Dear Members,

At last we’re back to evening playing without floodlights. Hurrah! A new season is upon us and in spite of some very wet and windy weather there is a notable increase in action on both the hard and grass surfaces.

Sadly the mini-court is out of action due to snow damage and is unlikely to be reopened until the end of May at the earliest. Remedial measures are being investigated to make sure that this does not happen in the future.

On a much happier note the refurbishment of the clubhouse is 99% complete and is looking better than it has done in a long while. A special mention to Jan Baker for taking on the Lion’s share of the organisation on this and for pulling it all together so efficiently. To keep it looking smart and tidy a cleaning rota will be set up to ensure that this task is shared by all members and not left to a few. Thus, a pair of members will perform a full clean of the clubhouse every week which with current membership will effectively mean only once a year on average. Your participation is much appreciated as it enables the annual membership fee to be kept as low as possible - no easy task in the current climate.

The committee is also looking for a member with IT and social media skills to manage the website and a social media platform to promote the club. This does not have to be overly onerous, a weekly update at most, but it does need to be kept current. The committee is also looking for a member with an accounting background to audit the club’s accounts: which are very straightforward. Anyone wishing to offer their expertise do contact me (ashbysworld@gmail.com or 0753 031457).

Always keen to attract new members, the committee would appreciate a light scratching of heads to see if there is someone you know who could be nudged into coming along to see what we have to offer. Even if you come up blank, perhaps a quick email to friends in the area to see if they might know of any likely candidates. Thank you. The committee would also be grateful for the assistance of a few members living in or near the following centres, Kington, Weobley, Hay-on-Wye, Pembridge, to put up a few flyers for the club. Contact me as above.

The club will be organising a fundraising social event to be held on Saturday 24th June from 4 - 7pm. Further details will be forthcoming nearer the time but put the date in your diary.

Tennis News:

The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Winter League is over. Great effort by all those who turned out, often on days when snuggling back under the duvet would have been infinitely preferable. That said, no matches were cancelled due to bad weather and it was good to meet up with distant adversaries and play some fun and action packed matches. The women’s team led by Sarah Rickett have done very well and will leave Division 6 West and play in Division 5 West next winter season. The men’s team ended up in 4th place in Division 7 West. No mean feat when playing against far bigger clubs who number in the hundreds.

The H&W Summer League fixtures are now being planned and we have two men’s teams with Chris Blake leading the A-team and Hamish Munro the B-team and two women’s teams with Sarah Rickett leading the A-team and Mandy Lewis the B-team. Best of luck to all who play, it’s great experience and huge fun too.

Match etiquette: a small matter that emerged this winter was the issue of time taken between first and second serve with some servers taking their second serve almost immediately after the first netted or went out. When this was raised it was met with “play proceeds at the servers pace”. This is a general rule which has more nuance than might at first appear. At club level we have the issue of having to collect our own balls during play, so if a first serve goes adrift that ball has to be cleared, often by the returner. Thus, the server has to wait until the returner has made the ball safe, has returned and is in their ready position and making eye contact with the server. If you are walking back to your position and the server makes their second serve this is a deliberate and non-sportsmanlike tactic and you can legitimately hold your racquet up and insist that they retake their second serve. All balls should not be moving and in a safe place before any serve can take place - ideally balls should not be left in or near the net as they can distract attention.

Internal club league (autumn and winter): many thanks to Luci for all her hard work organising what were fun tournaments with a lot of participation and some hard fought matches. These tournaments are a great way to build teams for the county wide leagues and also for different players to get together as pairs and learn from each other.

An email has already gone around with dates for all the Tennis Camps and Eardisley Primary School sessions. These have been scheduled in the least attended periods and form a vital part of the club in bringing on younger players who will hopefully constitute the future of the club in years to come. So again thanks to Luci for all her work - both seen and unseen - with the little tennis warriors of the future, they’ll be snapping at our heels soon enough!

See you on court, David

Croquet News:

After a wet, windy, cold and generally miserable start to the season the weather is starting to pick up and we hope to see more of our regular members on the lawns. This season we also have a short croquet lawn available which is roughly half the size of a full lawn.

Jen has arranged a number of friendly matches throughout the season. We will be playing against Himley Hall, Llanidloes, Garway, Ludlow and Church Stretton. We have also been invited to run an afternoon’s croquet at Hay Castle for which we will need a number of helpers.

As in previous years we will be running an Open Day on Sat. May 20th from 10:00am until 4:00pm, to coincide with National Croquet Week. We will again need volunteers to help with refreshments, play and guide visitors.

Jen and I need some “guinea pigs” to complete our Coaches Award. We will be putting up topics for people to sign up for- we each need to do 5 sessions so there should be something of interest for all.

Competitive matches start with the Robertshaw Cup on May 3rd at Broadwas (Worcester) and then continue with the Association and Golf Croquet Leagues throughout the season.

As in previous years we welcome new members. If you know of anyone who might be interested please encourage them to come along and give it a try. We provide all equipment, including mallets and offer a free introductory session - if they subsequently join we offer free coaching throughout the season. We also do visiting groups such as birthdays, parties, societies, sports groups or just friends getting together. We can offer teas as well. Anyone interested should contact us on 01544 340287.

Best wishes, Tony & Jen