Club Newsletter: August 2018

Dear Member,

As the summer season progresses in this glorious sunshine, we write to give you some updates and reminders, and to request some help.

Courts
Back in May we let you know about the plans for resurfacing court 3, 6 and 7. The extensive work on Courts 6 and 7 (resurfacing, floodlight installation, new fencing) is planned to start after Finals Day, and we have just heard that work on Court 3 will start on Thursday 9th August . We appreciate that this is short notice but our aim has been to ensure that it is resurfaced and available for use for the winter season, and to avoid having all three courts out of action at the same time. There is never a good time to work on the courts, but in looking at court usage over recent years this has proven to be the quietest time. The work will take 3-4 weeks and there will be some juggling of court allocations once again during this period of disruption, so please bear with us. If not ready for Finals Day it shall at least be available for spectators.

Hitting wall
In rejuvenating courts 6 and 7 we have an opportunity to install a hitting wall, likely at the Gallery end of court 6. The Committee’s view is that this is an additional beneficial facility for the club, in particular for our junior membership, for minimal cost. However, before we proceed we would like to get your feedback. We shall of course take into consideration cost, maintenance and potential noise impact. What we want to hear from you is whether you consider this to be an added benefit to the club that would be used. Please could you let Alyson Fox (Chair), Simon Godfrey (Director Facilities and Grounds) or David Winks (Chair of Tennis) know your views on this.

Tennis Finals Day – Saturday 8th September
Thank you to everyone for working to get all your tournament matches played, and to Nick Robinson for allowing us all our extensions! Finals Day this year is 8th September, and once again we shall have a full programme of Junior, Open and Veterans finals. Alongside the tennis will be an afternoon barbecue, evening entertainment and food, and of course the bar will be open all day. Please do put the day in your diary and come along to support the tennis and have a great time.

None of this will be possible without your help so if you’d be willing to lend a hand – setting up, flipping burgers, pulling pints, mixing Pimms - please could you let Jimmy Gasteen (Social Secretary) know , we can’t leave it all to Jimmy…

Welfare Officer
It is mandatory for every community club to have a nominated and trained Welfare Officer with responsibility for ensuring a safe and inclusive venue, and to act as a point of contact for children and adult members to report any concerns, particularly regarding our junior participants (our Child Protection Policy and Safeguarding Policy can be found here: http://www.oldcollege.co.uk/about-us/club-policies). Ben Randall has very ably fulfilled this role over the past 3 years (thanks Ben!) but has to step down this autumn, and we are delighted that Emma Michell has agreed to take over. We will put Emma’s details in the clubhouse and on the website shortly, and as Welfare Officer she’ll also become a member of our Tennis Committee.

Positions vacant
We currently have two positions for which we need volunteers:

Member’s Representative on the Club Committee . This role acts as a point of contact for any club member wishing to raise a concern or provide feedback through the Committee. If you are interested and willing to take this on this please talk to Alyson Fox (Chair).
Director Court Allocation , responsible for liaising with team captains and allocating and booking courts for team matches through the winter and summer seasons. Please let David Winks (Chair of Tennis) know if you’d be willing to take this on.

The club is run solely by member volunteers, who give their spare time to keep the facilities, tennis, croquet and social activities running smoothly. We always need more people to help, so please do consider putting your hand up for one of these positions.

OC Jaguars
We’ve had a really active season for our junior teams in the Surrey league. The matches have just finished, and could not have happened without the parents and helpers who act as team captains and organise the matches for our youngsters. Many thanks to Esther Webster, Rosa Marks, Louis Blondiau, Charlie Casey, Elizabeth Parry, Jason Stuart, Noelia Serrano, and Andrea Usai for their commitment to OC junior tennis.

OCLTCC Club Committee
August 2018

06/08/2018