I realise that it's too hot this week for most of us to contemplate stepping out onto a tennis court but we are making lots of plans for tennis activities over the next few weeks.

First of all, a date for your diaries. On the weekend of 10/11 September we are hosting a load of different activities, ranging from kids and adults tournaments to a "Rusty Rackets" session and some energetic cardio tennis. More details to follow in due course. Do mention it to your friends and family, as we'd love to encourage more people to come and join the club and this would be a good opportunity for some people to dust off their Maxply and Green Flash!

In the meantime, are you keen to play some friendly singles and/or doubles matches? We are setting up a singles ladder and a doubles box league tournament within the club and we are also talking to Shalbourne, Hungerford and Burbage clubs to arrange some dates for some friendly fixtures. If you would like to get involved in any of these please get in touch - either by emailing bond.rachel@btinternet.com or greatbedwyntennismembership@gmail.com.

I hope many of you have now been able to admire and try out our newly painted courts, looking very smart in green-on-green. For some years now, we have left the gates unlocked but we are aware that this is currently leading to quite a lot of non-members accessing the courts, including youngsters using them for football, which brings the risk of damage. We have therefore decided to trial the use of combination padlocks. which we will be installing later this month. All members will be sent details of the combination.

Finally, on an administrative note, I would like to make all members aware that we have a new Welfare Officer at the club. Mary Connor has taken on this important role and has been doing the relevant safeguarding training with the LTA. More details about our safeguarding policies can be found in the clubhouse and on the website www.clubspark.lta.org.uk/GreatBedwynTennisClub.