Welcome to our March newsletter.  In keeping with the signs that Spring is arriving, we’ve been busy around the club lately.

Facilities:  twit twoo

Owls are recognised by seagulls as birds of prey and, to deter the Berkhamsted-On-Sea colony that we seem to have acquired on the roof of the Indoor Tennis Centre, three fake owls have been installed at the top of the floodlights on court 6a.

We hope this proves effective and stops their dive-bombing raids on the cars in our car park:  no more twit and twoo.  Say it with a lisp.

Facilities:  no more disco time

Inside the clubhouse, with apologies to all you 1980s disco lovers out there, we have finally stopped the stroboscope lighting effect in the changing room corridor.

Facilities:  absolute shower

As mentioned at the AGM, after last year’s capital investment expenditure, the only sizeable project we will undertake this year is the overdue refurb of the women’s showers.  We have started to kick things off.  A steering committee has been formed, comprising 6 of our women members, Susannah and Vicky our club managers, and chaired by John, our club chairman.  The work is at the design stage.  We will keep you updated as the project progresses.

Facilities:  pick a card

We are going to update the Electronic Point Of Sale till and payment system at the bar.  The current version is outdated and can add to delays at busy times and when we have the outside bar in use as well as the lounge bar.

In doing so, we plan to introduce a members’ card scheme for the bar.  This will allow members to continue to benefit from discounted prices but will also allow us to charge closer to RRP to non-members and when we have external events.  It may also encourage more of our regular visitors to join as social members (currently we have just 19 paying social members).

We are agreeing the implementation plan with the supplier and we will confirm details shortly.

Tennis/Squash/Open Day:  Super Sunday 14th May

Everyone needs to be at the club on Sunday 14th May!

It is going to be gobsmackingly brilliant.  There is no other way to describe it.  Well, there probably is, but that will do.

Outside we will be hosting the 2022 national club champions, Roehampton, in the opening home fixture of our first ever season in Div 1 of the National League.  It will be the highest standard of tennis ever played at our club and it will be a spectacular event.

Inside we will be holding the finals of our squash and racketball club tournaments.  A dozen championship finals will be hotly contested.

And we will be making this our first open day of the year to attract prospective new members.  In addition to the match play on the show courts, we will be welcoming newcomers onto the other courts with free sessions.

It’s the first time we’ve ever brought all these elements together on the same day.  Please come along and support - you’ll have a great time.

The bar and kitchen will of course be open - we’ll have you catered for all your needs, all day.

And here’s the full home fixture list for our NTL matches - put the dates in your calendar:

• 16th April:  A1 Pharmaceuticals
• 7th May:  Cumberland
• 14th May:  Roehampton
• 4th June:  Risbygate

Social:  bingo!

Rock and Roll Bingo Night on 8th March was a full-to-capacity sell-out and a great success, enjoyed by everyone and it raised £1000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Welfare and safeguarding:  updates

We have recently refreshed our safeguarding policies, in accordance with updated guidelines from Sport England and the LTA.  All our safeguarding policies can be found here https://www.bltsrc.co.uk/page/about/safeguarding+%40+bltsrc  on the club website.

Volunteers required:  go on, you know you want to

Thank-you to those that volunteered to steer the refurb of the women’s showers.

A reminder, though, that we still have other opportunities available, most importantly: 

• Welfare Officer; and
• Social Chair.

We must fill these two positions.

Please contact our club chair, John Shaw, at john.gs@btinternet.com if you would like to know what either of these roles entail. 

Club Council