Welcome to our February newsletter.

Thank-you to those who attended our AGM at the start of the month.  All motions were approved and the current holders of key volunteer positions will continue in office for the next 12 months.

Congratulations to Carolyn Parry and Dan White who were joint winners of the Member of the Year award!  Carolyn has been our Welfare Officer for the past 15 years (and has now handed the baton to Sarah Markwort), and Dan has run our tennis singles box leagues for 25 years.  Amazing volunteers for our club!

We are now less than 3 weeks away from commencing the extensive upgrade to tennis courts 10, 11 and 12 (the 3 ‘astroturf' courts close to the fitness suite).  During the project there will be quite a bit of disruption to (tennis) playing and parking arrangements - unfortunately, if you’re driving to the club you’ll need to use the Canal Fields public car park more often than not.  We’ll work around things as far as possible, and get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

Tennis Committee will be issuing detailed guidance on the playing arrangements until all courts are brought back into use.

With the available courts about to become extremely busy with tournament matches and then with the project underway, a reminder please for people to cancel any court bookings they no longer require, so that they are released back into the booking system if not in use. This includes instances when people change their mind about playing due to the weather - someone else may be quite happy to play in the rain. We all know how frustrating it is to see all courts apparently full on the booking system, but a number of them turn out to be unused due to no-shows. Let’s all be assiduous with cancellations.

Tennis

The annual club tournament is GO!

Draws were published this week and Finals Day is Saturday 22nd June.

We are aiming to complete rounds 1 and 2 of the main events ahead of the building work.  Then resume proceedings once work is done.

Good luck everyone!

A brilliant performance by our National Premier League team saw them beat local rivals Halton on Saturday to win their division and qualify for the play-off final rounds.

For those of you with young children, Friday Night Junior Night returns this Friday, where the club becomes the most popular after-school facility in town, particularly when the weather gets warmer and parents can have a drink outside.

As mentioned at the AGM, we are reviewing the target operating model for our tennis coaching.  Discussing with Tyrell what has worked well and what could be better going forwards, in the light of data and experience gained from running it as an outsourced service for the past couple of years; consulting with other clubs and the LTA on the operating model in place at our peer-group clubs; and checking with HMRC and our accountants on any employment law and taxation law ramifications.

We expect to be able to give you more news next month.  If we do make changes, in all likelihood these will be behind-the-scenes organisational changes with no impact to coaching personnel and little or no impact to members.

Squash and Racketball

We have champions in our midst!

At the recent British Championships, Tony Clifford won the O80s and Gavin Roger-Lund was runner-up in the O55s (and would have been favourite to win if he had not suffered an injury in his semi-final).

On the same weekend at the other end of the age spectrum, George Ogden was 5th in the England National U11s, Mati Nicol 10th in the U15s, and Ethan Duncan 13th in the U19s.

Brilliant results and an example of how squash can be a sport for life.

An update on our court cancellation policy.  We have heard your feedback and a full refund is now given if cancellations are no more than 72 hours before the court booking, i.e. a reduction to 3 days from the previous policy of 7 days.  As before, if someone else subsequently books the court, a full refund is provided no matter how late the cancellation.

Social

Elvis was alive and kicking at the club at the start of the month and he went down a storm!

Next up is the return of the ever popular Quiz Night on Wednesday 20th March, with quizmaster Carlos Mastermind Mateus.  Email claire@isalie.co.uk for tickets.

Spotlight on …

… our new proposition to grow our membership of those in their 20s.

Please read on, as we’d appreciate your help.

Currently, of our c750 adult playing members (plus c400 junior members), we have just 42 members in their 20s (26x tennis, 14x squash, 2x both).  Which seems very low for such a key demographic.

This could simply be a reflection of Berkhamsted, where a high proportion of school leavers depart to University, and house/rental prices make it difficult for young adults to afford to live in the area.

Nonetheless, we want to see if we can do better for this age group.  Given the low level of their current numbers, cutting prices is not going to dent our revenue.  Quite the reverse, if we can shift the needle.

Our outgoing U29 annual membership prices are:  joint Tennis and Squash £245; Tennis £199; Squash £107.

For the new membership year, we’re transforming this.  Squash will be £100.  Not much different but a very good deal - and we’re going to improve the deal for those away at Uni - speak to Susannah and Vicky in the club office if you want to know more about this.  But for £200 we’ll now provide an all-inclusive, access-all-areas package:  tennis, squash, and gym membership.  Plus one of the few remaining Sky Sports venues in town, and the best beer garden in Berko on Summer days.

We think that’s a very attractive proposition, and we’ve love your help in spreading the news.

If you’re 1 of our 26 tennis players in their 20s, you can now give squash a go and find out what you’re missing.  If you’re one of our 14 squash players in their 20s, for an extra £8 a month you can now play in the fresh air and sunshine when the weather is good.  You can all also access the gym too.  It’s not a high end space filled with TechnoGym machines, but you’ll find everything you need for a great workout.  Spread the news to your friends - help make us the place to go.

If you’re a parent of someone in their 20s, or friends with people who have children in their 20s in the local area, let them know.  We have a great club, fantastic courts and facilities, 2 minutes away from all the High Street meeting places.  We’re a great place to get your exercise, be with friends, and spend some time.

That’s all for now, until next month.  Get playing/keep playing your club champs matches!

Club Council

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