April 7th, 2021

Welcome to our April Newsletter. We are very pleased to be open for both tennis and squash (subject to restrictions)!

 


Tennis

We’re back!

The outdoor courts re-opened last week and it’s been fabulous to see so many of you back playing and the club vibrant once again with energy and enthusiasm!

Many of you have commented that your favourite part of returning to play has been the social aspect, which we’ve all missed so much over the last few months.

The courts have been busy and the re-start of outdoor sport was deliberately linked by the Government to the start of the Easter school holiday break, so Tyrell and his team have been running junior coaching courses, but everybody has been able to book their games, and both the tweaks to the court booking system and the launch of the new online booking system for coaching seem to have been well received.

Club Nights, Social Sessions, Box Leagues and Match Practice evenings are already back underway!

Squash and Squash57 - and the ITC

Next week the re-start of indoor sport commences and we re-open the squash courts on Monday!  The booking system will be live from tomorrow morning.

Although all National Governing Bodies for indoor sport have lobbied for some additional leeway, the Government have not swayed from their stance - until Step 3 on 17th May - for this initial phase of:  solo, same household, 1-2-1 coaching, and U18s group coaching.

Please arrive ready changed to play, as we are not allowed to open the changing rooms and showers until Step 3 next month (other than for the pro squad who have elite athlete exemption approved by England Squash).

Until 17th May we expect the courts to be fairly quiet, so we are taking the opportunity to do some minor maintenance to courts 3, 5 and 6 on Tuesday 20th April.  Court 3 is having some plaster work done and it will the take a couple of additional days to dry out.

Due to the continued restrictions, court fees will remain at the off-peak rate until Step 4 in June.

The ITC will also be re-opening, and subject to the same restrictions.


Dan will be doing 1-2-1 PT sessions in the Fitness Suite.  We anticipate re-opening the facility to gym members at Step 4 on 21st June.

Bar

We will be trialling a gazebo and an outside bar on the terrace, so we’re equipped for all weather!

We anticipate opening on at least Club Nights and Friday evenings.  The official opening evening will be Friday 16th April - the return of Pizza Friday! - although we will do a trial (not dry!) run earlier in the week.

AGM minutes

These have now been posted to the members’ section of the club website and we encourage everyone to have a look and find out more about our club, how we have fared during the pandemic, and our plans for the next 12 months.  Thank-you to all who attended on Zoom - we had a record number of attendees for our annual AGM!