The newly refurbished courts at Kingsley & Newton Village Institute were officially opened just over a year ago, on 27th August 2016, by Mr Rob Forster, President of Cheshire County LTA. What a lot has happened in the year since then!
Our membership has grown from just over 70 to 132 (and counting), a third of whom make up the Junior (U18) section.
We are tremendously fortunate to have Bill Connell as our Tennis Coach and he has nourished and encouraged our younger members. He has run 3 two-day Tennis Camps for 5-10yr olds (at Easter, the May half term and during the summer holidays) and one for 10-16 yr olds (summer holidays), all of which were well supported. Bill also ran two LTA Tennis for Kids courses at Kingsley, both full with waiting lists. In June we hosted a schools’ mini-Red cluster tournament; 8 schools took part, each school entering a team of 4 under-9 players. This was a great way to advertise our facilities to the local community.
Amazingly, for this our first year, Bill was able to enter two teams into the Aegon Cheshire League : an U8 Mixed Gender team (4 players in a team, chosen from a squad of 8) and U12 Boys (2 players in a team, from 6). We are immensely proud of them; both teams finished third in their league and two of our U12 boys achieved the first and second best results in the league. Very well done to all of our team players and many thanks to the parents who helped with the running of both teams – there is always much hard work to be done behind the scenes!
We also entered a Ladies’ Team into the Chester and District Tennis League. Whilst our ladies have not perhaps done quite as well as our younger members, all matches were hard fought and were enjoyed. We have a sound base to build upon as we move into our second year.
Kingsley Tennis Club is LTA Registered and on 2nd July we held an Open Day as part of the LTA Great British Tennis Weekend initiative. Over 86 people visited on the day, many of them first time visitors to the Institute. It was a wonderful showcase for the facilities we have at the Institute and tennis, bowls and barbecue were enjoyed by all.
Regular weekly coaching classes take place throughout the week for all of our members, young and old. All details can be found on our very own website at kingsleytennis.org.uk We have also just set up a Twitter account, details of which are elsewhere in this Kingsley News but here they are anyway : we are @KingsNewtVI Come and join us and keep up to date with us. We are on an exciting journey!
Of course, all of the above doesn’t just happen by accident. A great deal of hard work is involved and whilst I can not list everyone here there are two groups that I must mention. First, Cheshire County LTA. The support and encouragement that they have given to our fledgling Club from the beginning has been beyond what I ever could have hoped for and it is very much appreciated. Second, the Tennis Committee : Carol Roberts, Jean Welch, Val Williams, Anne Kavanagh, Ruth Price, Bill Connell. What a year! Thank you, and more, to you all. As we say : Onwards and Upwards!
For further information about Kingsley Tennis please go to kingsleytennis.org.uk ; @KingsNewtVI ; or contact me at embatey@msn.com or by telephone on 01928 788788.
Elizabeth M.Batey KNVI Treasurer