BSTC Club Newsletter – August 2017
Hi All,
Well what happened to the weather?! Hope all your summer holidays are going well despite the wet stuff and you are eagerly looking forward to the teas/the BBQ/the beer and, of course, the tennis being screened at your club on Sunday 10th September – Club Finals Day.
Read on for a Poldark story!
Let’s just run through a few updates first:
Club Refurbishment
I hope that you all like the extended terrace and the removal of the ever-tidy (!) coaching cupboard to the new store room, previously the men’s loos. We are now working on the refurbishment of the main club with a target of the end of this year to redecorate and re-equip the clubhouse to make it a more welcoming place to hang out.
If anyone is interested in developing or understanding the plans to date, then drop me a line. If you have particular views on what you would like for your clubhouse, now is the time to engage.
Summer League Results
Well I am afraid that it has not been a great season for the BSTC adult teams. However, on the ladies’ side, we can be especially proud of our 1st team who won their league by a country mile and now reach the heady heights of the first division! Well done to Sara English and Nicky Scott, who came 1st and 2nd in the whole league’s individual rankings, plus the rest of the team Jane Heeley, Jane Fowler, Carol King, Pippa Coles, Judith Penna, Angela Soper and Sophie Webb. The other three ladies’ teams are unfortunately relegated and will battle it out in lower divisions next year.
Meanwhile, not to be out done, the men’s teams have had a similar season! The 1st team feel as though they won the league in fact, against the odds, they managed to avoid relegation by pushing down Bath with just a five-point margin! Well done to Nathan Hawkins and James Baber who, despite us only hanging on in this league, finished 2nd and 4th respectively out of all the players in the division. The 2nd and 3rd teams are off to lower leagues and we had to withdraw the 4th team at the start of the season as we had no one to run it and were not confident that we could get the players. For next season, apart from firing the men’s captain (me!), we hopefully will have two or three key players back from injury and hope to see a little more depth in the men’s commitment to playing league tennis!
A big thank you to all the team captains for organising their teams this year, and for all the players that turned out to play for Bishop Sutton.
The junior teams following on from a successful winter league season we entered 9 Mini and Junior teams in Aegon Team Tennis this summer. In total 70 of our young players took part, played some great tennis and had lots of fun competing as a team. There were some notable successes with the Under 8A Mixed, Under 10B Mixed and Under 14 Boys teams winning their divisions undefeated! All this would not have been possible without the fantastic support and hard work of our volunteer parent captains all of whom deserve a huge thank you -
Keran Hatcliff - Under 8A Mixed
Fleur Wilcox - Under 8B Mixed
Lucy Culverhouse - Under 9A Mixed
Andy Hay & Sarah Peacock - Under 9B Mixed
Nikki Flemming - Under 10A Mixed
Sarah Brickell - Under 10B Mixed
Emma Robinson - Under 12 Girls
Katherine Richley - Under 12 Boys
Mark Taber - Under 14 Boys
We also organised a number of very successful and enjoyable friendly matches against other clubs and I will be looking to build on this and a Cluster Co-coordinator for the new LTA Team Challenge initiative.
Finals Day – Sunday 10th September 12 noon
The club tournaments are well underway and places in the finals are already being booked. We will have the usual array of good food, from teas and homemade cakes to burgers and buns, with perhaps the odd beer and, of course, some excellent adult and junior tennis to watch. I realise with some embarrassment that I did nothing with the excellent pictures that my daughter, Olivia, took of the Finals Day and players last year. These will be on display and, for a modest sum, you can get a copy of your favourite picture; some lovely ones of the players - young and old - getting their awards from Waveney Connell as well as full-blooded action shots. Olivia has offered to take pictures again this year and so you can ask her to take particular shots if you wish. All monies raised go to club funds!
Although we did not have any entries for the ladies singles we are still intending to run a fun qualifier on Friday 1st evening or Sunday 3rd September in the afternoon to find two ladies to compete in the singles on finals day. If you would like to play please let Lyn Jones (florincottage@gmail.com) know.
Finally if anyone wants to give a hand on the day (umpires/cakes/BBQ/bar etc) then please contact me (tonkin.dj@gmail.com) or Lyn Jones (florincottage@gmail.com)
Gold Medal Winner in our midst!
Many congratulations to Dami Howard who won a gold medal in the 21st World Transplant Games in Malaga Spain. What a star!
Clubhouse and Grounds Tidiness
As per Poldark – “ t’ain’t right, t’ain’t fair, t’ain’t proper!!
Within my family I am not renowned as being the tidiest of individuals but even I am shocked at the state of the clubhouse and the grounds at times. Please will you start looking out for whoever is leaving borrowed racquets, balls, sharp ball-can tops, general litter and personal possessions lying around. The bins and recycling are done by volunteers - we would have to pay significant rates to get the council to do it – so please recycle properly and don’t leave food in the bins. If you have unfinished food, take it off site yourself; please don’t bin it for the rest of us to enjoy the odour. Toilets unflushed, cups left unwashed, dishwasher not stacked or unstacked and so on……..
If it is you or your kids, then please shape up and look after your club!
If it isn’t, then please help tidy up; lead by example (there is no magic fairy it is either volunteers or our hardworking cleaner who does it) and, most importantly, start reminding those that are misusing the facilities not to.
Children’s Welfare
I feel I also need to remind parents the club is not a kindergarten. We have had examples of kids being left unattended at the club with no adequate supervision. There is no legal definition but good practice suggests it is not appropriate to leave a child under the age of 12 on their own at the club. A 10/11-year-old supervising an even younger child is not acceptable. If it is part of a coaching session then, of course, that is fine - but only within the times of the session. We have a policy on our website that covers safeguarding issues so, if you are unsure, please take a look. If in doubt, ask.
Dates for the Diary:
Finals Day – Sunday, 10th September
Quiz Night – Friday, 24th November
David Tonkin
Chair BSTC
01275 332885
tonkin.dj@gmail.com