Read on for November's club newsletter....

You will by now have had a chance to have a (long!) read of our report on the Members’ Opinion Survey.  Sorry it was more of a magnum opus than a quick skim-through.

Plenty of food for thought, and we’ll keep many of the points in our minds for ‘you said, we did’ actions going forwards.

One of the points raised was to be a bit more security conscious around the club, particularly in respect of the door entry to the club.

In the past fortnight, we have twice had to eject youngsters who came over from the skateboard park to the club - once from the Ladies toilets where boys and girls were smoking, and once from the sauna where they are sitting (fully clothed).  With the weather getting colder, they seem to have decided that the club is a good place to keep warm, and the door is usually propped open.

That’s why we have moved the round table from the lobby area into the players’ bar - to stop using it as a doorstop, at least for the time being.

Please help us by remembering to bring your key fob to the club, as it can be frustrating to be in the players’ bar and feel like you’re on permanent door sentry duty.

Another talking point from the survey was Padel tennis.  A number of you went to the opening weekend at Chesham1879 and enjoyed it.  Their courts are available on a ‘pay and play’ basis to anyone.  Courts can be booked here https://www.matchi.se/facilities/game4padelchesham

Defibrillator

While we’re talking about the lobby area and attaching links, a reminder that just inside the entrance door to the players’ bar we have a defibrillator.

The device is deliberately designed to be simple to use and administered by anyone, without any need for training.  On opening it, a calm voice talks the user through every step.  We have a link on our website (here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JbQ7kmvX38) to a 4 minute demonstration video on YouTube.  We recommend that everyone takes a short interlude to watch it.

Tennis

We would like to congratulate our ladies first team, run by Jenny Webster, for maintaining their lofty position in the Premier division of the summer Herts League competition. Well done to all the ladies who played in the team.

The winter season of the National Premier League is underway and we have our next home match on Saturday 9th December from 1.30pm.

The NPL is a very high standard of play.  It’s doubles only, and played indoors to ensure all matches go ahead and no one travels long distances in vain.

There will be some seating available in the ITC and the bar and kitchen will be open.  Well worth a watch - hopefully we’ll see some of you there.

Thoughts are already turning to next year’s club tournament.  The refurb of courts 10-12 is likely to interfere with the early rounds, so our plans at the moment are to start things earlier and retain finals day as 22nd June (which some people have already factored into their Summer holiday plans).  We’ll keep you informed.

Squash and Racketball

Thoughts are turning too to the annual club champs, which we traditionally launch at the end of the year/start of the new year.  News coming soon.

A reminder - and if you’re a recent joiner this is new news - that, if you happen to make a mistake when entering your box league result, the online system can’t be edited after entry, but you can edit results on the box league screen in the players’ bar.

Congratulations to our homegrown player, Grace Gear, who has made the World Top 50 in the November rankings, following a great win against the world number 21 in last month’s US Open.  Grace is now increasingly in the draws for PSA World Tour events, graduating for the PSA Challenger Tour.  Onwards and upwards Grace!

Social

Rock and Roll Bingo on 8th November was a great success!  Thank-you to everyone who came along.

Next up, on Friday 2nd February, we have Elvis in the house!  Yes, we have the ultimate tribute act banging out his hits “Return To Server”, “Blue Squash Shoes” and “Crying In The Sauna”.  It’s going to be a night to remember - come on way down!  Email claire@isalie.co.uk for tickets.

Spotlight On…

This month we thought we’d talk about sponsorship.  Which is a work-in-progress topic for us, but we wanted to outline our thoughts.

Running the National League tennis teams and Pro squash tournaments is expensive.  We couldn’t do it without the brilliant support of our sponsors.  All of whom have ties to the club and are willing to assist, not because there is a business case with a return on investment, but because they want to help us put on these events and ‘give back’ to their club.

Until now, these arrangements have largely been gentlemen’s agreements and best endeavours on both sides.

It’s worked.  We have been able to bring you world class tennis and squash to watch at our club.  Thanks to our partners.

But we want to be a bit more professional in how we go about it.  We currently run these tennis and squash events at a slight deficit.  We would like to attract more sponsorship so that we balance the books.  In fact, we would like to attract a surplus, so that there is a trickle-down effect into our club teams and tournaments.

We would also like to widen our net.  We tap the same few people time and again.  They are brilliant supporters of the club, but they naturally have to say ‘enough is enough’.

So we’re thinking about how to develop commercial sponsorship packages.  What we can offer in terms of such things as advertising space around the club and on team shirts, spectator facilities, food and drink, pro-am days, etc.

Matt Markwort is leading for us on this, working with Josh Sapwell for tennis and Adam Fuller for squash.

Traditionally we’ve been very reticent about this sort of stuff.  But we believe we need to move with the times - within reason and without any sudden major step-changes.

Currently we’re discussing proposals at our Club Council meetings.  We intend to launch something along these lines in the new year.  We’ll keep you onboard with us all the way.  This is just a heads-up at the moment.  If you have any thoughts to help us, all feedback and suggestions are very welcome - speak to Matt or John.

That’s all for now, until next time.

Club Council

(John Shaw, Phil Trimmer, Michael Beavis, Matt Markwort, Tracey Mackey, Mark Shattock)