Courts and Nets Upgrade

I’m sure you are all enjoying playing on the newly painted courts 4-6. The court maintenance work was carried out in June and consisted of moss clearing, cleaning, binding and painting.  We have also upgraded the nets on all six courts, with sincere thanks to our generous sponsors (see below). This is all part of a longer-term plan to keep the facilities in great condition and to LTA standards.

Summer Tournaments

Saturday Fun Tournaments

The Saturday Fun Tournaments are designed mainly for the members who turn up to the Saturday Morning Club Sessions, although any playing member is very welcome to join in.

On the 7th May, 20 players took part. Unfortunately, the weather intervened so the matches had to be cut short, but enough rounds were completed to give Ali Hysom the title of top-scoring lady while David Simpson topped the leader board among the men. The Chairman’s Special Award went to Birte Ditchburn.

On the 4th June, we held our annual Fund-Raising Tournament, with the proceeds going towards our new tennis nets. For the first time, the event attracted generous sponsors: Anil Mahendra, Tapper Financial Services, Paul Gloc and additional generous anonymous donors. We would like to say a very big thank you to them. Combining these donations, competition entry fees and last year’s takings, we raised over £400 and this was put to very good use, going towards our new good-quality nets. Top scorers at the event were Lucy and John Carpenter with special awards going to Karen Ainley and Ken Aldred. We were delighted to have past A Team player and long-standing club member Florence Cooper with us to present the prizes.

Pimm’s and Wooden Racquets Tournament

On Sunday 3rd July we held our annual Pimm’s and Wooden Racquets Tournament. It was great to see so many new faces and also to welcome back some past winners and runners-up. Competition was fierce as all the players battled with and mastered the skills of an old technology with remarkable success. Every partnership achieved a very respectable score of games won, but the top scorers were Paul Rainer and Nick Moore, Ray Allan and Phil Mann. These four battled out a nail-biting final with Paul and Nick just ahead on points at the end to take the trophy.

Charity Tournament

We had an excellent turnout of players at our charity tournament on Saturday 30th July, with all six courts in action. We have raised a wonderful £335 so far for the Multiple Sclerosis Society (Colchester Branch). The money will be enough to fund seated yoga for quite a few weeks and was greatly appreciated by the charity representatives that joined us on the day. The Just Giving page will be open until the end of August if anyone would like to make any further donations.

Competition was fierce with the men’s prize being shared by John Carpenter and Dave Aston and the ladies prize scooped by Anna Bisco.

Players also voted for next year’s charity and the winner was MIND, another brilliant cause for us to support next year.

Colchester & District League, Friendly League and Colchester & District Tournament

As we approach the end of the season, our teams have performed really well, with no team likely to be relegated from their division. A very special mention goes to the Men’s C Team who are going to finish the season Champions of Division 3! They have played all their matches and no other team can now catch them. Huge congratulations to Captain Kevin Eastaugh and Team!

A few home matches are still to be played:

• 15th August: Men’s A vs Frinton A
• 18th August: Mixed B vs Lexden Rackets and Fitness Club B
• 22nd August: Men D vs David Lloyd B
• 22nd August: Mixed A vs Lexden Hill A
• 25th August: Ladies B vs Frinton B
• 25th August: Men’s A vs Wivenhoe A

Do feel free to make the most of the summer evenings, come down to the club to enjoy a drink and support our teams in their remaining matches.

You can keep up with our results here and all the league tables can be viewed here.

The Friendly League matches have also been going well with enjoyable matches being played and all three teams are currently top or second in their respective tables at the time of going to press.

A second special mention goes to Anil Mahendra and Dan Cotton, who have reached the finals of the Colchester and District Restricted Doubles tournament. The final will be held at Frinton on Sea Lawn Tennis Club on 3rd September. Best of luck to you both!

A big thank you to our fantastic captains across all leagues and divisions who have done a fantastic job organising us all through the season. You do a wonderful job!

Future Events

Club Championships

The club championships are in full swing and it’s fantastic to hear about some of the close and fun matches being played. The round of 16 matches have been played and quarter-finals are currently being battled out, with matches due to be completed by 21st August. Please remember matches must be played by the cut off dates, so do remember to arrange matches in plenty of time to get them completed. You can follow the progress of the tournament here.

Finals day is 18th September, and is a date for your diary. It would be great to have as many people as possible there to support the finalists and enjoy an entertaining day’s play.

Further Dates:

End of season dinner: Another date for your diary is the end of season dinner, which is on Saturday 1st October. Details about the evening will follow soon, so keep an eye on your inboxes for more information.

Christmas jumper tournament – Our festive favourite will be back on Tuesday 27th December.

Tennis Ball Recycling

We wanted to remind you that we now have a facility for recycling used tennis balls. The box for this is positioned outside court 3. There is information inside about which balls can be accepted. They must have writing still visible, some fluff left and no felt pen initials – see the photos below for examples. Recycling these balls even generates a small amount of income which the tennis committee will use on tennis events and equipment, so please do recycle your old balls when you have finished with them.

Acceptable ball with fluff and writing

Unacceptable ball

Any balls that fit into the latter category can still be put to good use. Karen Ainley is kindly collecting these for Danahar Dog's Home.

Friendly Reminder

If you have booked a court and then can no longer use it, please remember to cancel it via ClubSpark so the court can be made available to other members. To do this, you can go to 'Court Booking' on ClubSpark, click on the booking and select Cancel. Or you can access the same page from your court confirmation email when you click on 'Click here to manage your bookings'.