Welcome to our July newsletter!

2022 Berkhamsted Linksap Open

From today through to Sunday we have the 2nd edition of our professional squash tournament for men and women.

Friday evening is just about sold out, but there are still tickets available for the other days.

5 of our own pro hub players are in the draw, including our assistant coach, Grace Gear. Grace is at a career high of 59 in this month’s world rankings.  Let’s make sure we give her some great home support!

If you’d like to watch, or just make a tentative enquiry - whether you’re a squash member, a tennis member who could be tempted to see some of that other thing that is played at the club, or a social member - contact John Shaw john.gs@btinternet.com / 07775 542712.

We want to have the event as close to sold out as we can, to help us run it again next year, help make the Berkhamsted Open an annual event on the pro tour, and help spread the excellent reputation of our club.

Tennis Finals Day

What a fabulous day it was, probably our best-attended Finals Day ever!

And we got lucky with the weather, with the heavens not opening until everything was finished.

Tyrell’s issued a lovely write-up of the day.

Tennis handicap tournament

Look out for news about a new event.  5 draws - Mens and Ladies singles and doubles, and mixed doubles - with plate competitions, based upon UTR ratings, and with a handicap starting advantage for the lower ranked player/pair.

125th anniversary - archive display

We need to return the cabinets to Dacorum Heritage Trust, so we will be closing the display in a week or so.

An unintended benefit of the display has been the more open feel to the clubhouse entrance, and a reminder of the nice views we have of our courts from the windows, particularly now we don’t have 2 metal fences in the way.

So we’re going to find another home for the noticeboard stand, the tennis ball collection box, and the other things that were cluttering that space.

Women’s EURO 2022

The event kicked off last night with England vs Austria seeing a 1 - 0 victory for the Lionesses.

We have linked up with Berkhamsted Raiders, the biggest girls’ football club in the country, and we will be showing some of these matches on the new big TV in the lounge.  All our own girls (and boys) are very welcome to come along too - it should be a great atmosphere!

Jobs around the club

We have installed bifold doors in the lounge behind squash court 2.  They provide a much better location for the ‘outside’ bar, rather than blocking the main patio doors, introduce some much needed ventilation to the squash courts on hot days, and help with the open-plan vibe to the clubhouse and terrace.

We are also overhauling our wi-fi set up, with BT installing a lease line later this month.  That will finally give us the bandwidth, speed and reliable connectivity we need for contactless payments at the bar and kitchen.

Outside, the remaining glass has arrived to complete the balustrade, which be done in the next couple of weeks.

The terrace 

The glass balustrade has transformed the view of our refurbished showcourts.

We have a lovely terrace.  We jokingly, but very aptly, refer to it as the best beer garden in Berko.  We want to keep it that way.

We have listened to your feedback; we’ve given the outside table-tops a deep clean and instigated a regular cleaning regime.

In return, can we ask you to help us please, regarding care of the umbrellas and cushions.  For better or worse, we have no ‘pool guy’ in attendance to take care of things on hot Summer days and evenings.  It’s down to all of us:

• if you take cushions out of the container boxes, please put them back when you leave, so they don’t stay out overnight and get waterlogged if it rains;
• if you put table umbrellas up, please put them down when you leave, so they don’t stay up overnight and get damaged if the wind picks up; and
• for the few of you smokers out there, please use ashtrays for your butts, so someone else doesn’t have to pick them up for you.

Here endeth the lesson.

Other bits and bobs

The bag rack has been cleared, with most of the contents going into the bin. The only exceptions were a number of rackets and half a dozen pairs of tennis shoes. Would the owners please remove these in the next few days.

The water bottle collection already seems to have recommenced.  In future, the shelves will be cleared of debris once a month.

That’s it for this month!  If you want to follow us on social media for more regular updates, Susannah and Vicky in the club office run our Facebook page for the club  https://www.facebook.com/bltsrc/, and John runs our Twitter account for the squash and racketball section BerkoSquashRbll

Club Council

(John Shaw, Phil Trimmer, Michael Beavis, Tracey Mackey, Mark Shattock, Bobby Mercandino)