As the weather begins to turn and the nights draw in I eagerly look forward to those cold evenings and bright sharp winter days of tennis when the play needs to be brisk to keep the hands warm and the heart pumping!
So, a few things to report on and to keep you in touch and a few things for you to ACTION or HELP with:
Finals Day - 9th September
We were again blessed with great weather and some even better tennis. A vote of thanks goes to all those that were involved in making it a great Club day. As usual the barbeque was fired up, cakes were made and the players' tea was a triumph. There were so many good matches (too many to report here), but the highlight of the day has to be the boy's final which saw a very tight battle between Mattie Streatfeild-James and James Taber; it went to a hotly contested last set championship tie break and it was such a shame that someone had to lose. The winners on the day were:
Men’s Singles: Nathan Hawkins bt James Baber
Ladies singles: Sara English bt Nic Scott
Men’s Doubles: David Parkes & David Tonkin bt Mark Hunter & Geoff Wembridge
Ladies Doubles: Sara English & Lally Gibson bt Nic Scott & Lucy Moorhouse
Mixed Doubles: Petra Lowe & David Tonkin bt Jo Haywood & James Baber
Boys U12 Singles: Mattie Streatfeild-James bt James Taber
Boys U16 Singles: Anthony Haywood bt Ollie Lowe
Girls U18 Singles: Alisa Mackie bt Ruby Hill
Boys Doubles: James Molyneux & Ollie Lowe bt Ben Phillips & Mattie Streatfeild-James
Girls Doubles: Ailsa Mackie & Kay Downey bt Ruby Hill & Ellie Lawson
Green Ball Winner: Matt Jackson
Green Ball finalists: Holly Robinson, Ben Jones, Freddie Hatcliff, Freddie Wilson
Orange Ball Winner: Jasper Pover
Orange Ball finalists: Ollie Yates, Max Culverhouse, George Fleming,
JJ Kopacki, Finlay Flook
Red Ball Winner: Tom Smith
Red Ball finalists: Ellen Richley, Lucie Chorley, Dan Culverhouse, Michael Doyle, Nathan Shore
Congratulations to all that played and made it a great day of tennis.
It is with regret that I have to let you know that Ray Mabbutt has passed away. Ray and his wife, Barbara have been great supporters of the club for over 30 years. Ray was a constant competitor at many of our finals day and was the singles winner at the club on many occasions. I also had the pleasure of playing my first men’s final with Ray, with him carrying me through! Our thoughts and best wishes are with Barbara and his family. There is a cremation service at South Bristol Crematorium at 10.30am on Tuesday 15th November followed by a Service of Thanksgiving at Winford Church at noon.
Social
The next date for your diary is the Quiz Night on 25th November 2016 at 7pm in the Clubhouse. This is a quiz night with a twist using mobile phones/iPad and an automated system - great fun last time. If you are interested, please register with Mark Hunter (mhunter@hunteraccountants.co.uk) as soon as possible as tables are going fast.
Next year we will be looking at holding a Curry Night and Tennis in early March and look out for the Summer Bash which in 2017 will be a barn dance taking place around the beginning of June.
Coaching
For both Adults and Juniors alike the coaching programme is gathering pace as we enter the winter period, with plenty of coaching scheduled. If you wish to book, Mike has automated the booking of the courses so you can book on line. ACTION: You can find all the details on the coaching tab on the website:
https://bishopsuttontennis.org.uk/
Improving the Clubhouse
I am keen to make the coaching sessions on Saturday mornings feel a little more welcoming to the players and their parents, so will be setting up Tonks' Tuck Shop, starting on Saturday 26th November from 9.30am to 12 noon. Good coffee, home-made cakes and tuck shop fayre. My wife Fiona and I will kick it off but are then looking for a rota of people to keep it going each Saturday.
HELP: If you are interested in volunteering to run the Saturday Tuck Shop please let me know (dafitonk1@gmail.com) and if you fancy baking a cake or doing some brownies for the inaugural morning, drop me a line.
The committee is considering how to make the clubhouse a little more welcoming and are looking for ideas as to how we can spruce it up. The money raised from Tonks' Tuck Shop will help fund these plans.
HELP: Again, any improvement ideas, or volunteers who want to help think through how to improve the clubhouse, please let me know.
Wimbledon Draw
The Club is allocated a number of Wimbledon Tickets which is drawn in early April. The LTA decides how many tickets to allocate depending on the number of British Tennis Memberships (BTMs) that are associated with our club. ACTION: If you do not have a BTM, it is very easy to obtain; to get one you need to register on the LTA website. Follow this link: https://www.lta.org.uk/member
ACTION: For those of you who have a BTM already I am afraid you have to go onto the website each year and opt in; the same link will take you there. Do it now and get it out of the way, as we are going to chase you!!
Adult Winter League
The Winter League matches are now well underway. We have a Seniors' and two Mixed Teams (Bishop Sutton 1st and 2nd) and we are always looking for new recruits for these. Each team is made up of two men and two women, with the Senior team age criteria being men over 45 and women over 40 (sex equality?!). If anyone would like to be considered for playing in these teams, please contact Lyn Jones on: florincottage@gmail.com
Look forward to seeing you soon
David Tonkin
Chair BSTC
Sarah-Jane Streatfeild-James
BSTC Secretary