As another year has gone by and we look forward to the festive weeks ahead, now is a great opportunity to reflect upon some of the highlights of our club over the last year.

The club has continued to deliver a variety of events to cater for all our members. The club helped a local charity by raising £400 for the MND Association Essex branch at the popular Club Quiz Night. We also experienced grass court tennis at Mersea and Frinton Tennis clubs. I promise there will be Bingo at the Frinton trip next year! The Christmas Party was well attended with an excellent meal and service at the Cucina restaurant. In the summer, the club hosted Ladies Day for female members and non-members where social tennis was enjoyed followed by lovely cake and sandwiches!

On the subject of ladies' tennis, the club has seen a welcome increase in female membership and activities dedicated to ladies. This has mostly been helped by the introduction of the "Ladies Night" hosted by the club every Friday evening. Many thanks to Mel, Hazel & Robin for the set up and running of this session and the continued support from all the volunteers who help with the activities and games. The Friday session has supported the tennis ability of all the ladies who take part, some of whom have now joined our competitive teams.

The competitive teams in the L&W leagues have remained strong over the Summer and Winter seasons. The Summer Men's and Ladies teams have all maintained positions, unfortunately the Mixed 1st team will be demoted, but the Mixed 2nd team has maintained position. The good news is our Summer Senior team won the division and the Winter season the previous year! The current Winter season is progressing well with the Men's 4th and Mixed 3rd teams on track to potentially win their divisions! Thanks to all our team captains who work hard behind the scenes to select players and calculate a strong strategy! We also saw success in the L&W Summer tournament with Robin & Kevin winning the Over 45's Mens Doubles Plate final and Phil winning the inaugural Over 55's Singles Plate final!

Internally, the club has hosted range of competitions for all ages and abilities. The Super Vets league has had another successful year with a club competition and friendly matches against Southend Lawn Tennis Club. Thank you to Ray for organising the Super Vets section of the club. The club has also hosted the Summer and Winter Singles Leagues, the junior Lloyd Burton Cup competition and the Club Tournament. The annual Club Tournament was overall successful with an excellent Finals Day, however next year there will be deadlines for each round to avoid long match delays through the summer months.

By popular demand the club introduced a new social on Tuesday evenings which has been well attended over the summer and winter months. The portable floodlighting has supported these sessions during the darker evenings. This session has given more opportunity for members to play, and especially if they are unable to play during weekdays and weekends.

Over the last year there have been several improvements to the club facilities. With thanks to Anita and Sultan, the kitchen crockery and utensils have been replaced with new sets to support social tennis events and prevent the use of disposable items. Additional portable floodlighting has allowed the Tuesday social and Ladies sessions to run on two courts all year round. The internet connectivity has been improved inside the clubhouse, and a very useful clock has been added to the outside!

All of the social events, competitions, teams and general running of the club wouldn't be possible without the continued support of all the volunteers and committee members to keep everything running smoothly, and ultimately keeping members happy!

The club has also branched out within the local community to support the Free Park Tennis (FPT) sessions that operate on Saturdays at Canvey Island and John Burrows tennis courts, and again these would not be possible without the help of our brilliant volunteers.

To conclude, our club is very unique that we are able to provide tennis activities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to enjoy. This is something we should all be proud of as a welcoming and friendly membership. In the year ahead the club will continue its drive for progression along with all the great events and tennis activities. There will also be a marketing campaign to increase the junior section of the club.

Thank you, and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year!

Best wishes and see you on court.

Jonathan

HPLTC Chairman