Dear Members
New Members
We have had a number of new members signing up during May. Craig Moore and Richard Auty came in as Trial members; James Rugg, Janine and Gary Mendham, and Jo O’Grady have all completed their trial memberships and have now signed up as Full Playing
Members; and last but not least Henry and Hannah Taubman, Nell Gorin-Stevens, Jemma Frake-Gray and Anisha Ossenbox, the junior team who took part in the Royal Event, are now all Junior members.
A big welcome to you all and I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your real tennis
experience. You might be new to the game but don’t let that stop you putting your names down for the various medal days and Club tournaments. Most of them are open to all handicaps and it is a great way to meet people and gain experience.
GDPR
My apologies for the number of emails that have been flying around about signing up to the new General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force on 25th May. It is all the more frustrating in that a lot of large organisations seem to deem sending out a revised privacy policy an acceptable solution! Unfortunately the requirements of the new regulation mean that the Club is having to move away from Corporate membership of the Tennis and Rackets Association and members wishing to retain a national real tennis handicap and use the RTO online booking system will need to become individual members of the T&RA.
Results from May
The main tournament in May was the Val Probyn Long Ladies Club Handicap Singles Championship. Despite the entry being low this year– only five players – the day turned out to be tremendous fun. The format was revised and everyone played a four game set against everyone else, with the final result being decided on games won over games lost. It was a very close call at the end of the day and congratulations to Angela Probyn for winning by a single game.
And many thanks to Jan Fuller organising a very successful quiz night on 17th May.
Important diary dates for June
The Michael Jones Trophy Club Handicap Singles Championship, which takes place between Wednesday 6th and Saturday 9th June. This is open to all members with round robin boxes being played in the early stages before moving on to the knock out stages on the Saturday.
Traditionally we hold a social event as part of the tournament and this will take the form of a French evening on Friday 8th June. So put your name down even if you are not
entering the tournament and bring your friends along as well.
Other events later in June include
Mixed Doubles on Sunday 17th June (in case you can’t make the Ponsford Plate!) and
A singles Medal Day on Saturday 23rd June – open to all handicaps
And don’t forget that there are still the spring league boxes to play for and also the social events on Monday and Wednesday evenings - just get in touch with Kevin or Ben.
Looking forward to the 2018-19 season, James Dron is working hard on the fixtures list which we hope to get out to you in early August. As well as the usual inter-club matches we are hoping to host a weekend with the Irish Real Tennis Association. We are also looking to possibly changing the format of some of the Club tournaments to encourage more members to play and get more people along to watch the finals. If you have any thoughts or ideas on this please let me know.
With best wishes and hope to see you on court soon.
Claire
Your still very new Chairman