Welcome to our Spring Newsletter.  2025 has flown by, so stand by for a swift recap of what’s been going on … and what is still to come!  In this issue:

• Coaching update

• Floodlights on courts 3 and 4 being installed this summer

• Beeches Community Board grant thank you

• Welcome to the D1 National team - watch them this Sunday 11am 1st June

• Social activities so far in 2025:  Tournaments, Quizes and an open day

• Play Your Way to Wimbledon and Paul McPhilips shield report and winners

• Club Championship tournament live, finals day 13th September

• Save the date:  Annual Tennis Club Ball 22nd November 2025

Coaching update:

As announced, Coach Alison resigned for personal reasons with immediate effect over the May half term, we wish her well and thank her for her efforts over the last 2 years.  

The committee is in active discussions with coaches about providing coverage for the rest of the summer term and summer holiday camp.  Jai and Hugo will continue to be available for their regular coaching.  

We intend to offer a predictable and expanded junior and adult program from September.  Any questions please contact Chair Peter St Lawrence.

Floodlights on courts 3 and 4:

Incredibly exciting news … our middle courts will be getting floodlights installed over the summer!  This will give us 4 floodlit courts for the 2025 winter season.  This means club nights won’t have anyone sitting out getting cold, and will expand our coaching program significantly.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in fundraising and organisation, with a special mention to Alan Polding and Tim Needham for their hard work.  Exact installation dates will be shared in due course.

Beeches Community Board Grant:

Thank you to the Beeches Community  Board who awarded us an important grant of £15k which contributed almost half of the fundraising needed for the floodlights. We appreciate the support in recognition of the service the club provides to the local community.

New Mens and Ladies captains:

We are delighted that James Swain and Vicky Spooner took over as mens and ladies captains at last years AGM.  Not only are they some of our best players they are also inspiring members of all ages. Thank you to Maggie Southerden who served as Ladies captain for many years.  The baton and flowers were handed over on a beautiful May evening between Maggie and Vicky at ladies night.

This club is a social club:

Since the beginning of 2025 we have hosted the following:

• Frosty Social Tournament in January - it lived up to its name and had to be rescheduled twice due to weather!

• Grand National Social Tournament in April (picture of winners above)

• Quiz night in May hosted by the St Lawrences with the usual unpredictable questions and a guest appearance from Anne Hegerty - The Governess from The Chase (picture below)

• Open Day in April where we welcomed adults and juniors throughout the morning. Welcome to all our new members who joined us after trying us out!

Huge thank you to Judy D’Arcy and all the social committee for their stellar work organising this all and with much more to come.  

New National Division 1 team:

We are delighted to welcome Tim Hentschel and the Division 1 team to Farnham Common. These players are not in our usual league (literally) and they play at the highest levels in the country.  They moved to FC ready for the summer season, anyone that watched their first match on 4th May came away inspired by the level they play at.  

If you want to get an idea on how good this team is - they just won the LTA National Premier League on 26th May (playing as Stoke Poges) click here for RESULTS and photo below.  

Their next home match is this weekend: 11am Sunday 1st June vs Milton Keynes. It’s a must watch so bring a chair and enjoy the fastest serves our courts have ever seen.  Followed by a Mens 1’s home match at 1pm so the bar will be open you have a full day of high performance tennis ahead!

Play Your Way to Wimbledon:

For the 3rd year we have entered the LTA Play your way to Wimbledon tournament.  We run it as an internal club only competition with juniors and senior competitions, in the past one of our juniors did get through to the last round and actually played on the grass at Wimbledon!

Congratulations to Maggie Southerden and Lou Rankin who won their ladies doubles final in a very close match.  They will now go through to regional finals.  At time of writing the mens final was still to be played.

Club Champs 2025

It’s started!  We have had record entries for our club championships.  We have 5 categories with the following players entered:  

• Mens Singles 8 players

• Ladies Singles 8 players

• Ladies Doubles 22 players

• Mens Doubles 29 players

• Mixed Doubles 40 players

We are delighted to have our advanced 14+ juniors entered in order to keep us on our toes yet again.  

Put the Club Championships Finals day in your diary now:  Saturday 13th September it’s always a great fun day for spectators even if you don’t make it to the final yourself!

Paul McPhilips Shield:

This winter / spring we launched a brand new internal tournament for over 55’s to increase our internal competitive tennis opportunities.  Format is mixed with pairs drawn together.  

The final is coming up soon with Lyndsay and Bill taking on Maggie and Steve on Sunday 1st June at 9am.  Penny McPhilips will present the shield in memory of Paul who was a passionate and active member of the club over many years and is missed by us all.  

Save the Date Tennis Club Ball:Tennis Club annual Ball will be Saturday 22nd November.  We had such fun last year as well as