Welcome to the latest Romsey & Abbey Tennis Club newsletter.  I'd like to start by welcoming Sarai Monk as our new Welfare Officer.  Hopefully you've noticed the new poster on the notice board beside the club hut.   Sarai is taking over from Helen Winstanley who was our Welfare Officer for three years.  On behalf of the committee, I would like to express our sincere thanks to Helen for supporting the club in this key role.

We recently (7th March) sent out a summary of the clubhouse survey.  Many thanks to all those who responded, particularly for all the additional comments.  We've shared the summary results with TVBC to illustrate the level of support for a clubhouse.  The next step is to formally request a lease demise extension to give us the additional land.

TVBC have reviewed our annual rent as per the terms of our lease and increased it from £3,000 to £3,623.40 per annum (back dated to 1st January 2023).  This came after the committee agreed the annual membership fees for 2025/26 but shouldn't materially affect our finances which are in a healthy position.

On the maintenance side, we outsourced the clearing of courts for the first time this winter.  Thank you to Ollie Sturgess and Jack Cousens who kept the courts clear.  This is something we'll look to continue next winter.   Please let us know any comments on this.

Finally, a polite reminder about guest fees.  Members are welcome to book courts and play with non-members, but please do declare this at the time of booking and pay the £4 guest fee.  This helps to keep things fair for all.

Patrick Fuller - Chairman (chairman@ratc.org.uk)

Renewals

New 2025/26 memberships will go live on Clubspark on 1st April.  Renewal notices will be sent out by email ahead of this.  We’re asking members to hold-off paying their membership fees until the 1st April as this helps with the accounts.

If you are renewing your membership, please do take the opportunity to check that your contact details are up-to-date by going to the “My account” page in Clubspark.  If you have any issues with your account, please contact clubspark@ratc.org.uk.

The committee reviewed the membership fees at our January meeting, minutes for which can be found at https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/RomseyTennis/Contact.  A small increase on the adult membership fee was agreed, taking it from £135 in 2024/25 to £140 in 2025/26.  All other membership packages have been increased in line with this.

Members will continue to receive free court booking rights (fee for floodlights), participation in member organised sessions, club champs and other organised events.  Members are also eligible for free LTA Play+ membership and the opportunity to opt-in to the Wimbledon ballot.

Walking Tennis continues to grow and will remain free to members and non-members.  The committee believes this is an important part of the club's community outreach.  Costs (which are small) will be covered by the £27,000 in COVID grants received by the club.

AGM

The provisional date for the AGM is Saturday 10th May.  The loss of the Wimbledon Ballot in recent years has dented attendance.  However, we believe it's important for members to meet and speak directly to the committee at the AGM and informally afterwards.  Details to follow in April.

The majority of committee posts will be up for re-election at this AGM.  The club depends on volunteers.  A number of committee members have indicated that they will stand for re-election, but it is vitally important that we get some new people standing.  There are four posts in particular which we really need to fill which links to the LTA role descriptions.

• Club Secretary - currently vacant
• Treasurer (currently Iain Messenger)
• Membership Secretary (currently Sue Tippett)
• Match Secretary - currently vacant

Please do consider how you could support the club in 2025/26.

League Teams

The summer league starts in April.  The club has entered:

• Mixed team in Southampton LTA Apsley Division 2 (co-captains Patrick Fuller, Pati Buckle)
• Mens team in Hampshire & IOW Doubles Division 4A (captain David Kislingbury)
• Mens Senior team in Hampshire & IOW Doubles Division 4 (captain Jon Hayden)

Full details of leagues, teams and matches can be found on on the Clubspark Teams page.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough interest in entering a Ladies team this summer.  We would very much like to hear what the club can do to support and develop Ladies tennis - please do contact the committee or coaching team.

We'd like to emphasise that the teams are open to all and welcome new members.  We plan to hold a number of team introduction sessions over the summer to give people a taste and a chance to meet team players.

Here's how our teams fared over the winter.  Many thanks to our captains - Owen Martel (Mixed A), Brad Firth (Mixed B), Kate Martel (Ladies), David Kislingbury (Mens).  Promotions and demotions take effect in the winter 2025/26 league.  Further details can be found at https://www.southamptonlta.org.uk/wl

Committee Role - Club Development

I joined RATC @2011 and was persuaded to join the Committee as Club Development Officer (CDO), by Meriel and Sue, shortly afterwards.  The Club was small and young then with less than 50 members and unlit courts that needed some tender loving care. 

The CDO supports the Committee in setting strategy and delivering the clubs goals across all areas of operation e.g. infrastructure, governance and of course tennis participation.  This makes it an interesting Committee role although quite a busy one too!

I am pleased to say over the last 14+ years as CDO I have helped the team cement RATC as a club with a clear strategic aim of “Access for All”, delivering a broad range of tennis services for all of our community. We now have an emphasis on sustainable and affordable access to a safe and inclusive tennis environment.

During this period, the CDO role has involved all sorts of activities including:

• Setting and delivering our development plans
• obtaining grant funding from disparate organisations
• delivering new courts, floodlights, new fencing and auto gate access. 

It has also involved setting up lots of tennis initiatives, e.g. Tennis for Kids, Prime Video Youth Girls, Tennis Xpress (for adults new to tennis), Walking Tennis. RATC is now well recognised as a vibrant community sports facility.  As CDO, I also drank lots of coffee when persuading Mihály to come and join us as Head Coach.  I am sure you will agree that was well worth the caffeine intake.

We now have a Club of @300 members with lots of community outreach activities.  The next challenge for the CDO is to support the club in delivering a new clubhouse.  Fingers crossed that will be achieved in the next year or so. 

If anyone is interested in the role of CDO for RATC, please do get in touch.   We are looking to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities over the next term of office for this exciting Committee role.

Veronica Broughton-Shaw - Club Development