Social Mix-Ins to return from Monday 17th May
Step 3 of the Government’s Roadmap is scheduled to come into force on Monday 17th May and from that date up to 30 people will be allowed to play tennis together outdoors.
We are therefore proposing to re-commence our Social Mix-in tennis programme as soon as Step 3 is implemented with sessions planned every week from 17th May as follows:-

Please join us if you are free. No pre-registration required.

Shared Tennis Balls
When the Social Mix-Ins recommence from 17th May, we plan to make available shared tennis balls in the rack in the entrance hall. These balls are for use by adult members only. Please ensure that you return the balls to the rack after use and try to find any lost balls.

This is of course subject to there being no change in the Government/LTA advice.

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.

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.

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

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.