Open Day Success!
Wow, what a day we had on Saturday 18th May - if you joined us for the Open Day, you will know exactly what we mean!
We had the pleasure of hosting the most wonderful afternoon for the community...a full-on day of sunshine, laughter, music, food, drink, tennis and fun. A hugely successful and special occasion in the club's calendar when we threw open our doors to the community and officially opened our superb new courts.
A whopping 75 members came together to help make the day happen - volunteering out on court and manning and running all the off-court activities and various sideshows. It was the most incredible showing by the club and every single person played their part brilliantly. Massive thanks go to everyone who helped out - before, during and after the event. It was a huge team effort, but so worth it!
The club's coffers received a huge boost from the day, with a total raised of just over £2.5k - a new Open Day record.
Even more importantly we signed up and welcomed a host of new members to our club of all ages and abilities. 38 to be precise! A tremendous result.
Community Spirit and Fun
And what a turnout from the community! We estimate we had at least 600 people through our doors over the course of the afternoon. The site was buzzing with happy, smiley people and lots of families enjoying all the activities and entertainment. The atmosphere was wonderful, helped along by brilliant sunshine and equally brilliant jazz from local band Hoofie and the Bad Habits. https://www.facebook.com/hoofiesband/
Food and drink flowed very nicely indeed and was much appreciated all day long with a BBQ, Beer and Pimm's Tent, Cake Stall and refreshments.
The Bouncy Castle, Tombolas, Grand Raffle, Silent Auction, Facepainting and Craft Stall were as popular and fun as ever. The newly introduced Coconut Shy was a big hit (pardon the pun), and the club's classic Ladder Game produced a huge surprise when an 11-year-old outdid all the adults and equalled the club record with 14 rungs...top beanbag throwing Jack!
Tennis Programme and Coaching
The main aim of the Open Day was of course to give the community a brilliant day out, but most importantly let everyone come and engage with our great sport and experience what a wonderful friendly tennis club we have going at Orchard. To just open our doors to everyone to have fun and get out on our stunning new courts; from beginner and rusty players, through to intermediate and advanced. All ages and all abilities.
We had a comprehensive programme on offer (HERE) which everyone was encouraged and welcome to take part in.
Free professional LTA coaching was a big part of the programme. A big thank you and well done to ACE / uPlay Sports and their fantastic coaches (Erin, John, Julia and Sharna) who worked so hard and did a superb job. Court 3 was super-busy with free back-to-back coaching sessions and lots of interest in the great new coaching programme now running at the club. https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/OrchardLawnTennisClub/Coaching
Our objective for the day was more than achieved. All courts were in high demand with everyone excited and keen to play and dropping in at the Membership Tent for information. So great to see - tennis was most definitely the winner.
Highlight of the Day
We were honoured indeed to have the (outgoing) Welwyn Hatfield Mayor, Councillor Pankit Shah, and the Mayoress, cut the ribbon and formally open and launch our fantastic new TigerTurf courts (installed by Premier Sports in Oct 2023).
Our thanks go to the Mayor for helping make our day so special and also to other dignitaries who kindly came along, including various Councillors, the LTA's Tessa Terry and the new and current Mayor, Councillor Frank Marsh. We appreciated their time and support.
With our stunning new blue courts and brand new fencing we are definitely in our best shape ever!
Special Thanks
One final thank you to EVERYONE who gave their time and energy to help make the 2024 Open Day such a success.
Special thanks to the awesome Sub-Committee who worked so hard to deliver the day: Adam Reid, Ann Wesson, Clare Smith, Gavin Johnstone, James West, Jamie Simmonds and Kate Cox.
Well done everyone - here's to next year!
