Elliswick LTC Newsletter – March 2025
Dear Members,
Welcome to our March Newsletter. Following the clock change, the midweek evening sessions will be starting on 1st April 2025. From 6pm until we can no longer see the ball, every Tuesdays (Men’s Night) just turn up and play, Wednesdays (Ladies nights) organised by Victoria, please contact Victoria on 07429581034 or [email protected] and Thursdays (Mixed) run by Rupert/Dan. Players of all standards are very welcome to join in. You can even have refreshments at the bar after the evening sessions.
A quick plea for assistance – we need an accountant to help us prepare the club’s annual accounts in October. Please contact our Chairman Eric Rovick ([email protected]) if you can help out with this important task.
VE DAY CELEBRATION AT ELLISWICK LTC – MONDAY 5TH MAY 2025 AT 10AM
We will be hosting tournaments for adults, juniors and parents & juniors. We will also have an illustrated talk by David Kendall on the impact of the war on Harpenden, a scrumptious patriotic lunch and a fabulous show by Tim Sutton. Please sign up here: https://forms.gle/dPwCkHfX79WjXWko8
SAFEGUARDING
Please note that Children under the age of 13 years old should not be left unattended at the Club. They need to be in the company of a parent or responsible adult and Juniors (16 and Under) can only use the clubhouse facilities when accompanied by a parent or responsible adult.
CLUB TOURNAMENT
The draw of the club tournament had been published by email to all members and also posted on the notice board together with the contact lists for the participants. Matches up to and including semi-final stage must be concluded by 18 June 2025. Dates to complete each round will be monitored strictly and if any matches are not played by this date, the match will be agreed by the ‘toss of a coin’.
Should there be extenuating circumstances then you are to notify Louise Behan before the round deadline.
COURTS FOR TOURNAMENT MATCHES
Players should book courts online in the usual manner – see website for details. Please book matches for 1.5 hours max. Court bookings are open two weeks in advance. Andree Haxton will only allocate a court for your match during the club nights or social mix-ins.
Please schedule your matches well in advance of the deadlines in case they get postponed due to inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
If anyone has to pull out of the competition, please notify our Tournament Secretary, Louise Behan, at [email protected] . Best of luck to all the entrants!
PERSONAL DETAILS IN CLUBSPARKS
It is really important that ALL members check that we have your full details in our Clubspark membership system. To those who haven’t updated your personal details in Clubspark, please do so by logging into your Elliswick LTC Account using the link below.
If you are already signed in, please sign out and then back in again.
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Select “Your Account” top right. You should then see a page called your profile. Please update all your details and use the save button at the bottom.
COURT BOOKING
All court bookings must be made online using your LTA user id at
https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/ElliswickLawnTennisClub/Booking/
Bookings can also made via the Booker App for phones and tablets.
Information on how to do both of these can be found on the Clubspark Support page at
https://sportlabs.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/4406978466193-Players-and-Members
Bookings can be made by intermediate and full adult members.
The ELTC web page also contains the Court Booking Policy https://www.elliswickltc.co.uk/book-a-court-2/ which all members must abide by.
BRINGING A GUEST
Guests are allowed during off-peak times. Please make sure that the member introducing a guest to play tennis must enter the name and address of the guest together with his/her own name in the book which is kept on the Club’s premises (in the hallway). At the same time the required visitor’s fee (£3.00 cash) must be paid. No one may be admitted as a guest to play tennis on more than three occasions in any calendar year. The total number of guests permitted per Member per annum shall be four.
CLUBHOUSE AND GROUNDS
Spring appears to be in full bloom at our club, as evidenced by the beautiful flowers in our well-tended garden. Thank you very much to Dave Watkinson, who has been working very hard to create a very beautiful garden for all members and visitors alike to enjoy.
CAR PARKING
Please be considerate to other members when parking your car at the club’s carpark. Please ensure that you do not take up two spaces when you park your car. Also, those with larger vehicles who park in the front car park must ensure they leave plenty of room for others to get by in order to access the rear car park.
TEAM TENNIS
All winter matches are still progressing, with a few matches left to play. Summer leagues (including Herts League, Hot Rackets and Summer Datchworth) are all being arranged and team captains should be reaching out to you for your availability. Thank you to all the captains for organising the matches. Anyone who wishes to be part of a team should contact our respective captains as follows:
Ladies Captain: Kate Curson – [email protected]
Mens Captain: Jem Collier-Garrity – [email protected]
Mixed Team Captain: Amy Martin – [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP
A very warm welcome to all our new members! We look forward to meeting many of you at New Members’ Day on Saturday May 10th from 2pm to 5pm. Sunday 11th May is alternative date if weather is poor on Saturday 10th May. This day is an introduction for our new members (adults and juniors) to the club and to meet some of the committee members and play a few games on court followed by refreshments. If you wish to attend, please sign up here: https://forms.gle/wExNWLYTbA5uqbD76
SOCIALS
The wine tasting evening in March was a huge success. Fine wine and great company is clearly a winning combination. Thank you to Alison & Barrie who worked so hard to put on an incredible event. 30 members enjoyed a great evening out at the Eric Morecambe Centre watching members Mary Watkinson and Tim Spencer perform in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Supper Nights – Thursday evenings, once a month, starting on Thursday 17th April to 11th September.
Members and their family are welcome to join us for a delicious supper cooked by some of our generous and talented members. We are still looking for members who are interested in cooking for one of our famous supper nights on the following dates: 12th June and 11th September. These dates can be altered to suit, but obviously need to be on a Thursday evening after club mix-in.
Please note below our social events scheduled for April and May 2025.
APRIL 2025
1st – Mens Night begins
2nd – Ladies Night begins
3rd – Club Night begins
17th – First Supper Night hosted by Jenny Stevenson. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/pEdr9HR5ihzd5rUq5
21st – First Bank Holiday Tournament. Individuals can enter to play a friendly mixed doubles tournament of 3 rounds. Play starts at 10 am and finishes around midday followed by a sociable lunch: https://forms.gle/4ftwpPBPrSCQURcB7
25th – Junior Night begins
MAY 2025
5th – VE DAY CELEBRATION, sign up here: https://forms.gle/dPwCkHfX79WjXWko8
10th – New Members Day with reserve date 11th May. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/wExNWLYTbA5uqbD76
13th – Mens Beer & Curry Night, sign up here: https://forms.gle/eAJzTHWrazfq9798A
15th – Mexican Supper Night, sign up here: https://forms.gle/8ViZ442RGVocYKRb8
26th – Spring Bank Holiday Tournament, sign up here: https://forms.gle/JFSQGyZT4Hze1ng28
Sally Radcliffe has also secured 16 tickets for The Tina Turner Musical showing at The Aldwych theatre in London on Monday 2 June at a heavily discounted rate of £39.50 each. Please e-mail Sally Radcliffe if you are interested in going. Tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis. [email protected]
The bar will also be open during our Social Events.
Bacon rolls for sale on Saturday mornings are to be continued. Mabel has now reached her target for her school trip. Mabel and her family would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity. We wish Mabel all the best of luck for her lacrosse tour to Canada/USA.
Jack Beasley will take over from Mabel from 12th April to raise funds for the World Challenge in Cambodia in 2026. He will be working in a bear orphanage.
Our Social Secretary is organising a trip to the Eric Morecambe centre to see commentator and Strictly contestant Annabel Croft on Saturday 15 November ‘From Tennis Balls to Glitter Balls’.We have been given a 25% discount on ticket prices because we are an LTA tennis club! Jane will be sending around a sign-up for members interested in attending this event shortly.
Please also note the Lulu and the Hullabaloos will now be performing at the club on Saturday 8th November
If you have any queries regarding our Social events, please contact our Social Secretary, “Super Jane” Bisseker at[email protected].
JUNIORS
JUNIOR NIGHTS – Starting Friday 25th April after the Easter break – FREE TO ALL JUNIOR MEMBERS
THESE SESSIONS WILL ONLY GO AHEAD IF WE HAVE AN ADEQUATE NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS TO SUPERVISE AND/OR RUN THE BAR. IF YOU CAN KINDLY OFFER SOME HELP, PLEASE EMAIL [email protected]
There will be a tuck shop for our juniors to enjoy, run by our Junior Member Katie Wake, who is raising money for her expedition to Costa Rica in the summer of 2026. She will be doing some trekking, kayaking and camping as well as taking part in community initiatives such as beach clean-ups and turtle conservation.
The bar will only be opened for the parents/carers if we have volunteers to run the bar.
Times are:
4:30-6pm for young juniors (Primary School Age), who must be supervised by a parent or adult.
6-8pm is for older juniors (Secondary School age). Whilst they do not need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian, we do need to ensure that we have adult supervision.
TEAM TENNIS
The Hertfordshire National Summer Junior Leagues start in April. Thank you to the Junior Captains for liaising with the clubs and players. Captains are as follows:
U12 Boys – Kelly Newton-Batchelor
U14 Boys – David Brocklebank
U16 Boys – Paul Lucas
If you wish your juniors to play in a team, please do not hesitate to contact our Junior Secretary, Dan Pearce, at [email protected].
JUNIOR TOURNAMENT – SUNDAY 29TH JUNE 2025 (RESERVED DATE SUNDAY 6TH JULY 2025)
THE TOURNAMENT WILL ONLY GO AHEAD IF WE HAVE AN ADEQUATE NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS. IF YOU CAN KINDLY OFFER SOME HELP, PLEASE EMAIL [email protected]
CHARITY CONCERT – SATURDAY 14TH JUNE 2025
Charity Concert with Pam Rhodes (BBC Presenter) & Upbeat Choir (Tim Sutton & the Gang) in the Crinkle Crankle Garden, Wheathampstead at 5pm. For more information, please visit www.wpcevents.co.uk
Kind Regards
Elliswick LTC Committee
PS, Don’t forget to keep up to date with events at our website http://www.elliswickltc.co.uk and follow our Facebook page as well.