Welcome to our October Newsletter!  

Tennis

You will all by now have seen our notice of a Special General Meeting for all members on Wednesday 17th November in the clubhouse, to discuss - and hopefully agree - a single agenda item:  the programme of work required for courts 7, 8 & 9.

The integrated series of projects that needs to be undertaken (redressing the subsidence; modernisation of floodlighting; removal of the ‘void’ gap; resurfacing of the threadbare courts) will come of no surprise to most of you, as it has been quite extensively discussed at our 2020 and 2021 AGMs.

It was inappropriate to proceed until the business and sporting climate returned to more normal times but, with the condition of those courts fast deteriorating and with long lead times for supply chains needing to be secured, we need to gain your agreement to enter into contractual commitments.

We will be issuing a briefing paper to members in the week commencing 1st November, after most schools (and parents) return from half term breaks, and we will present the details in full at the meeting.

It is our preference to hold the SGM in person rather than attempt it virtually over a phone call, notwithstanding that we managed to hold this year’s AGM in that manner during lockdown.  We are watching the Government policy closely but, unless their guidance changes, it will be a clubhouse meeting.

Please come along if you can - we want to ensure you understand any significant developments at our club and to bring all of you along with us in a mutually supportive manner.

Squash & Racketball

We are so pleased that squash and racketball are now bouncing back.

Indoor sport took a major setback during the past 18 months but our membership numbers and court utilisation are starting to return to their former level, helped by the return of lapsed players picking up a racket once more, the re-start of inter-club matches, and local schools once again using our club for games lessons and after-school clubs.

We had a fabulous graded round-robin event to mark World Squash Day on 9th October, the theme of which was to get everyone returning to the game for their court comeback.

And we our proud to be fielding a Ladies team once more in the Herts League, after a gap of about 10 years.

We’ll keep nudging things forward to make our club the place to be for people to enjoy squash and racketball.

Social

Last night we held our first Quiz Night for who knows how long (no, there are no prizes for the correct answer)!  A full house of 10 tables of 6 contestants each, with our specialist egghead quizmaster, Bobby.  A fantastic evening!

Coming up next are Halloween events next weekend, in particular the party/fun tournaments on Sunday 31st October together with Isalie’s specialist spooky food menu.  Prepare to be horrified.  In a good way.

Then, before we know it, we’ll be celebrating Christmas with the annual Dinner and Disco (can’t beat a good disco) on 4th December - make sure you’ve booked your table!

That’s all for now.  Hopefully we’ll see you at the SGM!

Club Council
(John Shaw, Matt Markwort, Phil Trimmer, Tracey Mackey, Mark Shattock, Bobby Mercandino)