • Though the LTA guidance allows players on any given court to choose to share tennis balls instead of using each individual’s marked tennis balls, the latter case remains best practice. Please respect any other players’ wishes not to use shared tennis balls.
  • There should be no socialising before or after matches.
  • Players booking courts via ClubSpark are expected to log the names of all players on court, when making a booking.

If any member develops Covid-19 symptoms, they must not attend the club and must self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days. If any member tests positive for Covid-19 within a week of attending the club, they must do the following:

  • Inform the authorities via the NHS Covid-19 app. Provide as much information to the NHS as possible about any form of contact with other players, including the use of shared tennis balls, if that was the case.
  • Inform the Club via an email to [email protected]. To enable the Club to perform any necessary cleaning, we need to know if any of the facilities (eg washrooms) were used and if any court furniture (eg gates or net) was touched by yourself or any household members accompanying you.

Pre-attendance symptom check

  • Anyone attending our club (including players, coaches, committee members and any other visitors), should undergo a pre-attendance self-assessment for any COVID19 symptoms using the information on the NHS website before leaving home https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/
  • No-one should leave home to participate in tennis if they, or someone they live with, has symptoms of COVID -19, currently recognised as any of the following:

–          A high temperature

–          A new, continuous cough

–          A loss of, or change to, their sense of smell or taste

CLUBHOUSE CARPARK

On certain days, when courts are heavily used, the carpark at our club gets very congested.  We would like to politely remind you to please leave the car park as soon as you finish your games to free up parking spaces for other members to park their cars for the next time slot.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS 2021

Please let our Membership Secretary, Sally Radcliffe at [email protected], know by 31st December 2020 if you wish to change your membership in any way, i.e. remove family members, or change categories to student, non-playing etc. If you want to add any family members, please make sure they are on our waiting list.

GROUNDS & CLUBHOUSE

  • We have increased the amount of sand on the back of court 2, as was recommended to us by Tigerturf. We hope this will alleviate the creasing we have experienced over the last few winters.
  • We have ordered a couple of portable floodlights which will help if we have any breakdowns of the permanent lights
  • Abacus are scheduled to fix the broken mast on court 6 on the 4th November.
  • We have fixed the net stay on court 7
  • The plumbing issues in the men’s toilet have been fixed
  • Hand sanitizers have been placed on the entrance and exit to the club.
  • We are in dialogue with a planning consultant and floodlight providers to look at replacement and expansion of the current system.

TEAM TENNIS
Winter matches have now begun with matches being played by our Mens and Ladies Vets and our Mixed teams. Good luck to all players through the colder months.

Organised ladies morning on Tuesdays at 9am continues to run throughout the winter months, however, ladies nights no longer running until Spring 2021. The organised mix-in on Thursday mornings continues to run throughout the winter months at 9am and 10:30am.

JUNIORS

League Tournaments

The Herts National Winter leagues are now being played. Good luck to all the junior players.

CHARITY FUNDRAISING FOR THE HARPENDEN MAYOR’S CHOSEN CHARITIES

A message from the Town Mayor

Dear Elliswick LTC Members,

I would like to express my sincere thanks to those of you who supported my Play A Set for the Mayor back in the Summer. Your donations have gone to two wonderful local charities, The Daylight Club and The Human Milk Foundation,  who reach out to some of the most vulnerable members of our community.   I’m very grateful for your help in raising much needed funds.

Please keep an eye out for our big end-of-year fundraiser, an “Auction of Promises”; any one of which would make an excellent Christmas present.

With best wishes.

Cllr Mrs Nicola Linacre

Town Mayor of Harpenden

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TownMayorHarpendenTownCouncil

https://www.harpenden.gov.uk/town-mayors-charities

GRAPHIC DESIGN SERVICES

One of our members, Ceri Provis-Evans, is available for graphic/web design works. Some samples of his work and contact details can be found here: https://16bitcreative.com/

Kind Regards

Elliswick LTC Committee

PS, Don’t forget to keep up to date with events at our website http://www.elliswickltc.co.uk and follow our Facebook page as well.