2021 in review

COVID-19 pandemic

The first quarter of the year continued to be dominated by lockdown restrictions imposed by the UK government relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to substantial closure of the tennis club.

The tennis club compiled fully with lockdown restrictions imposed both by the UK Government and those of the Lawn Tennis Association (hereafter ‘LTA’) and the committee would like to thank the membership for their co-operation through the difficult times.

For the second year in succession the committee reduced the membership rates for each category to reflect the lack of ability to play during periods of lockdown and also reflect the reduction in offering of match tennis given 3 the cancellation of competitive fixtures in the Huddersfield League. A full adult membership was therefore reduced from £155 to £100.

The committee is sensitive to the pricing of membership and is currently discussing proposed fees for the year commencing 1 April 2022 which members will be informed of at the Annual General Meeting (hereafter ‘AGM’).

Calderdale and Huddersfield League tennis

As previously mentioned, the Huddersfield league men’s section played non-competitive friendlies throughout the year.

As in previous years the Club entered two men’s teams and one ladies’ team into the Calderdale league, playing each Thursday between the end of April and the end of August.

There are four divisions in the men’s section and the two Liversedge teams play in divisions one and four respectively. The Calderdale A equalled its historic best result in the league finishing fourth with 63 points. Of the fourteen matches played the team won five, lost five and drew four but four close defeats meant that the team continued to score points whilst others in the league suffered heavier defeats. This result was a great achievement for the team, ably captained by Rohan Duffin. There were strong performances throughout the year by the captain, the Chairman, Mark Oldroyd, Barry Dennehy and Oliver Barker.

There was an even better result in the fourth division whereby Liversedge B finished second on 76 points securing promotion to division three. The team secured an exceptional ten wins, one draw and one loss and were pipped to the title by an equally impressive Park B team. There were exceptional performances throughout the year from Hylton Idle and Hellmut Maack coupled with excellent captaincy from Richard Ellis.

The ladies’ team play in the first division of their league and after a tough start which included a couple of forfeits due to player absences. The team however rallied extremely strongly in the second half of the year, managing to amass nine points from four wins, one draw and eleven losses. The team finished third from the bottom of the league and have thus avoided relegation. The committee thinks this is an excellent achievement and we look forward to expanding the women’s section of the club moving forward. The team was underpinned by Kate Cross, Sarah Lucas, Kath Westley, Clare Findlay and Laura Murray (who is no relation of Andy and Jamie Murray).

Junior section

The junior section continues to thrive under the stewardship of Head Coach, Elena Zagrebina. There has been an increased number of junior members during the year and a greater array of events for them to participate in. 4 These events have included friendly matches from tennis clubs (including Ackworth who were welcomed to our courts for the first time in our history) and family days whereby club committee member Simon Watson and his son Samuel finished as gallant runners up. Although marred slightly by the weather the junior part of the club open day in the Summer was a huge success with a mixture of co-ordination activities, fun games and athletic competitions followed by biscuits.

Elena has begun to offer internal club competitions for the juniors which have been well received by juniors and their parents alike. These tournaments, that are generally played on a court two-thirds the size of a normal tennis court are encouraging the junior section to think about team tennis, the art of scoring and this has had a positive effect in wider circles. Sophie, the granddaughter of club secretary Wendy Jackson, is now playing grade six LTA tournaments and participating in club social afternoons directly because of the introduction to competitive tennis. Each participant at the tournament receives a certificate and many a medal or trophy.

The junior section of the club continues to be one of its biggest assets and the committee is always seeking ways to assist Elena whether economically or by advertising. The advertising undertaken by the club this year has directly lead to numerous enquiries about the coaching program.

Social tennis

The committee is thrilled with the expansion of the social tennis offering during the year. More often than not Saturday afternoons now have four courts being played simultaneously.

For those who wish to participate in social tennis but cannot attend Saturday afternoon there is a thriving social tennis scene on Monday and Thursday morning between the hours of ten and twelve. Please contact Kath Westley for further details.

Play and pay

The committee continues to support the pay and play initiative at the tennis club. During the year the hourly rate at which non-members could book the facilities was increased from £4 to £8 and there was little drop in demand as a result of this change, especially in the summer months. During the year the club earned £829 from this income stream, the equivalent of 104 hours of court hire at an average rate of two hours per week.

There has been no reports of damage to any of the facilities used by non-members.

It is hoped that with sufficient advertising spend to promote the facility in the local area that this 5 income stream will go from strength to strength moving forward.

LTA tournaments

During the year Joe Jeynes has hosted around twelve competitions at the club premises. These have ranged from grade six (local competitive players) to grade four (county standard players and above). The club has welcomed juniors to the courts from as far afield as Dundee in Scotland and London.

The days are vibrant and showcase tennis at a really high level on our courts. All members are encouraged to visit the facility on these days.

A special mention to Club Chairman Andy Lucas who stepped in at last minute to fill the position of a late drop out and ensure the tournament had twelve, not eleven players. The Chairman battled against better players to finish third on the day and amassed enough points to be ranked in the top 5,500 adults in the country on the LTA website.

There is a financial arrangement between the tennis club and Joe Jeynes for the use of the facility which has contributed to additional income of £887 generated in the year.

There have been no reports of clashes with member bookings and there have been no reports of member dissatisfaction at the courts being unavailable on specific Sundays.

Club tournament

The tennis club reintroduced the annual club tournament. During an enthralling afternoon of tennis the final for the Lucas-Zagrebina cup came down to Hellmut Maack and Laura Murray who were just edged out by Oliver Barker and Carol Dickinson who were crowned champions in an equally nervous and thrilling tie-break.

The committee would like to thank everyone who attended the event which also had a quiz, music and a raffle and we look forward to this being an annual event.

Liversedge Tennis Club annual awards

The Chairman introduced annual awards which were distributed in seven categories just before Christmas. This year they were decided by the Chairman but moving forward will be by committee decision.

Please congratulate the following winners when you next see them: 

Player of the year – Oliver Barker

Doubles pair of the year – Andy Lucas and Barry Dennehy

Improver of the year – Wendy Jackson 

Team of the year - Calderdale Men’s A and B teams (jointly awarded) 

Team player of the year – Rohan Duffin 

Newcomer of the year – Laura Murray

Social member of the year – Vernon and Julia Robinson (jointly awarded)

Development of the area outside the clubhouse

During the year the area outside the clubhouse has been redeveloped to include new outside seating, AstroTurf area and planting. During the summer months please consider purchasing a drink from the bar and sitting outside watching the tennis.

Should the plants ever look in dire need of hydration there is a newly installed water tap on the outside of the building.

Future developments

The focus of the committee in the first quarter of 2022 is to develop the land to the side and rear of the clubhouse. During the LTA tournaments there has been insufficient parking on the property which has led to parking on the roadside to the ire of the residents. The project, with an estimated cost of £2,000 will alleviate this problem by creating an additional nine car parking spaces which can be used throughout the year also.

In the medium term the focus of the committee is the maintenance and expansion of the membership base 7 specifically in certain key demographics, the playability of the courts and the financial wellbeing of the club.

The committee is having its first ever purely strategic meeting in January 2022 to develop a plan for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the club.

Barry Harpin

The committee would like to inform the membership that Barry Harpin, former club committee member, coach and champion died on 12 December 2021 aged 88. His family requested that any donation you would like to make in his memory go to Alzheimer’s UK.