Summer Newsletter

I hope you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the scorching weather recently – admittedly it has created some difficult playing conditions for some of the ladies, men’s (Bubwith away!) and mixed matches but the teams have powered through and picked up some great results. Here’s all the latest from Riccall Tennis Club!

Introducing our committee:

Chairman/Membership secretary/Safe-guarding officer: Steven Capewell

Treasurer: Andrew Dunning

Secretary: Marilyn Angles

Coaching: Sasha Taylor and Andrew Long

Committee member: Steve Packer

Committee member: Lucy Dennis

All can be contacted by email: info@riccalltennisclub.com or WhatsApp or phone at appropriate time of the day.

Padel developments:

We’ve been working hard over the last few months finalising our plans for a padel court to be installed on court 4. We’ve secured permission from The Riccall Sportsfield Association and are now in the midst of planning permission applications which is always more complicated than expected! We’ve installed the help of a local architect who is supporting our application so we’re hopeful that should be granted in the coming weeks. We can then begin construction and hope the court will be action in the Autumn.

Court/club developments:

A few cracks and holes have recently been filled in and we’re about to order some matching paint to finish the job. Unfortunately, we’ve had an outbreak of horsetail weed which can cause significant problems to any area so if you see any evidence of this, please let me know so that it can be treated (mainly seen at the edge of court 4). We’ve also just received an order of some more filler to sort a few small holes in court one in particular. A few members are due to meet up in the next few weeks to jet wash the courts to clear the pigeon mess and myself and Steve P have a plan to get a heavy roller on the courts to try to get rid of a few bumps soon. Lucy has expertly planted the planters and some solar lights have been added so everywhere is now looking the best it can be. We’ve also sown some grass seed near the bench and table to improve the look of that area. As stated previously, we are committed keeping the courts in as good a condition as we can until they can be completely resurfaced.

We’ve also purchased a few club essentials such as a new lawnmower, strimmer, patio storage container, clubhouse hoover and some storage boxes for spare tennis rackets and balls for non-members who can’t access the clubhouse. We’ve installed a key storage lock as well which means all members will have access to the clubhouse via a code and we won’t have to cut any more keys. All of this was paid for by money raised from the Easter raffle so thank you to everyone who took part and to Steve P for organising it.

Events to get involved in:

Two up and coming events for your diary! Our next ‘Summer Social’ is planned for Friday 22 nd August. We’ll have sausage sandwiches on the go (free of charge) together with tennis games as well as some free court time to play. Let us know if you’ll be coming down so that we have an idea of numbers for catering.

Happily Ever After Celebration Ball to celebrate 25 years of the Regen Centre (Saturday 27 th September). Tickets are £45 per head if you’d like to be on the tennis table (a few places left) – £50 if you’re not on the tennis table. Dress to impress and your ticket includes a welcome drink, 3-course meal and live entertainment – not one to be missed!

League matches:

The ladies, men’s and the mixed teams are now coming to end of their seasons with the ladies’ team having a strong season and 2 nd mixed team on course for promotion! Despite the men’s team rebuilding this year they are fighting to stay in their league and are currently just out of the relegation zone. The mixed 1st team are also fighting to stay in the league after having a strong second half of the season. A mention to Alexander (aged 8) and Izzy (15) who turned out for the mixed 2 nd teams last week, a great achievement and both didn’t look out of place! We’re always on the lookout for potential team players as large squads really help with managing busy family lives and playing for teams! Let us know if you fancy getting involved, there’s no expectation to turn out every week but being available for selection really helps out. It’s also lots of fun as well and a great social get together.

Club night balls, family event balls:

Providing quality balls for club nights and our family events are a priority for the coming year. We now have a weekly supply of balls to use for club nights (Ben is managing this process well), balls are ready on top of the grey storage box in the kit room (located in the club house). We’ll also ensure a supply of junior balls are available for family events, we’ll be purchasing some of these shortly.

Reminder – Booking courts and floodlight use:

As our club continues to grow, we now have the issue of court availability (which is a good problem have!) Over the last few years, generally, there has been courts available at any time. However as coaching, interest in teams, singles play and social tennis is growing then we need to emphasise the importance of our court booking system. We have had a considerable increase in pay and play bookings over the summer so please ensure courts are booked so that we don’t have a clash of court use. The booking system can be found on our website and should be used at all times for all sessions.

Regarding floodlights, as we all know the cost of electricity has rocketed for us all including the tennis club! That said, our policy is still to offer the use of the floodlights for a minimal voluntary donation of £1 per person per hour which is very good value compared to other clubs. As a result, we have put signs up reminding everyone of that together with the club’s bank details to make payments. Can you also ensure only one court is lit if only one court is being used as well. Hopefully we can continue to offer this and won’t need to go to an automated system like some other clubs do.

IT Sports (located at Clifton Moor, York):

If you are looking for brand new kit please get in touch with Sasha or Andrew as they are sponsored by this specialist racket shop (tennis, badminton, squash, pickleball, padel) and can get great discounts for you.

Finally, just for info, now that we have re-established a number of club policies and got lots of information out there, I’ll be writing a newsletter quarterly just to lighten the workload! Enjoy the last few matches of the season and get ready for the singles ladder to be re-launched in the Autumn!

Kind regards,