GRANSDENS LAWN TENNIS CLUB

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NEWSLETTER – AUTUMN 2009

Dear Members,

Well that was the “barbecue summer” The annual trip to Ibiza forsaken due to the state of the euro and the positive forecast. The 2 week camping holiday in Devon costing twice as much due to having to replace the less than waterproof tent and the constant need to feed the family to keep out of the incessant rain. To help you cast away memories of the soggy sojourn we have all sorts to lighten the advancing gloom as winter beckons. 1 st up is the ever popular

Quiz Night – 17 th October .

Last October was a record breaker for the club and this year promises to be just as good if not better. After lengthy contractual negotiations the “Dinner Ladies” have agreed to continue their excellent work, aided by the soon to be departing Paulette. Ian has agreed to sort out the questions, Natalie is swotting up on her addition and subtraction for the bar work and my remit is to carry on regardless! The scene is set for a riotous night of fun, frivolity and drama but tickets are going swiftly so we urge you to get cracking. The price is still £10, which includes a 2 course meal, tickets are available from Tim (677284), Nicola (677968), Jan (677082) Trevor (677769) or the village shop. Teams are to comprise 6 people and there will be a raffle and of course a bar.

A.G.M. and Supper 20th Nov .

The Annual AGM / Shepherds Pie / Wine tasting extravaganza is pencilled in for 7.30 in the Reading Rooms. There will be food and drink on offer, as ever, and we would ask all members to attend if you possibly can. We promise you won’t get co-erced in to anything you don’t want to do and it’s actually a good night and doesn’t take too long. Please try and attend it’s your club and we want to know what you want and to update you on what’s been done and what were doing.

Boxing Day 26 th Dec.

I know it’s early and you’ve yet to think of this years excuse to avoid going Great Aunt Bertha’s so put 10.30 on Boxing Day in your diary. It’s more than just tennis, a chance to blow away the cobwebs, run off the 8 mice pies and 46 after eights and if that’s not enough to lure you, there will of course be mince pies and drink to replace the weight lost.

Awards Presentation / Fun Day

We combined the 2 events again this year in a bid to give everyone an opportunity to meet socially and to see the other members on and off the courts. It proved to be very successful and the elongated Wimbledon Draw due to the 12 pairs of tickets made sure most went home happy. We may continue in that vein depending on your views at the AGM.

Clubmark

As you know we were awarded Clubmark accreditation a year ago. We are now gauged against all other clubs with the same accreditation and we’re proud of our standing in amongst the big hitters of the LTA. In the Tennis East league table we are rated 5 th (above Gt Shelford, St Neots, Papworth etc) the placing is dependant on competing juniors, events held and general performance. In the club size “1-4 courts” league table we are rated highest in Cambridgeshire and we are rated 6th overall when all the clubs with “more than 4 courts” are taken in to account. The tables reflect general activity, more importantly junior activity and our status is something we can feel very proud of.

Tournaments

The normal array of Club tournaments were squeezed in to 6 days this year and what a week it was. Our 1 st attempt at a “tennis week” seems to have been a roaring success, the turn out fantastic, the tennis excellent. The careful seeding and the “recruitment” work that went on prior to the various nights were rewarded with some great games and a clutch of names to contest the finals, thanks to all who made it such great FUN. The weather was very kind, the clubhouse heaving all week with eager competitors and just as keen spectators who demolished a ton of nibbles and a river of refreshments. The finals day took place in equally glorious sunshine, 13 different players appearing in the 5 finals a statistic which said everything about the enthusiastic response and the clever seedings!

Ladies Doubles Natalie Rogerson & Helen Turner beat Bridget Flanagan & Sally Rundle

Men’s Doubles Martin Partridge & Barry Burles v Andy Wilson & Freddie Foster

Mixed Doubles Adrian George & Emma Ward beat Jon Beech & Alice Taylor

Men’s Singles Ian Darroch beat Nicholas Hipwell

Ladies Singles Jan Foster lost to Alice Taylor

Family Cup Adam Peer & his Dad won.

American To be played on Nov 8th

Gransdens v Rest of World To be rescheduled

Matches

The various club matches have filled the summer months, the assorted teams battling to go up, stay down or just to have fun. For the record

In the LTA Summer Leagues : (Serious with sandwiches)

The Men’s 1 st’s after initial worries as to their lofty status ended up a gallant 3 rd in Div 2. It is a fantastic feat for a small village such as ours to play at that level and one we should be proud of. Craig’s boys had a late season spurt to claim a few scalps to slide rapidly up the table.

The Men’s 2 nd’s battled as ever to maintain their status, a slow start and 2 hefty defeats soon forgotten as they finished strongly beating Histon and Soham to secure 5 th spot.

The Ladies 1 st’s had some tough games as they adjusted to Div 4 following on relegation last time round. Happily the girls settled to 5 th place amidst the likes of David Lloyd, Haslingfield and Newmarket 2’s.

The Ladies 2 nd’ swere up against it in Div 5 and with 1 game to play they need a point to ensure safety and they play the team just below them.

The Mixed 1 st’s struggledto stamp their authority in a tough Div 3 after a tough short season of 5 games. A win and an epic battling draw against the runaway league winners “David Lloyd” the highlights of the season.

The Mixed 2 nd’ sstruggled valiantly in Div 7 their only point against a Fulbourn side that will go down with them, promotion on the cards for next season!

In The Business House League : ( Not so formal, drink but no food)

TheMen’s team started with a flourish and continued a good early surge. Despite Chesterton 1’s twice gaining revenge for last year we ended up having a cracking season despite using 14 players in our 10 games! P10 W7 D1 L2 our admirable record and our best season for many years as we finished in 2 nd place.

TheLadies 1 st’s in the BHL are not given too many games and the pressure is invariably on them to hold their own never mind progress in Div 1. Of the 3 games played so far they’ve notched a win and 2 losses and have Ely to play to secure safety, they have only beaten them once since 1987 so fingers crossed.

Ladies 2nd’s had as tough a season and with 1 game still to play their record is L4 D1 but they will finish with a win and be placed 2 nd bottom!

The Mixed team enjoyed themselves immensely under Rosemary’s careful stewardship but ended up 5 th in Div 2. The inclusion of some of the clubs youngsters augers well for the future and helped keep the bad language down. The results of W1 L4 don’t reflect the effort put in as we tried to put in a junior paring in each of the matches to give them experience. Freddy Foster played in all of the games, including an all Fosters team in 2 fixtures (the results of these fixtures not disclosed for the sake of family unity).

Website

A reminder that the club’s website is www.gransdensltc.co.uk and after continued tweaking throughout the year it is now in much better shape. Please feel free to have a look and if there’s anything you want on it or think we need then contact Rosemary who’s done all the hard work to keep it updated and ship shape.

Club Stars!

The club has many shining stars in its midst, none more so than Chris Johnson, Laurence Kean, Josh Wilson, Craig Workman and Alice Taylor. Chris is the clubs coaching organizer and plays for the men’s 1 st team. This year he was crowned County Champion (for the 3 rd time). Laurence got to the semi final of the County U14’s, was runner up in the County “Road to Wimbledon” competition which got him a tour round the hallowed grounds, lunch in the players bar and an hour and a half knock up with Tim Henman! Josh lost in the last 16 of the U12 Nationals, was runner up in the National boy’s doubles, won the County U12 singles for the 2 nd year in a row and lost in the semis of the U14’s. Alice got to the semis of the County U14 girls and last but not least Craig won the County mixed doubles trophy. All of them performing at a lofty level and all great ambassadors for our little village club.

Coaching

As part of our responsibilities to fulfil the “Clubmark Accreditation” we have to offer Coaching to all our members . We are planning to again offer 10 week coaching courses for Adults on Saturday mornings and for Ladies on Friday mornings (this is flexible so let us know if you would prefer a better time or day) . Both of these courses are designed to help all levels progress, the Ladies sessions aimed at those who are starting out or who are keen to get back in to tennis again. The sessions are for an hour and if you are interested then contact Trevor (the exact details and dates to be released in due course). If any of the younger one’s are interested in being coached please refer to the Juniors sheet, there are numerous sessions available for all ages . Please note WE NEED MORE WOMEN ! The club needs more Ladies for both social and league tennis. If you’re not sure about your ability, need some coaching, nervous, coy, shy, desperate to escape the hum drum existence of everyday life then step forward, we need more ladies. The tennis club is very friendly and there’s always wine in the fridge!

Club House

The club house is still in excellent order but we still need members to look after it, particularly theparents of the juniors. Please put recycling stuff in the recycling bin!!!! (Plastic cups and bottles canbe recycled!). Avoid your little cherubs trashing the place or leaving it in a mess, as importantly try and avoid them using 23 cups for their 14 drinks during their sessions. There are always various items that have been left of late, all are kept in a bag under the chair near to the balls, they will all be sent to a 3 rd world country shortly if they are not claimed. We would ask that when your children are being coached or are at junior sessions you send them along with a drink! Wedon’t have running water on site and can only offer the drinks dispenser. Sadly consumption is frightening now and we are trying to be prudent with it as occasionally after the juniors sessions there is no water left for the adults and they get grumpy!.

LTA Membership

The LTA are still keen to encourage all members of the Club to become members of “British Tennis”. The club got twice as many Wimbledon tickets this year due to your efforts, much appreciated and if you haven’t joined the basicmembership is free until 2012. Thereare all sorts of incentives to encourage you to sign up; the most important one is that you can’t be allocated Wimbledon Tickets in our draw unless you’re a member! There are leaflets in the clubhouse.

 Balls / Tokens

As ever we are offering new tubes of four balls for only £5. Please contact a committee member if you want to purchase some. Jan. is the person to contact if you want to purchase tokens for the floodlights

 Court Improvements

You will have noticed that Andy finished off the netting (since been moved slightly) and extended it to the football pitch end so we may be able to hear the bad language but now we can’t see it. The floodlights were finally sorted as the Moscow State Circus lent 2 of their acrobats to hang off a digger bucket…..we even had a spring clean prior to the Open Day where a hefty body of volunteers swept the courts, pruned the trees and spruced up the clubhouse. Thank you one and all. The trees behind the new screens are flourishing and will shortly be peeking over the top to add to our foliage, wind break, aesthetics. The good news is that we are planning some hefty improvements to the facilities in the next 12 months. Despite being repaired the lights are still pretty poor and hence we are planning on replacing them and installing a much better system with additional pylons to give better “coverage” As part of this renovation we are also planning to build a knock up wall on the outside of the court and to install a mini tennis court and replace and replenish the external fencing around this new area. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make tennis better for you all.

Club Sessions

The club offers numerous sessions for all ages and sizes. If you want to get involved and play, want to get a bit fitter or are convinced that the magic you had as a teenager is still there then please come along. You will be made welcome as the sessions are designed for people of all abilities, don’t be shy!!!!!

Ladies mornings take place on Friday mornings from 9.00 a.m and are for all ages and abilities.

The normal Club Sessions take place on Wed Evenings from 7.30 p.m and Sunday Afternoons from 2.30 p.m, again everyone is welcome and there is someone in charge of the sessions to make sure the pairings are suitable and that you are looked after.

Over the summer these sessions have been well attended and they, as ever, continue right through the winter months. If you’ve never been and are reading this in a Kwik Fit Surgery before having your wallet emptied and you feel like returning to the fray after children/divorce/weight loss/mid life crisis then please feel free to turn up to have a look at any of the above. We cater for all ages and abilities.

Juniors News ………….…… Please see the separate Newsletter ……………………

Committee Contacts

The Tennis club committee meets on average 3 times a year and we basically discuss the same sorts of things, the quiet ones have a drink, the noisy ones discuss, volunteer and discuss more. If you’d like to join then please step forward otherwise any praise, complaints or suggestions should be made to one of the enclosed:

Tim. Mason, President & Treasurer (677284); Trevor Peer, Chairman (677769), Jan Foster, Juniors Guru (677082) James Blott, Secretary (01954 718265); Ian Darroch, Sportsfield Rep (679949); Nicola Hipwell, Rotas/Kit Sec (677968), Brenda Johnson, Court Booking Sec (650658); Sam Lodge, Membership Sec (677763); Andy Wilson, Funding (677196); Rosemary Hussain, Website (677979); Paulette Workman, Social Sec (650855): Emma Murden, All other jobs . All codes are 01767 unless stated otherwise.

It’s been a hectic, windswept season so far but there’s plenty more to come, please come and join in, we’d love to see you, there’s always something going on.

The views in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the tennis club committee but occasionally are.

Trevor Peer (For the Tennis Club Committee)