Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and have been on court recently! Happy new year from everyone at RLTC - we're looking forward to another great year at our club. 

AGM 2020....And new President incoming?

This will take place on 16th March at 8pm in the clubhouse, please consider this as your official invitation. The full review of the last year and other AGM info will be sent out to you next week but I hope to see you all in the clubhouse on the day. I'm extremely pleased to say that I will be nominating Rosie Nicholl to succeed me as President. Rosie has been an extremely influential and inspirational presence on the committee serving as Vice President and more recently doubling up on that role as Welfare Officer. As always there will be other changes on the committee, a full breakdown of who will be stepping down, changing roles or hoping to stay put will be in the AGM information next week but....

New men's captain desperately needed....

The role of men's captain it's fair to say has been badly neglected over the last 2 or 3 years. While we have had this committee position filled, the members who have filled it haven't attended any committee meetings or made any tangible contribution to this role.  For many years I did this role, often alongside another committee role and it's not particularly demanding but like every other role, it does demand some commitment. In summary the role encompasses:

Representing men's tennis for the club on the committee

Attending committee meeting whenever possible and feeding back team performances and other related issues (Around 5 per year)

Represent the club at league meetings (Usually around 2 per year)

Gauge the demand for team tennis at the club and enter the required number of teams accordingly

Make sure captains are appointed for all the teams and that fixtures are organised in an orderly manner.

It might sound like a lot of work but it really isn't...you will have the support of other committee members where there is a wealth of experience. It will not be possible for the club to enter any men's teams into the leagues this year unless this position is adequately covered. If you would like more information or would like to be nominated for this role, please get in touch.

Court Replacement and Maintenance

Courts 4 and 5 are due to be replaced this year. Weather permitting we have agreed for this work to take place during half term week (w/c 17th Feb) so it minimises disruption. If the weather isn't good enough we will have tro rearrange and it's likely there will be interruption to the normal routine...we'll keep you posted. At the same time this work is taking place we are hoping to improve the undulating surface on the bottom courts which will hopefully alleviate the number of bad bounces. On top of all this, later in the spring, court 6 will be deep cleaned and the sand replaced and the bottom courts will all be spring cleaned. We're just arranging this but we will confirm the dates nearer the time. Again, there is likely to be some disruption but we're hoping this can be kept to a minimum.

Court Booking System

This is discussed at fairly regular intervals and there are persuasive arguments both for and against. Using Clubspark we can be extremely flexible when it comes to setting this up... we can for example just set it up at specific days of the week, certain times, certain courts etc. Personally I'm fairly open minded but I live round the corner from the club. I know many of our members travel a great distance so for them to miss out on a court when the club is busy can be hard to take. We'd really like your opinions on this so please feedback any comments you'd like to make.

Wimbledon Opt-In

You have until February 14th to do this - remember even if you don't want to go to WImbledon personally, you can increase the number of tickets allocated to the club if you opt in. 

Electric Car Charger

You may not know but we do have one of these and we were thinking of opening it up for members to use on an "honesty" basis...if you would be interested in using this, again, please get in touch. (We still need to find the key however!)

Lost Property

We have in the disabled toilet in the clubhouse a huge array of hoodies, jackets, t shirts, jumpers and a variety of other garments. If you've left something at the club please have a look in here before you have to buy it back from one of the charity shops on Street Lane. The same applies to the multitude of water bottles in the kitchen.

And finally.

 On this Sunday Jan 26th at 5pm one of ur members, Jerry Rhodes can be heard playing a major part on an  E.L.F.M. Radio Production (on line) in a play describing the story of Eugenics and the part Meanwood Park Hospital played in the appalling story of innocent individuals, incarcerated without redress.

Thank you for reading and your continued support. If you'd like to comment on any of the issues discussed here or anything else tennis club related please get in touch. (But not tennis balls please)

Cheers, Chris. 077 9626 7505, harperrltc@hotmail.co.uk