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Orchard Lawn Tennis Club
KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – 2015/16
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Monday 1 April – Start of new season
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Sunday 19 April – American Tournament (2pm)
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Monday 20 April – Start of Datchworth Summer League
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Saturday 25 April – Annual Clubhouse Spring Clean Day (pm)
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Bank Holiday Monday 4 May - Junior Open Day (all day)
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Friday 8 May – Wimbledon Ballot Night & BBQ (7pm)
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Sunday 17 May – President’s Cup (pm)
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Sunday 5 July – Adults Club Finals Day (pm)
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Sunday 12 July – Junior Club Finals Day (pm)
Sunday 19th July – Parent & Child Tournament 1-6pm
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Bank Holiday Monday 31 August – Mixed Handicap Tournament.
All welcome including restricted members & better juniors
Sunday 20th September – Stuart West Charity tournament (pm)
 Sunday 4th October – Overs v Unders Tournament (pm)
 Saturday 12th December – Christmas Party (provisional date)
 Saturday 23rd January 2016 – Quiz Night (provisional date)
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE WEBSITE FOR FURTHER DETAILS. THANK YOU
New balls please!
A year of change is ahead of us in many ways:
o The LTA have changed the way they run the National ballot for
Wimbledon tickets. Two thirds of the membership eventually ‘opted in’
and we hope this will result in a greater allocation of tickets for club
members. You will still need to turn up to our Club ballot night as normal
(or send a representative) to qualify for tickets as that part of the process
has not changed. Good Luck!
o Due to the success of the Junior section, we have separated out the Club
Tournament so that the juniors have their own Finals Day on a different
day to the adults. We hope this makes life easier for player/parents too!
o For those who did not make it along to our AGM, we have amended our
constitution to put into place a new legal structure whereby the trustees of
the club (who are signatories on our lease with the Council) are no longer
financially exposed as individuals. This came about as a result of us
trying to get agreement from the Council to go ahead with works to
improve the churned up parking verge. It’s a long story suffice to say,
work to make good the verge after our main water leak should go ahead
this Spring.
o We are currently going through a process to assess the playing surface of
the courts (particularly court 1) to see if there is some work that can be
done to improve it and extend its life rather than replacing it just yet. We
are looking at various methodologies and quotes. In the meantime, you
can help by wiping your feet on the mats provided and adhering to the
rules posted up on the gates to the courts. Or use court 3 more often!
o We are looking at proposals to update and improve the Clubhouse. It has
served us well for 77 years but it has been a while since we did any major
improvements so watch this space and bear with us during any works.
I hope you have a good season, whether playing for pleasure or
competitively.
Elspeth Heywood - Chairman
Spring
Newsletter
2015
Wimbledon Ballot
Thank you for your co-operation in
helping us implement the new LTA
ballot system. We normally get around
18 pairs of tickets and we are hopeful
the ‘opt in’ system will be to our
advantage
We will hold the club ballot and BBQ
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on Friday 8 May.
In order to be eligible to enter, entrants
must be fully paid up members of
Orchard LTC, be British Tennis
Members (BTM’s) and have opted in to
the ballot on the LTA website. If you
have not already done so, you can still
opt in up to 24 hours before our own
Club ballot night – it just won’t make a
difference to the LTA allocation of
tickets as the deadline for that has now
passed.
Look out for a Club email soon, from
Natalie Skilbeck about what to do next.
The Wimbledon Championship 2015
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runs between 29 June and 12
July this year – a week later than
usual
www.orchardtennis.co.uk
One little moan before we go on…….
We have recently received a letter from the Council passing on reports they have received from some
residents in Blakemere Road who are unhappy about the way in which some people park in the road,
churning up verges etc. The implication is that Orchard tennis club members are the main offenders.
Our own parking area is obviously compromised at the moment but we have steps in place to rectify
this. So in the meantime, please park sensitively if leaving your car on Blakemere Road and remember
this is a residential area and we do not wish to upset our neighbours. Thank you for your co-operation.
Orchard Christmas Party
A great time was had by all at Café Trio in December. Forty of the Club’s most sociable
members enjoyed the restaurant’s festive fare and Adam’s seasonal quiz. There are plans
afoot to freshen up the event next year with a new venue and format. Ideas include fancy
dress, karaoke, disco, bowling or just a slightly posher sit down dinner. Many thanks to
Clare Smith, and her lovely assistant Adam Reid, who organized this event and has agreed
to continue in this capacity.
Winter options…..
Our table tennis team plays in the fourth division of the SHAW table tennis
The Orchard Christmas Party took place on 8th December 2012 at the White Horse Inn in Welwyn Village. The
league and matches take place between September and March.
event was very well attended with the highest ever turnout of over 40 club members and partners. After preAfter narrowly missing promotion last year, Orchard TTC is currently in
dinner drinks in the bar, we moved through to a private room for excellent Christmas fare, followed by a
second place (out of ten teams) and vying once again for promotion.
lighthearted bingo session featuring calls that highlighted the foibles of some of our more prominent members.
Digswell having been demoted from the Div 3 last year look solid for the
Sadly, libel laws prevent me printing any of these calls in this newsletter! The evening ended just after 11.00pm,
top spot and promotion back up but the second place (and promotion) is
but it is believed that some of the younger members carried on elsewhere.
looking like a closely fought contest between Wheathampstead and
ourselves. You can follow their progress on the SHAW website with player
Many thanks to Clare Smith for organising this splendid event
and team statistics available.
Following the temporary loss through injury of one of our key players, Clare
Smith, Russell Sainter has stepped in and is holding the fort admirably.
Please contact Captain Gavin Johnstone for more details
Another £465 raised for local charity
Did you know?
You should re-string your racket as many
times per year as you play per week…
The start of the season is a great time to sort
out your equipment and Julia Howard offers a
re-stringing service:
Basic nylon…………………………£12.00
Synthetic gut……………………….£16.50
Championship synthetic gut……..£18.00
New grips and grommet strips.....£ POA
Contact Julia on 07986 293216
The third Stuart West Memorial tournament was held in
September and was once again a well attended event and a
fitting tribute to popular former member Stuart West. As one
member put it, “we had a super afternoon’s tennis played in the
best spirit of the occasion, a pleasure to be a part of. It’s
pleasing to say that’s the sort of club we are”. Funds were
raised through entry fees, a raffle and a cake sale.
This year the West family and Club’s chosen charity was the
Isabel Hospice in WGC. Danielle West captained the winning
team and the best lady and man player awards went to Carly
Hallam and Peter Martin. Everyone got involved and helped but
special thanks must go to Elspeth Heywood who organised
the overall event and Ian and Fiona and the West family who
managed proceedings on the day.
To date this event has raised £1300 for charity and I am
pleased to report that our President, Dave Wesson, will be
taking over the organisation from me to continue this tradition.
Elspeth Heywood
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Getting started - Membership renewal
Each year, half the membership read our requests and half don’t!! So this is a gentle reminder – if you do it right, you will save
our hard working committee an awful lot of work:
Do…….
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Return your membership form directly to Membership Secretary Ann Wesson (from this season, the
coaching team will no longer be accepting membership payments, only coaching monies) as she is
responsible for reconciling payments. Her details are on the membership form
Fill in a membership form even if you have the same details as last year (so we can check our database is
up to date. This also helps us reconcile payments)
Pay electronically (with a clear reference) if you have this facility. Otherwise cheques are better than cash
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Return your membership form and payment by 12 April to qualify for the early bird discount
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Pay your membership by 18 April in order to play in the Datchworth league. You will not be eligible for
selection if you have not paid by this date
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Juniors must be paid up members by 3 May if they wish to continue with coaching.
First Serve in the Datchworth mixed Summer League 2015
The 2015 Datchworth Summer League will soon be upon us. Matches are played on Monday evenings and run for
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fourteen consecutive weeks. The league kicks off on Monday 20 April @ 6pm (6.30pm when the light improves)
and Orchard TC will once again be fielding seven teams.
Orchard teams 1 & 2 both play in the first division, our first team having won the division in 2013 and 2014.
However, our second team was relegated (to Div 2) this year along with teams 3 and 4 who were also relegated
having been promoted the year before. But teams 5, 6 & 7 have now found their level with a large squad of players.
The league covers all ability levels from County standard to players starting to play competitive tennis. Players for
each fixture, one lady & two men, are drawn from the team squad. The lady plays a 13 game set with each of the
men in turn and the men complete proceedings with a ‘men’s doubles’ so all players play 26 games in total.
A Captains meeting will take place soon to discuss the squads in order to provide balance across the teams. But if
you have not played Datchworth before but would like to at any level, please contact [email protected]
by mid April. We can promise newcomers a warm welcome and pleasant tennis on Summer evenings.
It’s worth looking at the league website at www.datchworth.net as it has full details of fixtures, results, club maps
and much more.
On some weeks when we have four ‘home’ matches, we have to use an outdoor court at Gosling (booked and paid
for by the Club). This slight inconvenience is rotated fairly between the teams. But regardless of where you play or in
which team, we try to meet up afterwards at the Red Lion pub on Digswell Hill in Welwyn. See you there?
Peter Williams – Datchworth league co-ordinator
Useful websites
Did you know?
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Gosling Sports Park have offered
Orchard Tennis Club subsidised
court hire rates for courts booked
within 72 hours of play. The offer
is subject to availability and must
be booked directly with the
reception team at Gosling
www.goslingsports.co.uk/courthire
No excuse now for lazy Winters!
www.LTA.org.uk for Aegon Tournament details (men’s & junior boys)
www.hotrackets.co.uk (men’s and ladies)
www.lta/tournamentsoftware.com for the Herts league
www.datchworth.net (mixed Summer and Autumn leagues)
www.tabletennis365.com/shaw (table tennis league)
Wednesday Ladies win on a tie break!
The ladies who receive coaching on Wednesdays took first prize in this year’s
annual quiz, winning on an exciting tie break question. Captained by Liz
Woodhams, the ‘Wednesday Ladies’ beat the defending champions,
captained by Gavin Johnstone with Clare Smith’s team finishing a close third.
With 74 people across ten teams and just 23 points between the winning and
last placed teams, an excellent time was had by all.
We couldn’t possibly name the losing team but let’s just say that if there had
been more questions on West Ham, they might have fared better!
The raffle donations were as generous as always and Clare Smith and Ann
Wesson did a superb job selling tickets and raised over £200. This is our
biggest fundraising event of the year and our thanks go out to all who took
part. We have an expensive couple of years ahead of us so this is a welcome
contribution to Club funds.
Thank you to Elspeth Heywood for organising this event.
Ladies Competitive Tennis
The ladies kicked off the new season with a GNO (girls night out) in early March and a good time was had by all.
It was particularly good to welcome Steph Winfield back after illness.
The Ladies drill sessions last year were well supported, popular and boosted everyone’s confidence so we are
delighted that they will be repeated again this year. These will run on ladies practice night - Wednesdays 6.30pmnd
7.30pm starting on 22 April. Anyone not involved in the drill is welcome to join afterwards for general play.
This year will see us fielding one Hot Rackets team and two Ladies friendly teams and two Senior (vets) teams.
We held our own in last year’s Hot Rackets teams which demonstrated that we are in the correct division for our
interested and available ladies. Patchy availability has led to us having to reduce the number of teams overall but
my focus has been to get the correct number of teams at the most appropriate standards for the ladies interested
in playing matches.
If there is anything else you feel we should be doing, please do not hesitate to let me know on 01727 855268.
Fiona McConnell – Ladies Captain
Men’s Competitive Tennis
Following on from a great year of tennis for Orchard’s men last year, we have an opportunity to build on that
success but above all, enjoy the coming season.
We have one fewer teams this year but we need to have better availability so that the club can play every match
with a full team (sadly, we have had to drop one vets/Seniors team this year due to poor availability).
Men’s practice is on Thursday evenings from 6.30pm and I am looking to introduce drill sessions if the demand is
there (?) with everyone welcome.
Please support your Captains by confirming your availability by email as soon as possible. They do a great job
but they need your co-operation. I am also looking for tennis which is fair and played in the right spirit whilst
remaining competitive.
Gentlemen, let’s make 2015 a season to remember. I look forward to seeing you on court.
Ian Adams – Men’s Captain
Ladies Seniors (over 40’s and over 50’s)
As we go to print, the over 40’s, captained by Fiona McConnell, are holding up well in Div 3 following their
promotion from Div 4 last year. Availability has been patchy and of course we are sorely missing Clare Smith
through injury. But it looks like we have found our perfect level with two wins, one draw and one loss with one
match left to play. Our over 50’s, captained by Gill Gunnell, are still to play the bulk of their matches. One fixture
has already fallen victim to snow so fingers crossed our ladies can get through their remaining fixtures more
smoothly and have a good season.
Many thanks to Fiona and Gill for taking over the captaincy of the Seniors from Clare Smith and for all their hard
work in getting teams out. Well done
How come we look so damn good?!
We had a fantastic turnout (best ever?) at last
year’s Spring Working party day. It may have
been the offer of Elspeth’s yummy cakes or
the free beers that did it but over 20 members
gave up their Saturday afternoon to help
maintain and improve our clubhouse and
grounds. We will be hoping for similar support
(and similar cakes please Chairman!) at this
year’s event which will be taking place on
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Saturday 25 April. Do come along if you can
– there’s always jobs for everyone and it’s
surprisingly good fun!
Many thanks to Clare Smith and Grant
Jenkins who co-ordinate this important
event. It’s much appreciated.
It should also be mentioned here all the good work that Grant Jenkins (courts and general handyman), Graham
Barnes (hedges and grass cutting) and Emily Cox with supervision from Kate (cleaning the clubhouse) do year
long to keep the place looking good. Thank you
Adult coaching
Ladies morning – Wednesday 9.30am – 11am…………………………………………………………..Cost: £6.00
Saturday Afternoons – 3.15-4.15pm (Winter) and 4-5pm (Summer)…………………………………Cost: £6.50
These sessions take place all year round during term time and have seen standards improve with more players
having the confidence to play regular team tennis and to join in with social tennis sessions.
The Wednesday ladies group are not only an intelligent crowd (see quiz results!) but a sociable group too. They
regularly organize events amongst themselves including theatre trips, exhibitions, fund raising activities and the
Xmas meal at the Cowper Arms in Welwyn was a big success.
A FULL LIST OF COACHES AND THEIR CONTACT NUMBERS IS AVAILABLE ON THE CLUB WEBSITE
Junior Corner………………
Saturday morning coaching
The arrival of new tennis coach, Clare Silver, has been very successful and the first 12 week session ran smoothly
with a new impetus and plenty of new ideas. As a highly qualified coach who has worked at many Hertfordshire
clubs including Gosling, Clare has brought a wealth of experience and creative teaching methods which have
invigorated the Saturday morning coaching sessions.
The ten week Spring term is in full swing and runs until Easter. This term continues the Physical, Technical,
Tactical and Mental skills coaching alongside some matchplay with some Australian Open Grand Slam tips!
For Saturday morning coaching enquiries, please email: [email protected]
Regular Competing Juniors
The LTA publish monthly statistics on what they call RCJ’s – regular competing juniors. This league table records
the number of tournament matches and matchplay events played by juniors aged 4-18 years and the data is split
by County and by category of Club. Whilst Orchard TC is amongst the clubs in the lowest, so called ‘restricted
places to play’ category (which reflects the number of courts and the lack of floodlights), we are ranked second
within that category. We are required as part of the Clubmark accreditation to record the RCJ’s but regardless, we
are keen to encourage those juniors receiving coaching to progress through the Club to join the adults playing
inter Club matches.
In 2014, we entered a mini red team into the Winter League and the team did well to reach the knockout stages of
the tournament before being beaten by Batchwood Indoor Centre in St Albans. The matches helped Josh
Cruchett achieve a top Red 1 rating and Sam Forcada is snapping at his heels.
We have entered the LTA’s ‘Road to Wimbledon’ tournament in the U14 age group for the first time in 2015. This
is a single’s knock out competition where the winner progresses to the County stages and ultimately if they win at
Regional level, it’s on to Wimbledon!
Adult & Junior Tournament
We held our fourth annual adult and junior tournament in 2014 with an added twist – all the adults in the yellow
ball competition had to play with a wooden racket. The popular event was another huge success with 20 pairs
playing in three different categories A big thanks goes to Nigel Weston for running the BBQ.
Junior Corner…..cont’d
Primary school Links
As part of our commitment to the Clubmark accreditation, we have continued with the provision of
lunchtime coaching in Holy Family and Harwood Hill Schools. This has the added benefit of attracting
new members and encouraging girls in particular to take up the sport.
Dedicated Juniors Club Tournament
The annual Club tournament last year highlighted the depth and breadth we have now in the junior
section. The most popular category was the U14 boys with 17 competitors with some players – such as
Tom Hughes who won 3 of the 4 finals in which he competed – becoming credible contenders for the
adult men’s teams.
In fact, the junior tournament has been so successful over the last couple of years that 2015 sees it
being separated from the main Club Tournament and given its own dedicated day. We hope that will be
helpful to player/parents too who have previously been torn between playing their own matches and
watching their sons & daughters play.
Mini Tennis Fun Sessions
The Easter Egg Hunt was great fun and we think
all of the eggs were found! Unlike the Halloween
party where we were still finding spiders on court
2 for weeks afterwards! The Easter bunny is
already working on her clues for this Easter……
Junior coaching
The mid-week coaching is currently running at Gosling indoors. It’s a shame we don’t have floodlights at
the Club but the fact that we have a Tennis Centre of Excellence on our doorstep means we have been
able to offer our juniors the opportunity to play all year round. This undoubtedly helps maintain interest
and continuity for our youngsters and we believe it is one of the main factors behind the marked
improvement we have seen in our juniors over the last few years. For more information on junior or mid
week coaching, please email Julia and Steve on [email protected]
Massive thank you
Lastly, a big thank you to all the current committee members, the team captains, the coaches and to
anyone else who helps to make the Club what it is. The committee could do with more members so that
the work is shared out more evenly. Please don’t sit back and let the dedicated few do all the work.
Please think about what you could contribute. Perhaps you could organize a single event. Perhaps you
could chef a Barbeque, help with the Spring clean, write this newsletter, sell some raffle tickets, make
some cakes, Captain a team. Or just reply to emails from your Captain within 24 hours?
It’s your Club so it’s up to you to make it what you want it to be.
This newsletter and membership pack has been kindly printed on behalf of OLTC by:
Absolute Blinds Limited www.absolute-blinds.com
Suppliers of custom made blinds to commercial and residential properties
Visit their showroom at 25 Brownfields, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1AN
Tel. 01707 394141
Many thanks for their ongoing sponsorship