Elliswick LTC Newsletter – September 2021

Dear Members,

Welcome to our September Newsletter.

The autumn season is now underway. The summer club nights (men’s, ladies, mixed, juniors) have all come to an end now that the evening light is fading. But the floodlit courts are available to use for members nightly until 9:30pm. Please book your court in advance (the booking system allows up to two weeks advance booking) as the courts get booked up quickly.

The Junior Tournament was a big success again this year, thanks to the exceptional organisational skills of our Junior Captain, Ken Mitchie. An amazing day was had by all and it was wonderful to see so many parents and friends come out to support the event.

Special thanks go to everybody who volunteered on the day (even though some of them do not have juniors playing in the tournament) and for all their valued help with the allocation, umpiring and keeping the crowd fed and watered! Special mention to Jeanette Rickerty with her crew in the kitchen. Team Beasley, who did a wonderful BBQ on the day once we found a lighter! Tony Ward who kept the games ticking over (and kept us right on the rules) and of course Andree Haxton whose organisation is always so crucial at these events.

CLUB ANNUAL TOURNAMENT – FINALS DAY – NOW SUNDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2021

It would be great to see most of you there to witness our talented members playing in the tournament, which starts at 10am.

JUNIORS COURTS BOOKING:

This is to remind you that juniors have priority on courts from 15:30pm until 18:00pm Mon-Fri, if not used for coaching.  Also, juniors have priority on Court 5 except during:

  • adult mix-in sessions
  • between 08:00-12:00 on Saturday
  • 10:00-12:00 Sundays; and
  • when used for coaching

GROUNDS & CLUBHOUSE
The result of the planning application for replacement of the floodlights, due very soon.

The clubhouse carpets have been cleaned on Wednesday the 29th of September.

We have had a fire inspection this week, there are some further procedural things that need to be done in order to get a certificate which Nefyn is working on with the inspector. Nefyn will talk with the committee about some of the things we need to put in place.

TEAM TENNIS

If you wish to participate in team tennis this autumn/winter please do not hesitate to register your interest by contacting our respective Team Captains, as follows:

Mens Captain: Rupert Tillbrooke at [email protected] or 07789811097

Ladies Captain: Victoria Aitchison at [email protected] or 07429 581034

Mixed Captain: Kate Curson at [email protected]

Junior Captain: Ken Michie at [email protected]

Ladies Tennis

Winter matches is underway and good luck to the ladies through the colder months. Ladies night is now finished until next Spring but ladies morning is still running on Tuesday mornings from 9am.

Men’s Tennis

The summer season now almost concluded.  Many thanks to the captains, Rupert Tillbrooke, Robert Gardiner, Ant Harrison, Jem Collier-Garrity and David Kendall in the Herts Leagues and Paul Hunt and Dave Pankhurst in Hot Rackets for their time and effort spent arranging the fixtures and finding players to represent our club. Also a thank you to all those who played in the matches which we hope you all enjoyed.

Autumn / Winter Vets matches are now commencing so best of luck to all our teams taking part in the over 45, over 55 and over 65 age categories.

Mixed Team Tennis

Datchworth friendlies are up and running for our 3 teams in the league this autumn.

Mixed Herts league has 5 teams, having dropped a team due to no captain to run our 6th. Therefore, there may be some players who don’t make the teams this season due to number of players and not enough teams. Apologies in advance if this impacts you.

If there are any interested members who wish to captain or have a chat for next year please let [email protected] know.

SOCIALS

We have some fun social events to look forward to in October and November:

  • Finals Day – Sunday 3rd October – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
  • Quiz night – Saturday 23rd Oct.  Fish and chips supper (Get your team together now)
  • Elliswick AGM – Saturday 20th November
  • Comedy Night – Saturday 27th November.  Tickets on sale beginning of October.

JUNIORS

Junior Tournament

The club held its Junior Tournament for 2021 on the 19th September. The day was a great success with some excellent tennis being played in all the age groups and over 25 players competing.

The winners and runners-up were as follows:

  Winner Runner Up
U10 Boys Toby Isted Hugo Nicolas
U11 Boys Hamish Timmins Jack Beasley
U14 Boys Henry Martin Alex Sweeney
Girls Comp Emily Gardiner Isobel Spittal
U16 Boys Alexander Gardiner Harry Robinson

Thank you to all the players who took part and made it such an enjoyable day. We would like to see more juniors entering next year, particularly in the younger age groups and from the girls, so please look out for announcements on entries for next year’s tournament early next year.

Junior Winter Leagues

Four teams have been entered for the Herts Junior Winter League which runs from September through to March. Our Junior Captain Ken Michie will be in touch soon with parents whose children have been selected to play by Ben Wood.

Junior Night

Friday 24th September was the last Junior Night for this year and we will return in the Spring.

ACHIEVEMENT

One of our long-standing members (Chris Rice) was invited to Tewin Bury Farm Hotel for the Herts Tennis Awards Afternoon Tea where the Herts Ladies Seniors Doubles League on whose committee she sits won Competition of the Year for 2021.  The awards were presented for their superb efforts in supporting the county. The judges from the LTA were incredibly impressed by everything they do.  And that they can be very proud of their achievement as a Herts County winner. The Herts Ladies Seniors Doubles League was set up over 30 years ago by Chris’s tennis partner Val Harris. At that time there were 21 teams representing Over 40s, 50s and 60s.  Today there are 140 teams which include Over 70s.  Elliswick is represented in this league with six teams, two in each of 40+ 50+ & 60+, which is a fantastic representation.  At one time, Elliswick had 7 teams in this league, as we also had a 70+.  There are only 3 other clubs in Herts who can boast 7 teams: Harpenden, Rickmansworth and St Albans.  Val and her husband John have now passed away and their legacy to tennis is the new “Harris Cup” 2 pair Knockout Cup which was also presented for the first time at the Awards Ceremony.

A New Choir For Harpenden

One of our members who is a super-talented musician, Tim Sutton, is inviting you to join him to sing and learn great music and have some fun.

Kind Regards

Elliswick LTC Committee

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