November 2022
I hope members of our fine Real Tennis Club are enjoying their tennis, no doubt guided by the enthusiastic and complementary partnership of the two Bens. It was great to see our two Professionals playing together in the New Members’ Evening exhibition match recently, when there were complementary actions and lots of compliments in equal measure! Well done and many thanks to the two Toms also for the entertainment!
Ben Taylor-Matthews’ arrival in April got off to a flying start with a superb evening exhibition match against Rob Fahey on 19th May. Wasn’t it wonderful to witness the thriving atmosphere in the club that night, the audience comprising a number of youngsters as well as our more senior members?
The Ben Squared tournament is well and truly underway and the Chairman would like to extend a particular thank you to 9 year old James and his devoted family supporters for “going easy on him” last Sunday in the first round! The future of the club lies, in part, with our youth development scheme, and I would like to thank Dan Brown for volunteering to be our youth development officer on the BRTC committee. It was great to see Dan’s enthusiasm for the game in a recent doubles match with two promising 11 year olds, one of whom was his son, Ben! Well played Matthew!
Ben T-M and Ben C have been working hard to maintain court occupancy, and the club continues to support the introduction of potential new members financially. But we need to attract people who are likely to convert to full playing members, as the funds generated by actual membership fees are very much required to keep the club running, especially in the face of rising energy costs. So do please ‘phone a friend’ who might love the game as much as we do!
Ben T-M is still looking for a young trainee professional who could take up a fantastic opportunity here in Bristol, thanks to potential funding from the national Investing in Professionals (IiP) scheme. The IiP are keen to support Bristol in this way so if you know of a suitable school-leaver or young graduate who might wish to take up a 15-month training position do please let Ben know.
We are looking forward to another successful year in national tournaments! As you will know, this is the 25th Anniversary Year of Bristol Real Tennis Club and we are aiming to attract players from across the UK and beyond to a Celebratory Tournament and Dinner over the weekend of 9-12th February 2023. We look forward to your support on what should be a great occasion. Many thanks to the organising committee!
“What about the future of Padel?” I hear you ask. Following an excellent presentation to the BRTC committee in September, we have continued to research the pros and cons of developing two Padel courts on the land adjacent to the tambour wall of Bristol Real Tennis Club. It’s a complex issue in the present economic climate, and I anticipate that a decision will be made at the next committee meeting in December.
Thank you so much to our Secretary, John Dixon for doing a brilliant job behind the scenes. John’s role has been made busier following the decision of Nick Geere to step down as Treasurer after a short time, and we are looking for a volunteer to be our new Treasurer please! One of the duties will be to liaise regularly with the two Professionals and the club’s Accountant to approve any payments from funds generated by the court booking fees. Working on the BRTC committee is fun! If anyone has the time to volunteer for the important role of Treasurer, please contact John or me directly.
Very best wishes,
Clive