Fun Day June 1st – join in!

Club News

There will be all sorts of activities during our Fun Day, 2pm – 6pm. It is not just for members ; family and friends are all welcome so please spread the word!

We will be running Mini Tennis groups throughout the afternoon alongside a couple of drill/cardio sessions for anyone aged 11+ including adults. There is no charge for these sessions; if you would like to book on to a session prior to the event this can be done by visiting this link. Booking is not essential, you may just turn up and join in.

There will also be court space available for free play towards the end of the afternoon and we will be running some fun competitions and a raffle. There will be delicious refreshments available to purchase. Apart from hitting against the ball machine some of our A and B team players will be getting involved and hitting with Robyn for a while.

If anyone has anything they would like to contribute to the raffle it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact either Zana Fletcher or Debra Norton. Thank you to those members who have already donated a prize.

We require a few more Junior members to help on the day – if you can spare an hour please let me know. Thank you to those of you have offered your help – Zana will be in touch shortly.

May we take this opportunity to thank the Quiz Organisers for their generous donation towards the charity following a successful quiz night last week.

Second American Tournament

Tournaments

Public holidays are rather close together at this time of year, so on Monday 6th May we were once again enjoying an American Tournament; 27 people this time, showing how popular they are. Does the photograph of winners look familiar? Gill Stoney was again the best lady with an average of 5.6 from each round of 8 games, just edging out newcomer Sam Rush on 5.5. Cath Pearson was 3rd. Chris Cole was a clear Mens winner with an excellent average of 6. Mark Hill came second on 5.17 with a tie for 3rd place between Steve Dunne and William Carlisle on 5.0. No Andy Cholerton in the winners group this time, for the simple reason that he was the organiser. Thank you Andy for taking that on. Thanks also to Ann Hanson and Joan Jones for supplying a lovely tea.

Spring quiz night

Social Events

A full house for another great evening! Many thanks to Vicky for providing such a good quiz and to all the others who helped run the evening. Special mention to Richard Leversuch who runs the bar and quietly gets on with washing up all the glasses etc, leaving very little for the rest of us to do at the end of the evening. This time, there were also two league matches being held – so over 70 people at the club between quizzers and players! Many thanks to the Mens A and Mixed D team and their visitors who were very obliging and didn’t seem to object to losing access to the main clubhouse room.

For the first time, two teams ended up on the same number of points, but Vicky was prepared for this with a tie-breaker question. Andy Cholerton and Alistair Reid were “volunteered” by their teams to go up and hear the question which was “To the nearest inch, what is the length of da Vinci’s Last Supper mural?” Well done, Andy for being nearest. Spot the photo below where we are waiting for the answer to be announced. Well done also to the Quizzical Quintet who won the prize for the best team name.

Thanks to the generosity of all who came, we will be able to make a donation to Robyn Moore when she visits us on June 1st as part of her Breakpoint fund-raising.

Ball machine

Club News


Our ball machine is now available for use. It is kept in the clubhouse and there have been two briefings about its use. Some members have already received a key to access it; others of us will be receiving a key soon. There is a manual left with it. Please look at this! Spinfire_Pro2_ManualFor your convenience, here are three screenshots about changing the settings eg for elevation (how high over the net the ball is sent). I think that the ball machine will retain the settings last used, so if a player much better than you used it last, then you might need to change things!
(Click to enlarge the image)

Easter Monday American Tournament

Tournaments


This Easter was the warmest for many years and gave us an excellent start to the American Tournaments this season – perfect weather and a perfect number of players : 24, 10 men and 14 ladies – which meant nobody had to sit out; we all played the 6 rounds of 8 games each. Andy Cholerton came out as the best male player, beating Mark Hill and Chris Cole by just one game overall. For the ladies, there was little doubt who would win – Gill Stoney returning to the club after a break of a few years because of injury. She only dropped 7 games out of 48 all afternoon – well done, Gill! Katherine Rogers and Susan Gilchrist were second and third in the Ladies respectively.

Gill’s success was one highlight. The other was, of course, the tea – maybe the reason some of us come. Many thanks to Linda Robson and Jackie Staunton for preparing it and to Ann Hanson and Sally Daniels who came to help set it out and more importantly to clear up afterwards.

It was the first American Tournament that I have organised – and it all seemed to go smoothly. Phew!

Family competition : June 1st

Juniors, Tournaments

We are running our Family Competition on the morning of June 1st. (8.45am for 9.15am start. We hope to finish by 1.00pm.)

There are two types of “family pairings” who can enter :

  • Junior, Senior Junior and Student Members with a family member who must be over the age of 18.
  • Senior/Off Peak Members with a young family member, i.e. under the age of 18.

    • (In neither case is the family member required to be a Member of Avondale.)

    The format of Play will depend on the number of entries and variety of ages. There will be a handicap system of sort put in place to make play fairer.

    Entries can be made by emailing zana.fletcher@virginmedia.com (please submit both players names, junior’s age, contact email and phone number) or sign up in the clubhouse

    Deadline for entry
    Sunday 26 May or when all the 16 spaces have been filled (i.e. 32 individual players).

    Entry Fee: £10.00 per pair.

    We look forward to seeing you on the day

    Smiths Cup 2019

    Tournaments,

    Ladies : This attracted 12 pairs, a full house! – and this included 6 pairs playing in the competition for the first time. The club house was buzzing and there was a great atmosphere throughout the afternoon. Debbie Ryder and Rachel Gray were the winners with Cath Pearson and Katherine Rogers as runners up.

    Mens : 7 pairs contested the Mens’ Smiths Cup one day doubles tournament on Sunday 7th April. The round robin format involved each pair playing a short set against each of the other pairs during the course of the afternoon. Most matches were very evenly contested and in the end countback had to be brought into play to determine the overall winners. Chris Cole/Mark Hill and Steve Dunne/Chris Iles both managed to win 5 of the 6 sets they played, but Chris and Mark were crowned champions, having conceded one less game overall. Mark Hill is to be congratulated on successfully retaining the title he won last year, albeit with a different partner this year.

    Thanks to Suzie Greenwood and William Carlisle for organising their events.

    Courts 1 and 2 : in use but take care!

    Club News

    The resurfacing work on Courts 1 and 2 is now complete and the courts may be used. You will notice that the courts are heavily sanded – this is quite normal and the sand will work its way into the artificial grass over time and they will then look the same as our other courts. Until the surface settles down the courts may be slippery in certain weather conditions so please take great care when playing and ensure that your tennis shoes have good quality tread.