Ledbury Tennis Club – October 2022 Newsletter
We trust you’ve all enjoyed a great summer of both playing and watching tennis, but maybe not on those scorching days, when the temperature was close to 40 degrees Celsius!
At the top-end of our sport, we’ve recently seen the retirement of both Serena Williams and Roger Federer. These two titans of tennis, who’ve dominated the game for more than two decades, were born just 12 days apart in 1981. Closer to home, the 1976 French Open champion, Sue Barker, retired from her 30 year career in broadcasting (did you know she once played Ann Hume?).
As ever, it’s been a busy time here at Ledbury Tennis Club too!

Coaching Opportunities
Don’t miss the last chance to book your place on the three week Saturday morning Adult Coaching Sessions. The sessions start this Saturday 8th October and are open to both members and non-members.
The course is for beginners and improvers who would like to brush up their tennis skills or develop new ones. The sessions will be run by an expert LTA Accredited+ Coach will give you help to develop your game both technically and tactically.
For further details and to book please:  click the link

Social Tennis at Ledbury Tennis Club
There’s been a flurry of Autumn activity over the past few weeks and there’s more to come...

Christmas Social Extravaganza
We have a date for this year’s unrestricted, Covid free Christmas celebrations!
Friday 9th December, 7pm at the Royal Oak, Much Marcle.
Further details and booking information will be made available soon, but we wanted to get the date out to you asap.  Please contact Del on ledburytcsocial@gmail.com if you have any pressing questions.
Thank you to Del, Kathy and Barbara for organising this.

Singles Box League
The new singles box leagues have been a great success with 14 players battling it out over the past two months. Congratulations to Simon Westley and George Murrells for coming top in leagues one and two. To follow progress of the leagues please: Click the link
The new Autumn/Winter Leagues are about to begin so now is your chance to join, to meet fellow members and play singles tennis against others of similar ability.

Please email Nigel at ledburytcboxleague@gmail.com with any questions and to register your interest (by Friday the 14th October).  Thanks once again to Nigel for getting the leagues going and for running them so efficiently.

Walking Tennis
Thursday afternoon club sessions (2.30 to 4pm) continue to be well attended with around eight to 10 players each week – four of whom enjoy it so much they’ve taken out annual memberships.  If you know anyone who’d like to give it a try, all they need is appropriate footwear and a desire to have fun! Just £3 per session for non-members with rackets and balls provided. Always very sociable with a good natter over a pot of tea afterwards.

Club Nights
Our Wednesday evening Social Tennis session has gone from strength to strength and is now so popular that it is occasionally oversubscribed. We’d like to remind all members that you also have the option of the slightly neglected twin session on Thursday evenings which is available from 7pm.

Club Championships
Thank you to all who helped organise the club championships on September 3rd.

Our winners on the day:

• Mens Singles: Matt Baum
• Ladies Singles: Claire Hollingsworth
• Mens Doubles: Matt Baum and Jeff Arlott
• Ladies Doubles: Liz Lewin and Daisy Williams
• Mixed Doubles: Mark Williams and Claire Hollingsworth
• Veterans Mixed Doubles: Steve and Julie Chandler

American Tournament
The last Saturday of September saw 16 plucky players enter Lucy Potter’s famous “American Tournament”. Everyone draws cards at the start to be allocated a partner and after playing four games with them, people swap within their pairs, so that they then play against their partner for the next four games. The large number of entries made for a long afternoon, but the weather was kind, the company convivial and everyone brought along some food to share on the clubhouse table and keep the energy levels up.
After many thrilling rallies and one pair even playing a substitute in the later rounds, Del Partridge & Lucy Potter were declared the overall winners.  Congratulations to them and many thanks to Lucy for organising this fun event.

Thank you to Julia Barham Cook for taking photographs during several of our recent social events, you can see them all on the following link or check the Website for a few of the key highlights. Link to Summer Tennis Photos

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Summer League Update
With the winter league imminent, here’s an update on the progress of our nine magnificent Ledbury Tennis Club teams at the end of a long hot summer! Congratulations to all players and good luck for the coming games.

• Our Mixed A team finished at the top of the division with 66/70 points and were promoted to Division 2 West.
• Our Mens B team topped their division and were promoted to Division 4 West with 52/60 points.
• Our Ladies C team finished second and were promoted to Division 5 West.
• Our Mens A, Ladies A & B, Mixed B & C all hold steady in their respective divisions.

Facilities Update
Please note there are a number of maintenance jobs planned over the coming months which may affect your tennis...

Clubhouse Roof
Most of us probably never give the roof of our clubhouse a second thought, but the old felt covering is starting to deteriorate and needs to be replaced.
Steve Chandler has now thoroughly researched all the options and your committee has approved Steve’s recommended supplier to proceed with the works.  Work on the clubhouse will take place on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th October. Whilst the clubhouse will be out of bounds – the courts will be available as usual.
Thank you Steve for all the time and effort you’ve put in to keep our wonderful club house safe and dry for many years to come.

Floodlight Frustrations
In early June we started to have problems with one of our floodlights. With the long summer evenings, this didn’t cause too many problems, but with the nights drawing in and a second light going on the blink we’ve become increasing concerned. We would usually expect a rapid maintenance visit from the lighting suppliers; unfortunately the world shortage in key electronic components has been blamed for the delay.
The good news is that we now expect the lights to be fixed on the 3rd November and hope you can bear with us until then.
Due to the maintenance work, the courts will not be available on 3rd November (please note that the Walking Tennis session has been rebooked for 2:30pm on Wednesday 2nd November).

Welfare and Safeguarding Update
Members of the committee met with an LTA safeguarding support representative in late August.  This was a routine meeting which was held to help ensure your club is a safe and supportive place for all members and players.  As part of the review all members received a questionnaire on 22nd August, thank you to all those that took the time to complete this questionnaire.
The meeting was very helpful and concluded that our club welfare and safeguarding practices are in good order.
As a result of the meeting the committee felt it would be useful to revise and clarify our policy regarding junior players and their use of the facilities.

The revised guidance is as follows, it will be incorporated into our club policies in due course:

• Juniors (anyone under 18) remain the responsibility of their parent/guardian whilst playing at Ledbury Tennis Club.
• Juniors under 13 must be accompanied whilst using the club facilities by a responsible adult (aged 18 or over).
• Juniors aged from 13 to 17 can play in booked open court sessions unaccompanied by an adult, but remain the responsibility of their parent/guardian whilst playing.
• Junior members over the age of 16 may take part in club sessions, whilst accompanied by a responsible adult (over 18), or at the discretion of the committee.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes please contact Claire, our club welfare officer, on the following email address: ledburytcclubcaptain@gmail.com

Best wishes

Claire, Rob, David, Del and John