Author: Gillian Sanderson

A great evening at the club to celebrate the completion of the new LED floodlights on courts 3, 4 and 5.  We were joined by friends from Penzance Tennis Club – Birte, Des, Keith, Elaine, Helena and Joyce – plus Rod from Nottingham, who like many of our own members competes in the Penzance Open Tournament every summer. Social tennis on all the courts, the turning on of the lights by Mark and a wonderful Thai supper cooked by Ashley.  A huge thank you to Bill and Mark for all their hard work masterminding our latest improvement project which now provides the club with 6 top class floodlit courts.

This new event proved popular with all ages enjoying their usual coaching sessions with an emphasis on fun and games plus the chance to try out the ball machine and test their serving speed.  This was followed by Parent/Adult & Junior Doubles competitions split into 9 & Under and 10 & Over categories.  Congratulations to our winning pairings of Duncan Taylor with daughter Amelia and Mark Eldridge with son Dan.  Thanks to Graham and all the coaches and helpers, plus Mark Eldridge, Wendy Thrale and Linda Gaze for their hard work in the kitchen providing refreshments.

Wonderful weather brought members flocking to the club for our traditional Good Friday social tennis session. Great to see all the courts in use and spectators too! A headcount of 65! Thanks to Steve for his efficient organising as ever, and to Hazel for providing endless hot cross buns plus teas and coffees.

Twenty four members competed in our Start of Season American Tournament and the eventual winners were Christine Phillips and Chris Rackham. Congratulations to both! We were pleased to welcome back to the club Deb Saund’s husband Paul and brother-in-law Dave to present the trophies. Christine received the Deb Saund Memorial Trophy from Paul whilst Chris received the Beresford Marshall Memorial Trophy from Dave. Thanks once again to Steve for organising the afternoon’s tennis and Hazel for serving teas and coffees.

The Leigh & Westcliff winter league season is now over and two WLTC teams finished in 1st place in their respective divisions.  Jane’s Mixed 3 team were champions of Division 4, with a massive 51 points out of a possible 60.  A few players in the team were unbeaten this season but special mention for Darren Glover who topped the player stats with 7 wins out of 7!  And Ladies 2 captained by Linda took the Division 2 title with 50 points out of a possible 60.  Special mention for Serena who topped the player stats in Division 2 with the most wins of the season.  Thanks to all our captains for their hard work organising the teams this season.

Aaron Hilsum and Stefan Protic both recently represented Essex in the Boys 18 & Under County Cup competition with Aaron winning two of his singles matches to help Essex secure second place in their division.  For Aaron, this was the second consecutive weekend of county tennis, having played for Essex in the 12 Counties Championships where he won all three of his singles matches to help the team take the Division 1 title. Congratulations Aaron!

Commiserations to our Ladies Seniors team who lost in the final of the Essex Winter Knock Out Cup competition against opponents Frinton.  The team fought hard losing two of the three rubbers on championship tiebreaks. Well done to all for reaching the final. Players on the day were Cally & Sarah, Di & Gill, Sarah & Sarah, pictured here with team captain Marg.

All the finals were close fought matches, particularly the Ladies and Mens Doubles, which each went to the wire with a deciding game at 5-5 in the third set.  Great handicapping as usual by tournament organiser, Steve! Chrissie and Karen were victorious in the Ladies Doubles, retaining their title from two years ago when the tournaments were last played. Neil and Paul won the Mens Doubles, whilst new members Pippa and Angus took the Mixed Doubles title. Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations to the runners up. A very entertaining day’s tennis for the spectators.

Our next project – new LED floodlights on courts 4, 5 and 6 – gets a mention in the Echo.  After damage occurred recently to the existing lights between courts 4 and 5, those lights have been removed so courts 4 and 5 are safe to play on though with reduced lighting around the net area between these courts.  Installation of the new LED floodlights will commence on the Tuesday after the Easter weekend (mid-April).  Thanks to Bill and Mark for all their hard work so far on this project.

Southend & District Winter Tournament successes on finals day for Tim Willcock and Gill Sanderson in the Mixed Senior Doubles, plus Jason Watkins with partner Richard (Westcliff Hard) in the Mens Senior Doubles. Commiserations to Dan Thrale who was defending his Mens Open Singles title but lost in a close fought two sets. Congratulations to our winners and thanks to tournament referee Steve for another well organised finals day.