Image credit: pch-vector

We have all missed our regular tennis during the past challenging lockdown year, but were very happy to play again and have coaching when restrictions were lifted at various times.  It goes without saying that we’ll all be very happy to get back on court from the end of March,  (all things being well) coinciding, thankfully, with the arrival of warmer weather and longer days.

A big thank you to Richard, our Chair, for guiding us through the year with regular updates and news via email, for the regular, superbly organised  Zoom committee meetings and for keeping his finger on the pulse with all the changes communicated to us via  government directives and the LTA.    

Thanks too to all the committee members who have worked hard to keep things running smoothly on all aspects of running the Club.  Although there hasn’t been much tennis  happening, the usual concerns of maintenance, admin, fund-raising, membership and finance have continued to go on behind the scenes – all of which means a smooth transition to our being able to get on court again!   

We have been very fortunate to have been able to benefit from Zoom technology for our regular committee meetings and for the Club AGM on 24th February.  Despite the year being dominated by lockdown, the Club is in a strong position financially, membership numbers are up (and fees will be remaining the same for the coming year, with the addition of concessional fees for those experiencing financial hardship and we are also extending student membership to all those under the age of 26, whether in full-time education or not), the courts have been cleaned, with new nets in place and a new key card entry system.  So we’re raring to go!

The minutes of the AGM, kindly prepared by Katherine Tulley, our Minutes Secretary, will be published on the website before long. The committee members for 2021/22 can be found in the table at the end of this article, and here.

Centenary Celebrations

Many of you know already, but this might be news to some…. Aylsham Tennis Club is 100 years old in 2021!

To celebrate our centenary, we are in the process of planning various events to take place during the year, more details of which will be on the website, as they become available.

We have set up a special Centenary Celebrations Committee – a big thank-you to Jane Attewell, Sue Appleby, Marion Arnold, Dawn Crafer and Vanessa Angier who have volunteered for this and who will be working on ideas to commemorate this special year.   If you have any inspiration for possible  events, please get in touch with Jane directly, and of course if you have some time to help out in a voluntary capacity, this would be very welcome.

So, it’s all looking like a great year ahead… See you soon on the courts!

Aylsham Tennis Club Committee 2021/22 

Most of the people on the committee have kindly agreed to run for office again this year and we are very pleased to welcome new members to the team -  Jo Springall and Paul Thompson – in the roles of Club Secretary and Maintenance Co-ordinator.  Thanks to everyone for a great job last year and in advance for the coming year when we certainly hope more tennis will be on the cards!