Please click here to read the new policy on the use of our changing rooms. Note that this is not related to the present Covid restrictions; they are part of our on-going safe-guarding procedures.
Second lockdown : final decision about club tennis
Following the Government’s recent announcements, all tennis clubs in England are required to close from Thursday 5th November until at least 2nd December.
As a result Avondale will be closing after play at 10pm on Wednesday 4th November.
There is no certainty that tennis can resume in early December but once the position is clearer the Committee will consider offering a subscription refund in respect of the period of closure.
You may wish to read the comments of Scott Lloyd, Chief Executive of the LTA regarding the lockdown: click here.
November lock-down : Nov 2nd message
Here is a message from Paul Treacy
The latest up-date on the LTA website says:
The Government have today indicated that they won’t be allowing outdoor tennis courts to open in England during the period of the new national restrictions that come into force from Thursday. This is hugely disappointing for all those who love tennis up and down the country. We will continue to put our case to them ahead of the formal legislation detailing the restrictions during lockdown, which is yet to be published and is due to be voted on in Parliament on Wednesday. We will then provide an update on the definitive position of what is and isn’t allowed.
The LTA website also indicates that Scott Lloyd, the CEO of the LTA has been personally involved in discussions with the Government and is trying to persuade the Government that playing singles (and one to one coaching) should be allowed as it is consistent with the principles of the lockdown, involving only 2 players taking exercise in a socially distant manner. However, unless this last minute appeal is successful the Club will have to close at 10pm on Wednesday and remain closed at least until early December.
AGM : Wednesday November 11th 7:30
We always hold our AGM in November; this year, of course, it will have to be a virtual event and we will be using Zoom. You should have received an email notification about this from Zana, requesting a link (which will be sent out nearer the time). If not please get in touch with Zana zana.fletcher@virginmedia.com
Box League comes to Avondale
Peter Archer and Chris Ezra are taking the lead in getting a box league going at Avondale. This is essentially a round robin event of singles which they describe as a great way to keep fit, a great way to improve your skills and a great way to meet new players.
Here are some details :
Peter and Chris will be starting with a singles box league but this can be built upon to include other categories including juniors in the future.
For now, the box league is open to all senior, off-peak, student and senior juniors, however, off-peak members will be asked to organise their matches on weekdays during their permitted hours of play. This may make it hard to organise matches against senior members who can only play at weekends/after work and therefore, going forward, it may be that a separate box league will be set up for off-peak members if there is sufficient interest.
To show your interest or if you have any further queries please contact Peter direct with your contact details and your level of play, i.e. A-team standard through to E-team standard, “rusty or “beginner” – peterarcher.sps@gmail.com – prior to 4 October so they can get the leagues started.
Latest Coronavirus update : September 2020
Our committee have once again had to grapple with issues around the coronavirus health emergency. There are two significant changes in the most recent letter from Chair Paul Treacy. Firstly, the “rule of six” is now a legal requirement which means that mix-ins for a group of 8 are no longer possible. Secondly, very limited access to the clubhouse will now be allowed. Specifically, this will only be to use the toilets. You will notice there is a Vacant / Engaged fitting on the cloakroom door (not the toilet doors). Please use this! The key benefit is that it becomes obvious if someone is waiting to use the toilet as they will be standing in the lobby. Remember, there should only be one person in the lobby at any one time.
Click here for Paul’s letter
Test and Trace requirements
Paul Treacy would like to remind you about the following Test and Trace requirement.
Version 4 of the Guidance for Tennis Venues in England COVID-19: RETURN TO PLAY – Published 13 July 2020 states: “To support NHS Test and Trace, venues should keep a temporary record of all those on site for 21 days, in a way that is manageable, and assist NHS Test and Trace with requests for that data if needed.”
Clubspark has added a Track and Trace feature to the online court booking system which the Committee asks all members to use when booking a court.
Here is a reminder of how to do this.
Finals 2020 : results
No Juniors, no formal presentation of trophies, no rain (so that was a good thing), no refreshments ( definitely not a good thing) and limited number of spectators. That didn’t stop the club having a weekend full of excellent tennis.
Thanks to the committee who had thought through all the issues about putting on the finals in the present circumstances and to the finalists who had to play without the usual buzz around the club.Thanks as always to Zana who put in so much time putting the draws together and running the weekend.
Here is one of my favourite photos from the weekend. You might think they had just won, but in fact they were the runners-up in the Mixed Doubles final; typical of the good spirit in which the matches were played.
Here are the list of winners and runners-up.
EVENT | WINNER | RUNNER-UP |
Mens Singles | William Jones | Peter Grant |
Mens Vets Singles | Peter Grant | Peter Archer |
Mens Doubles | Paul Kemsley and David Pharo | Peter Grant and Stuart Lamb |
Mens Vets Doubles | Peter Grant and David Pharo | Steve Dunne and Chris Iles |
EVENT | WINNER | RUNNER-UP |
Ladies Singles | Jane Dow | Jane Baldwin |
Ladies Vets Singles | Ailsa Fraser | Cath Pearson |
Ladies Doubles | Elaine Leitch and Sam Williamson | Debbie Ryder and Jane Vincent |
Ladies Vets Doubles | Debbie Ryder and Jane Vincent | Sally Charlton and Joan McCrossan |
EVENT | WINNER | RUNNER-UP |
Mixed Doubles | Peter Grant and Jane Vincent | Mark Elliott and Gill Stoney |
Mixed Vets Doubles | Peter Grant and Jane Vincent | Chris Iles and Sam Williamson |
Mixed Super Vets Doubles | Chris Iles and Sally Charlton | Peter Archer and Jill Penton |
To see more photos, click here
Finals 2020 : photos
Here are some photos from our Finals weekend 2020
You’ll notice some faces keep re-appearing, notably Peter Grant who played in three finals on Saturday and another three on Sunday. Hope you could get out of bed on Monday morning, Peter!
Nearly as busy was Jane Vincent, who played four finals across the weekend, winning three of them.
(I hope all these images display correctly for you. The website was very unco-operative when I was trying to upload them and they seem to display differently on different platforms. Grr!)
Click here for full results
Summer Camps: 2020
It was great to see the summer camps happening during August. All the spaces were sold out. Would you believe that one of the weeks coincided with the really intense heatwave and then there was a day which was completely rained off!
Thank you to the committee (again!)
I posted the following on Facebook and it almost immediately started clocking up “likes” to show many of our members share my support for the committee.
Here is what I posted :
I’d like to give a huge thank you to the committee for all the work they have been doing supporting us through these strange times. I am in the privileged position of seeing all the committee minutes for posting on the website, without having to spend the time at committee meetings as such. They are dealing with very difficult circumstances with often inconsistent / contradictory statements from the LTA. Paul’s recent letter did not do justice fully to the amount of time, discussion etc which goes into their decisions. (That is meant as a compliment, Paul!)
All minutes are up on the website. You need to use a password to avoid people outside the club having access to them. Please email me at krusbridge@btinternet.com if you would like to know the password so you can read the full details of the discussions.
U-18 membership and our “Introduce a friend” scheme
Are you under 18 and interested in tennis?
Do you have a youngster at home during lockdown?
Avondale Tennis Club is offering Junior membership at a cost of £44 covering the period until 31 March 2021.
Introduce a friend before 30 September 2020 and you will BOTH receive a FREE 45-minute private joint lesson with one of our Level IV tennis coaches.
Junior members may bring a visitor at £2/visit for under-18s (£4/visit for over-18s). Number of visits restricted to 10 per year for an under-18 visitor (5 per year for an over-18 visitor).
* For more information on this offer visit: click here, or contact Zana Fletcher – avondalecoaching@virginmedia.com or 077914 822724