Kenton Lawn Tennis Club

OCTOBER

The winter months are approaching but that doesn’t mean the tennis activity slows down!  The singles box league is now in full swing with over 70 entrants – big thank you to Naina for organising it – and we have lots of teams (adult, junior and vets) entered into Middlesex winter tournaments. 

Shavani is organising our Christmas event and received lots of positive responses from the survey form so this is going ahead on Saturday December 18th.   Auditions for Santa Claus will start shortly!

Our annual Martin Galvin Trophy will be played on Saturday November 20th at 1.30pm (Sarper will send out more details on how to enter before the event) followed by our Tennis AGM at 4.30pm.  

This will be our first AGM for two years and we’d really appreciate your support.   The agenda includes the election of the committee.  Over the last 2 years we’ve had a massive amount of change due to the pandemic but have come through it strongly with the growth in membership from ~180 at the start of this year to 337 members today.    This has taken a huge amount of effort from the committee and others who nearly all have full time jobs and do everything on a voluntary basis.  We urgently need new blood to make this sustainable, including a few positions on the committee (e.g. Secretary) and other activities such as organising our social media communications/website, captaining teams, helping out with junior tennis, organising social tennis, grounds maintenance and helping out at social events or behind the bar.   If you can get more involved or would just like more information please talk to one of the committee or e-mail us on [email protected].

One piece of bad news is that the resurfacing of our courts planned for this month is now delayed until Spring.  This is hugely frustrating for all of us, and especially for Steve and the team who have been driving the project.  Our contractor has hit significant supply chain problems that have delayed the work and this cannot be carried out in winter months as the temperature has to be above 10 degrees for the glue attached the surface to the hard court underneath to work. 

SEPTEMBER

Finals day on Sept 11th went superbly: great weather, excellent tennis, our first "al fresco" trophy presentationn evening under the floodlights, good food and to the bar afterwards to watch Emma Raducanu win the US Open.   Big thank you to Lucy as our tournament organiser, supported by Helen (juniors) and Peter (vets).  Congratulations to our many champions across 20+ finals in different categories: see 2021 tournament results for all the results.   Well done especially to Aamir for his 13th Men's singles title and Devmini for picking up her first adult title with Alison in the the Ladies Doubles.

JUNE 26TH

It’s fantastic to see so many new members (we’ve recruited around 120 since April) and old members packing the courts.  Please do your best to welcome and integrate our new members.   Our membership is now higher than it has ever been and approaching 300 with about half of those juniors.  The summer season league season will be over shortly (by early August) which will free up much more court space.  The club tournaments (all 22 categories) are well underway and we encourage everyone to play their matches promptly so everything keeps on course for Finals Day on Saturday September 11th.

New courts & funding

As most members will have observed, our court surface is in urgent need of renewal with the carpet coming apart on several courts despite regular gluing down.  The courts have been excellent but they are well beyond their anticipated life span.  We’ve had a small sub-group of members visiting different clubs and sampling different surfaces and have shortlisted and are getting quotes for two surfaces.

Our original intention was to replace courts 1-3 last year until Covid intervened.  Since then we’ve also seen Court 4 wearing badly and therefore our strong preference is to replace all 6 courts if we can find the funding.   We have over the years accumulated a significant sinking fund for capital projects that can cover resurfacing courts 1-3 but we still need to raise significant additional money to cover the remaining courts.

Middlesex Tennis had been providing interest free loans that we had hoped to access but we’ve spoken to them and they cannot offer  anything now due to a big drop in their sponsorship income because of the pandemic.  The Lawn Tennis Association as a policy will only make funds available for new developments, rather than replacing existing facilities, so they are not a funding option either.  

Hence we are hoping some of our members can help out by taking out a longer term membership offer.  To be precise:

• Members can take a 4 year adult membership for £1000. 
• For reference the standard (non-Covid adjusted) annual fee is £260 and would probably be inflated a bit over a 4 year period – so you may save a bit of money but the bigger benefit is you’ll have lovely new courts to play on!  
• This is effective from April 2022 to April 2026. 
• We would offer refunds if you move away from the area or had a serious long term injury during this period.

We fully appreciate that many members will not have the financial means or wish to support this: there is absolutely no expectation that you individually will.   However, if you are in a position where you are able and happy to help please can you e-mail [email protected] with “4-Court” in the subject, indicating if you would be likely to take up this membership (and if you have more than one adult in your household for how many people).  There is no firm commitment at this stage, we just want to gauge how money much we can raise by this means to confirm if we can refurbish all 6 courts.

Covid-19 restrictions

With the switch to “Level 4” remaining legal restrictions are removed.  This means the hut is now accessible to members although please bear in mind this is not a sanitised environment if you wish to use it.   Obviously, if you have any symptoms or have been alerted by the NHS app you should stay away.   Members are requested to take sensible precautions: e.g. use hand sanitiser and handshakes at the end of matches are not expected. 

Enjoy the sun!

Regards

Dave Clague

KLTC Chairman

JUNE 3RD

If you aren't yet a member come and join our “Come and play” event on June 27th to see what you are missing!   We have a great offer for new members to join that runs to the end of June so click on the “Come and play” tab above for more details.

MAY 31ST

Thanks to all the members who came down and help on Monday's grounds day - more hands made light work!   Hedges were cut, benches were painted, the windbreaker nets are now up and we have more granules on the court.

The draws for the 2021 Club Tournament have now been made - check out 2021 DRAW to see who you are playing.

MAY 23RD

Entries for our main club tournament are due by Saturday March 29th May as we will be making the draw on Sunday 30th.  Members should see the e-mail from Sarper sent May 20th regarding how to enter the Mens Singles, Ladies Singles, Mens Doubles, Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles tournaments.

MAY 22ND

The club bar is now open for indoor use in groups of no more than 6.  Open times are Friday evening, Saturdays from 3pm and Sundays 3pm-7pm.   Drinks can also be taken on the picnic tables outside the bar.

APRIL 11TH

Our first "managed" social of 2021 is at 3pm on Sunday - hope to see lots of members there!

APRIL 7TH 2021

Congratulations to Geet and Aarush for winning our delayed 2020 U-18 doubles final today, beating Saaj and Devmini in the final.

APRIL 5TH 2021

Congratulations to  Amy and Sam for winning the delayed 2020 Martin Galvin Trophy, beating serial winner Ajit and Helen in the final from a field of 24 players.   It was also fantastic to see all the courts full for the junior tennis that followed the adult competion.  

APRIL 3RD 2021

Great to see lots of members back at the club this week and also so many new faces with the popularity of our "Come and Play" promotion.  We have extended the free sessions so click on the “Come and play” tab above for more details.

We had our first internal match of the year last night - congratualtions to our combined Men's 2 & 3 team for beating the combined Men's 1 & 4 team.   The Ladies equivalent match is next Friday.  Our annual Martin Galvin trophy competition is taking place on Easter Monday and all places are now taken.  Middlesex Tennis leagues restart from April 17th.

The new self booking system for members is working well and as always in April membership fees for the coming year are now due.

MARCH 14TH 2021

Two weeks to go before we are allowed back on court!   We hope everyone is safe, fit and keen to play tennis again from Monday March 29th.    Doubles as well as singles is allowed, Middlesex Tennis are running a full summer season of tournaments (Adult, Junior and Vets leagues and cups) and these fixtures are currently being scheduled.  The grounds are looking great, with the new “Kenton beach” created by Neville behind courts 4-6 during lockdown now complete.  Everyone who joined for the 2020-21 season is welcome to play until the end of April which is the deadline to pay membership fees for the 2021-22 season.

Of course, Covid-19 is still very much with us and hence the precautions in place prior to the latest lockdown must remain in place – e.g. social distancing, booking courts, track and trace etc must be observed and indoor facilities, including the bar and tennis huts (but not toilets) will remain out of bounds.   Click on LTA for full details of the current LTA Covid-19 guidance.

Non-members: Come and play!

We welcome new members and are running a number of April promotions to enable you to “try before you buy” and attractive membership offers, including household/family membership for £50 for an introductory period.  Please click on the “Come and play” tab above for more details.

Members: bring your friends to Come and play!

Our biggest source of new members is our existing members … please spread the word, tell your friends,  neighbours, families, classmates, work colleagues and anyone else you know about us.    See the e-mail from Sarper (March 14th) that explains what we’d like you to do to help us attract new members and the incentives for doing so.

Martin Galvin Tournament

We will be running the delayed 2020 Martin Galvin Tournament on Easter Monday, April 5th at 1.30pm – 5pm.   Martin was our long-time club captain and heart and soul of the club and his family donated a trophy that we play for in his honour.   Sarper is in charge and the format is American Doubles.   All courts are blocked for this event so it will be a maximum of 24 people.   Entry is limited to all members who are 18 and over (including Weekday Members): to reserve your place please send a short e-mail to [email protected] with “Martin Galvin” in the subject name.

Club tournament

Taking into account the Covid-19 environment we will allow more time for the club tournament and Finals Day will be on Saturday September 11th.  We hope by then the facilities will be fully open and we can have the normal presentation evening and social event afterwards.

Coaching

Our Head Coach James is back will be running tennis camps during the Easter Holidays and a weekly programme of coaching during the Summer Term.   Please click on the “Coaching” tab above for more details.

New bookings system

First a big thank you to Naina for doing a great job managing all the court bookings that were flowing in until the latest lockdown.   From March 29th we are implementing a new self-booking system for members on the LTA’s Clubspark software to replace the Google calendar that we have been using for the last few years.  We believe this will provide a better and more instant service to members whilst also saving administration effort.   Click on the “Bookings” tab above for instructions on how to use the new system – see text below the calendar.  The system is open now, so we strongly suggest all members download the app or use this website and make some “dummy” bookings for dates before March 29th to ensure everything is working and they aren’t frustrated when play commences.

Membership fees and renewal due

Membership renewal is now open and all members must pay by April 30th if they wish to continue playing beyond that date.   Click on the “Membership” tab above to renew your membership .