August 2021

CLUB NEWSLETTER
Our summer season has indeed proved to be one of the busiest for many a year, and being
blessed with amazing weather we know many of you got out there and enjoyed your tennis.
LTA Tournament
This summer from the 8 th -10 th July the club held its first ever LTA tournament, this was a grade
5 event organised by Scott Fraser and refereed by Doug Souter. Over forty players from eight
upwards including some adults who first ventured on court an undisclosed number of decades
ago were in the mix. The competition was spirited creating a great buzz around the courts with
volunteers from the club organised by Joanie Whiteford & Margaret Macleod selling cakes,
toasties and running a raffle which altogether raised £410.06 for club funds. Huge thanks to all
those who baked, there were some amazing cakes. Finals day was quite a spectacle with a good
turnout of spectators, the Men’s Finalists were piped onto the court by Martin Treacher. We
were treated to a tremendous match with Andrew Macleod, a previous Junior and Men’s
champion at Tain winning over Inverness’s Ross Lyon. The Men’s Doubles saw Andrew and our
own Junior Champion, Marcus McAulay make a formidable team and convincingly beat a regular
doubles pairing from Inverness. The Tain club would like to thank all the kind sponsors who
helped make the tournament possible. Check out our Facebook site for some great action photos
many thanks to Emma Deeth for those.
8U Mixed singles winner- Calleigh McConnell 
Runner up- Cameron Cobban 
3rd place- Ethan 
9U Mixed singles winner- Angus Fraser 
Runner up- Zofia Andrasovska
3rd place- Ryan Deeth 
12U Boys Singles winner- Caelan Mckechnie 
Runner up- Finlay Macleod 
3rd place- Finlay Urquhart
14U Boys singles winner- Innes Brockie 
Runner up- Angus Cobban 
3rd place- Finlay Urquhart
Ladies Doubles winners- Yvonne Newton & Gail Simpson 
Runners up- Jacqueline Neill & Joanie Whiteford 
3rd place- Sarah Marr & Partner
Men’s Doubles winner- Marcus McAuley & Andrew Macleod 
Runners up- Adrian Duthie & David Milne 
Men’s Singles winner- Andrew Macleod
Runner up- Ross Lyon
FIRTH’S CUP

This was held on Sunday 25 th July with teams from Dingwall (3 men & 3 ladies), Fortrose (6
ladies) & Tain (5 men & 2 ladies). It was a lovely summer’s day with good games played by all 19
players. Everyone enjoyed the buffet lunch kindly supplied by the competitors. There were
Mixed Doubles, Men’s Doubles & Ladies Doubles, players were partnered with a member of a
different club. The Firth Cup was won by Dingwall Tennis club by 1 point. Overall champions
were: Gordon Brown (Tain) & Patsy Alexander (Fortrose). John & Eveline for organising this
event for the 16 th time in the club’s history. It is a super friendly event providing a chance for
players from our nearest neighbouring clubs to get together and enjoy their tennis.
JUNIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Junior Club Championship were held over two days last weekend ably organised by Scott and
much enhanced by his Mum’s delicious brownies.
Day 1: In the morning the 8u boys singles took place with 6 taking part playing a round robin, the
winner was Ethan and runner up Ryan Sutherland.
In the afternoon the 14u Boys singles and doubles took place with 8 boys. The singles winner
was Kieran Allan and the runner up was Kyle Corbett. In the Doubles Kyle Corbett/Archie
Simpson won against Kieran Allan/Fraser Kennedy.
Day 2: The day started off with the U18 boys singles with 4 participants, this was won by
Marcus McAulay in a high quality final against Kieran Allan in a match tiebreak. The u18 doubles
was won by Kyle Corbett/Kieran Allan against Marcus McAulay/ Liam Macrae
Check out our Facebook site, Scott has put some great photos on there of both the LTA
tournament and the Junior Club Champs.
ADULT CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
This year’s finals day will be held on Sunday 12 th September, all being well we hope to encourage
spectators and as in previous years hold a pot luck lunch. Bring a plate along and share in the
food and fun. Early round games are now under way, best of luck to all involved.
CLUB PLAY SESSIONS: and open to all members and invited juniors
Please come along to club session we can add your name to our What’s App groups if you wish
Tuesday: 7.30pm-9.30pm Thursday: 7.30pm-9.30pm
Sunday:10.30am-1.00pm
Friday: 1.30pm-3.30pm
MEMBERSHIPS
We will shortly be offering Autumn/Winter Memberships at half price, so if you haven’t yet
joined now’s your chance. These memberships will be available online and will run from 13 th
September till 31 st March. The committee has decided to reduce the number of monthly
payments for our direct debit option to simplify administration and to help out our club’s
financial position. You can still renew or join for the first time online at our website:
https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/Tain/membership Tain We have a range of payment methods
available to you but directly into our club bank account does save us 2% on admin costs and

allows us to invest more in the upkeep of the club. An added bonus is that all lessons are
discounted for members.
COACHING
Scott’s coaching continues on Mon, Wed & Thurs both Junior and Adult, booking is online in the
coaching section of our website. John and his helpers run Junior coaching sessions on a
Saturday morning with the younger age group from 10am to 11am and the older children from
11am to 12noon. These sessions will continue from this Saturday till the October holidays.
SUMMER CAMPS
John’s Summer Camps went well and enjoyed some great summer weather, 18 days over 6 weeks.
Eleven children attended regularly. The camps finished with competitions with John
encouraging parents to join in. John thanked Eveline, Marcus & Morven for helping him.
Level 1 Coaching Opportunities
If anyone is interested assisting with children's tennis coaching, please let us know, there are
some coaching courses in the offing. It would make a huge difference to our coaching
opportunities if we had a larger pool of volunteers to help out with coaching alongside our club
coaches. The club will cover any costs incurred while undertaking this training.  We forward to
hearing from you:  email us at taintennis@gmail.com

CLUB MAINTENANCE
There is always a need for ongoing maintenance and improvement at the club our other priorities
remain:
 Treating the courts to prevent the build up of moss and the deterioration of the playing
surface.
 LED Floodlighting for all three courts. Sadly, our funding application to the Beatrice
Fund was not successful so it’s back to the drawing board on this one.
 The new shed previously spoken about has morphed into a 20ft container, we believe it
will meet our need for storage, and ready access to equipment. Thanks go to Roy Munro
for running with this project.
 Our new bench sets look great and have already been a real asset to the club, they were
really well used during our recent tournaments and during everyday play. You can now
enjoy a picnic and a game of tennis with family and friends. Thanks to our club President
Bruce Rose for organising purchase and delivery.
If you would like to join us and help us to further develop our club please get in touch, your help
would be very much welcomed and appreciated.
CLUB CLOTHING
Contact: Fiona Jupp through her website https://arbollcrafts.com or find her on Facebook to
place an order

RACKET STRINGING
Scott offers this facility, please contact him directly on smf136@gmail.com

Wishing you all a great season of summer/autumn tennis
Kind Regards
The Committee at Tain Tennis Club