An update for members

Dear Riccall Tennis Club Members,

I hope that you are keeping well and looking after yourselves during this terribly tough and worrying time. Please find below a little update about everything going on at our tennis club.

It was with a very heavy heart that I had to stop the tennis coaching programme for both Juniors and Adults until further notice. It was also a terribly hard decision for us to close the tennis courts, but after notice from the LTA and following the latest information given to us by our Government, the committee had a vote and it was decided that until everything settles down, we will keep the courts closed. Once they are reopened everyone will be notified. The code will be different, once you have renewed your membership you will receive the new code.

For those of you who have not been down to the tennis club for a while, you’d be very pleased to know that the refurbishment of the outside of our club house is now complete. You will not even recognise it, it looks amazing! Our next project is to renovate the inside, which we made a start on a couple of weeks ago. We have bought all new flooring to lay and have made a start on the painting. When everything settles down, we will be hosting another couple of ‘working weekends’ to try and get it all finished. Our tennis courts have also now been cleaned and painted. This is the first time in 10 years that they have been painted and they look stunning. We decided to go for a change from the red and green to a much brighter Wimbledon purple and green. Once they are open again, I will be running a fun, free doubles tournament for everyone to take part in.

We have all been working extremely hard to ensure that our club’s facilities are of the highest standard for everyone to enjoy. It is great to have a newly refurbished club house and brand-new painted courts, however these have incurred a lot of high costs for us as a club. As we come up to April, the new tennis membership year is upon us. Due to our large refurbishments to the clubhouse and the tennis courts that we have done to ensure we are providing you with the highest quality tennis courts to play on, we are now in the position where we are relying heavily on funds from our memberships. If there are any members who are able to pay their membership subs now, we would really really appreciate the boost in our income. Membership prices have remained the same and can be found on our Riccall Tennis Club website, along with our tennis club’s bank details. Those members who would prefer to wait until the courts are back open will be offered a lower fee which will be determined by the RTC Committee at that time.

Unfortunately, we have received correspondence from the York & District Mixed Leagues, the Fulford Invitation Ladies League, and the York Men’s Tennis League that all the 2020 seasons have been cancelled. When social tennis is allowed to continue, depending on when this is, remaining fixtures may be played as friendlies.

Our ‘Call My Bluff’ wine tasting event that was due to happen in May has now been postponed until September. You, your friends and your family will get to taste multiple wines in an attempt to guess what you think they are. This will be accompanied with cheeseboards which can be enjoyed whilst the wine experts provide us with the correct answers. If wine is not for you, there will be other drinks available and a raffle which will include many amazing prizes. This is something to look forward to, and there will be more information about the event emailed out in due course.

Finally, I would just like to wish everyone well and hope that you are all doing ok. I am looking forward to seeing everyone back on the tennis courts, hopefully soon. Please look after yourselves.

Kind Regards,

Sasha Taylor

Riccall Chair Person
07885599012