Newly painted courts before the nets went up.  New photos to go on website in due course.

Take care while the paint cures - the courts may be slippery if they get wet.

Important reminders:  Hopefully you have all read the current club guidelines in our last Club news.  

DO NOT COME UP TO THE CLUB IF YOU ARE SHOWING ANY SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19.

Hand sanitiser and hand washing:  Now that everyone is sharing tennis balls, it is important that you wash your hands before and after using the tennis club, and please use the hand sanitiser on arrival and also when you leave.  

Court access:  You should be using different access points for all courts.  Only courts 3&4 have a shared access.

Waiting off court:  Please do not come onto court until those before you have departed.

Balls for sale:  We have new balls for sale which were purchased for matches.  They are £5 per tin and you can get them from Rebecca.  rebrose11@sky.com    07903 849919

New Members:  We are delighted to welcome to the club 25 new members and we expect this to rise! The majority of these new members form our"Improver" group and for a couple of months before lockdown, they were trying out the club at Rusty Rackets, group drills with Craig or weekly Improver sessions that we ran in Feb & March.  We are delighted that they have now joined the club.  Once our social sessions are back up and running, we will have twice weekly sessions for Improver level as well as normal club level, so we can now offer more people the chance to play.  

We have also had several new members who are ready to go straight into regular social tennis- many of whom are local and were just waiting for the right time.  Our excellent half price offer has been a great way to get them started but we hope they will all be with us for many years to come.   We know that everyone will be very welcoming.

Non members:  We also have more non members playing at our courts than ever before.  This is an important part of what we offer as a club but we will make sure that members do not miss out on any court time.  Although non members also receive emails asking them to read our guidelines, we have noticed that some are unaware of tennis club "etiquette".  If you see anyone wandering across courts for example, please politely point out which access gate they should be using.  Thank you

Tribute to Dot:  Dot Burgin was a founder member of our tennis club and will be very much missed by us all.  The committee is organising a plaque in her honour to go on our new bench which overlooks the court.

We know that many people had memories of Dot and so we have created a permanent page on our website for those that would like to write some words.  This can be found under CLUB CONTACTS.  If you would like anything added, please email rebrose11@sky.com and these can be included.  These are the ones we've had so far with some old photos:

From left to right:  David West, Dot, Mike Bett, Gary Preen (still a member today), Doug Beard & Wendy West

Dot loved her tennis and was a founder member of the Bovingdon & Flaunden Tennis Club which opened in 1979.  Dot had raised £1000 by organising fundraising events in Flaunden and, with a grant from Bovingdon Parish Council, the first two courts were built on Sports Association land in Green Lane.  We needed to form a tennis club with access available to the public, so we held a meeting in Bovingdon Memorial Hall which was very well attended.  Later a garden shed was donated and Dot arranged for it to be transported by her sons who brought it over from Belsize.  Dots love of sport, which included winning the Flaunden pancake race for many years and bowling, continued until recently when she was still playing a good game of tennis.  It was said that although she might not be able to run as fast as she could when she was younger, she still had the skill to place the ball so that she was a formidable opponent.    Sylvia McClelland

Dot was always a stalwart of the club, serving on the committee and helping at our maintenance days with gardening painting etc.She always baked lovely cakes for Finals day and team suppers,During her term as President she also raised £1000.00 organising an Auction of promises much needed when we were short of funds. She will be sadly missed as an all round tennis club member.    Jan Empson.

  Dot and ? winning the Mixed Doubles                                                      Dot and Maria Wood winning Ladies Doubles 2000

I would never have joined the tennis club as I played for fun and never thought I would be good enough.  In 1987 my mother had died and I thought I would give it a go.  Dot asked me to partner her in a friendly match (this is pre-league tennis), away to the Welcome Foundation in Berkhamsted.  Dot and I found ourselves 0-5 down in the deciding rubber when Dot said "Don't give up Barry, go to the net more and we can still win".  We WON 7-5 and the match!   Barry Fitzgibbon

When we last played tennis before last autumn her mission was to get me to play bowls with her so that I could be ready to play as an extra if her team needed someone!  It was only when her balance went that she realised she probably would not be able to play Tennis again but she was still holding out for Bowls.

When I first met her when we were setting up the club she was still winning the parents race at the school sports day and also Pancake races! Dot loved sport and always seemed happy when she could encourage more to join in.      Gill Fisher

               Wendy West and Dot                                                                                   Dot and the Ladies A team in more recent times

I would call my friend DASH because when she was at the net she would DASH from one side of the court or drop the ball just over the net Very sneaky !!!!! But mostly with success She was a good sport and competitive That is our Dot / Dash       Wendy West

I first met Dot at the beginning of the tennis club. She was in the throes of organising fund raising for the tennis club. One of the main events was a country and western evening which raised a lot of money for the club. We also organised bring and buy sales usually in Dots garden or mine, not sure which we enjoyed most making money for the club or drinking tea and eating cake!!  Dot was a formidable competitor and enjoyed her tennis very much. Dot and I had fun organising ladies friendlies with many local clubs. Dot will be sadly missed.    Viv Smith

We had a Ladies B team match when Dot was captain and it was thought they might be vegetarians.  Bovingdon has always been known for its teas and Dot's were always great as it was mostly home made.  This night it was a bit cool and Dot had made vegetable soup but it was rather brown.  It was delicious but one of the away team asked what was in it and Dot said all fresh veg grown in her garden plus a beef stock!!  They still ate it though!    Maureen Grant