News Update 20 June 2014

June 2014 Newsletter

Firstly, thanks to everyone who supported our RallyforBally fund raiser last  weekend. Our sales of Big Breakfasts, cakes and tea/coffee, together with donations raised £140 to be divided equally between the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and the Elena Baltacha Tennis Academy.  Thanks to Sheila C for her help in the kitchen!
Sheila has also offered to organise a raffle later in the year. She has already secured a number of very good prizes from members and would be pleased to hear from anyone else who can provide a prize.

Further to the sad news about John Tunnicliffe in the last update, a few words below:  
             
John Tunnicliffe   (1936 – 2014)

John played tennis throughout his life. He was a member of Syston Northfields among other clubs before joining Oadby over 20 years ago. He was a regular figure on our courts every Sunday morning as well as playing in daytime fixed fours. He was a very keen competitor who loved playing matches against other clubs and county sides and was captain of Leicestershire’s 75+ team.
Two members have written the following: “A man devoted to his tennis. He never gave up.”  “I was always impressed by his effort and commitment which I found an inspiration. I shall miss him”.
Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.

Clubhouse Development & Sport England

Following on from the EGM where we made a commitment to keep members informed about our progress with our Sport England Award,  I am pleased to tell you that we have started to award the tenders to contractors.

As per our original intention and Sport England's criteria, we have obtained three quotes for each job (over 18 quotes in total). There have been lots of decisions to make that have involved a great deal of discussion. There are also a couple of things that have moved forward which weren't in our original bid.

Firstly, the committee has taken the decision to plaster the majority of the lounge/bar area. Some brickwork will remain across the front and to the left of the bar in order to preserve some of the original features. Brickwork in the entrance hall/corridor will remain.

We have also made the decision to have all of the windows replaced - they will be rosewood on the outside/white on the inside and will be triple glazed. This will mean that we can do away with the secondary glazing that was put in some years ago.

Another decision is to install solar panels on the roof. Whilst this wasn't in the original bid, Sport England have agreed to, and are enthusiastic about, our intentions in this area. The club has discussed at committee meetings the possibility of going down this route a number of times before, but the costs to the club at the time meant that any project just wasn't viable. However, we are now in a different situation. Whilst generating electricity for ourselves, we would also be exporting back to the national grid and, over the next 6 or 7 years, will have paid back the initial costs (if we were paying for it ourselves). If numbers are your thing, Paul is your man to speak to! As I have mentioned, Sport England have agreed to this as it falls within the Environmental Sustainability remit of the project. It also fits within our budget, there will no extra financial cost to the club.

There will be a gas boiler which will be sited in the loft, which will free up space within the men’s changing rooms. It will also be more efficient than the boiler we are running at the moment.

The contractors working with us will be:
Central Heating - East Goscote Plumbers
Lighting - Glenfield Electrical
Windows - Welland Valley
Plastering - Robert Smith
Solar Heating - Solar Heat UK

The total costs for the above is approximately £47,000 (our grant was £45,698).

You will also see that the results from the recent online survey are up at the club, notice has been taken of comments made and revamping the patio and bar areas are on the agenda, however with a busy couple of months ahead these may be projects that run into my year as ex-officio!

Please appreciate that to make decisions like these on behalf of club members is never easy for the committee and we know that, alongside the strong supporters, there will be others who are not fully in favour. Through careful budgeting of these improvements, however,  we will be able to have more than in the original plan (given the overestimates explained at the EGM). The end result will be a much more energy efficient clubhouse with a lighter, brighter, more modern feel to the lounge/hall which takes the club into the next phase of its successful 68 year existence.

Work Party 12th/13th July 

During the period of clubhouse development, some money can be saved by some work being done by members ourselves. The first help we need is to help clear the lounge area and dust proof the bar/kitchen on the weekend of 12th/13th July. We are asking for 1/2 a day from 10 or so people. We'll put a sign up sheet in the foyer. Thanks in advance to all volunteers.

Diary Dates

Word Cup/Wimbledon – watch matches from the clubhouse !
Sunday 29th June – Open Day, 1.30-4pm, all courts in use. This is part of the Great British Tennis Weekend, offering free coaching to adults and juniors. A poster is attached if you have a place where one can be displayed.

 If you know of anyone who is interested please get them to come along to the event – membership rates reduced on the day and for the week following.

We are also in need of some spare racquets for adults so if you have any old unwanted ones, please bring them to the club

Wednesday 2nd July – Adult Open Day follow-up, alongside usual Wednesday evening mix-in

Saturday 5th July – Closing date for Leics. Closed County Tournament

Sunday 6th July – Wimbledon Men’s Final, on TV in the clubhouse. Bar, strawberries and cream and other delights available!

Saturday mid July – Parent & Child Tournament, date to be confirmed.

Saturday 26th July- Start of Leics. Closed County Tournament for a week

Tuesday 5th August – Men’s Night

Saturday 16th August – Ladies’ Afternoon

Best wishes
Katie

Ps  Please note that Sue will be away from her laptop (and Oadby!)  for 7 out of the next 10 days so if you need to get in touch please mail me on katieengland74@aol.co.uk

News Update 14 June 2014

News Update 14 June 2014

Rally for Bally with a Big Breakfast

Just a reminder that we are holding a fundraiser this weekend for the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Elena Baltacha Tennis Foundation. This is part of a national fund raiser in memory of former British number 1 player Elena Baltacha who died recently of liver cancer.

On Saturday coffee/tea and biscuits/cakes to follow usual coaching sessions. On Sunday mix in as usual with Big Breakfasts or bacon/sausage from 10 am -12 noon. All members welcome plus family and friends. Fathers' Day treat ?  All profits from the weekend will be divided between the two charities.

4 courts free on Sunday afternoon if you want to start with the Big Breakfast at 12 noon and play tennis afterwards !!

John Tunnicliffe

John's funeral will take place at Gilroes Crematorium on Friday 20th June at 10.30am. John's son Andrew has said that any of John’s friends from the world of tennis are very welcome to attend. The family are very appreciative of all  the help that club members gave last week and pass on their thanks to those who were there when John collapsed.

We know how John loved his Sunday morning tennis so it was good to see all 6 courts were full last week with many members sharing memories of him. Another full turnout this week would be a fitting tribute. Later in the year we are also organising some fundraising for Heartlink, a Glenfield Hospital based charity.

Club Survey 

Thank you to everyone who completed our recent survey online or with a paper copy. We will display more results on the noticeboard next week but a brief summary is below :

A) Lounge area – the vast majority of responses requested a lighter, brighter and more modern lounge/hall area.
B) Patio/outside area – a number of responses suggested a better viewing area for courts 4-6, possible cover/roof and more seating.
 C) Social events - mixed doubles tournaments/quizzes were the most popular choices
 D) Other - lots of requests to update the bar area with a simpler method of locking the cupboards.

Use of kitchen/bar

Please remember to give the oven a quick wipe down after cooking post tennis food and ensure baking trays are also washed. Please use oven gloves rather than tea towels/hand towels for taking hot items from the oven.

If you are using the bar and see that stocks are low, please spend a couple of minutes adding some cans/bottles to ensure cold drinks are available for the next team using the bar.

We appreciate it is a busy time organising  food/drinks after matches but also want to ensure everything is left clean/sorted for teams later in the week. Thanks.

Open Day

For adults, juniors & parents who are interested in joining.

Free play & free coaching in the afternoon  Sun 29 June - rackets & balls supplies

There will be a number of members on duty - answering questions, showing you around etc.

News Update - June 6 2014

It is with very sad news that I start this update. I know some members will already be aware that John Tunnicliffe collapsed and died at the club earlier today. One of our members with medical training and an ambulance crew did all they could to help but unfortunately  were unable to save him. Our thoughts are very much with his family at this time. A tribute will follow in a future newsletter.

 Following the last update Paul Handford is well underway with obtaining quotes from local contractors. Our intention is to start work on 14th July for approx 4 weeks with minimal disruption to the goings on at the club, although there will be restricted use of the clubhouse during this time.

As mentioned at the EGM, work on updating the constitution will be starting soon. This is a big undertaking for the club and our aim is to have it completed for the AGM in October.

We have lots of things planned for the coming months, here are some dates for your diaries :

Saturday 7th June – Sports Mercury Cup semi-final v Carisbrooke 1.30pm at Carisbrooke, please come along and support the Oadby team of Ben, Hussein, Hassan, Kate W, Anna and Jenny.  !

Sunday 8th June – French Open Final, come along and watch at the clubhouse, bar open, snacks available

June/July– World Cup at the Tennis Club, keep an eye out for England matches being shown on TV at the club, the bar will be open, the three lions will be busy elsewhere

Sunday 15th June – Rally for Bally, come along for a set of tennis and treat yourself, your family to a bacon bap or full English  breakfast as part of our Dads’ Big Breakfast Brunch. All monies collected on the day will be donated to the Royal Marsden Hospital and Elena Baltacha Foundation

Sunday 29th June – Open Day, 1.30-4pm, all courts in use. This is part of the Great British Tennis Weekend, offering free coaching to adults and juniors. If you are able to display a poster at a place of work/leisure, please get in touch and we will forward one to you.

Also any offers to help, meet and greet and hit with potential new members would be gratefully received.  Names to Rosie O’Connor rosie_312@hotmail.com who is helping to coordinate this event. If you know of anyone who is interested please get them to come along to the event. We are also in need of some spare racquets for adults so if you have any old unwanted ones, please bring them to the club

Wednesday 2nd July – Adult Open Day follow-up, alongside usual Wednesday evening mix-in

Saturday 5th July – Closing date for Leics. Closed County Tournament

Sunday 6th July – Wimbledon Men’s Final, on tv in the clubhouse. Bar, strawberries and cream and other delights available !

Saturday mid July – Parent & Child Tournament, date to be confirmed.

Saturday 26th July- Start of Leics. Closed County  Tournament for a week

Tuesday 5th August – Men’s Night

Saturday 16th August – Ladies’ Afternoon

Finally, we are glad to see Eddie S back on court after his recent hip surgery and our best wishes go to Dan Poultney our men’s first captain who is undergoing appendix surgery this week  and will be out of action for a couple of months.

Best wishes

Katie
Club Chairman