A lovely evening at the club with five courts in use for Tuesday social tennis and a “bring your own picnic” in place of the planned barbecue proving popular with both old and new members. Thanks to Steve and Andy for looking after the bar. Postponed 100 club draws resulted in twelve March to August winners, with number 13 proving lucky for John Colman! The wheelie bin challenge was harder than it looked and the eventual winner was Alex Simpson, who is new to tennis and has been a member for just three weeks but had a great technique getting 5 out of 10 balls in the bin and taking the prize of a bottle of wine. Good to have a social event at the club again.

Starting later than usual with entries limited to 3 events per person and a rescheduled  finals day on Sunday 27th September, the 2020 Club Championships are underway. The draws are available on the LTA Tournament Software so they can be easily accessed away from the club.  Competitors will receive notification of matches to be played by email.  Please arrange matches within the play by dates and send results to Steve promptly.  Go to the Club Tournaments page on the website for individual links to each event.

Look at these archive photos featured in the Evening Echo on Monday 6th July 2020. The main photo is of Westcliff Lawn Tennis Club in 1924.  Almost 100 years ago but both our clubhouse and court layout are easily recognisable.

With doubles permitted again, it’s been good to see more members returning to the club to play.  The new online booking system has been well received by members https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/WestcliffLawnTennisClub  with the app ClubSpark Booker also available to install on your phone.  Limited size group coaching has also been given the green light and details will be available from Head Coach, Graham Boosey, of his planned weekly programme.

With the club set to reopen, Jane posted a photo of her free set of tennis balls marked ready for play.  This started a challenge among members to get creative!  Here are the results….

After many hours of work, Steve and Hazel have successfully set up an online court booking system for WLTC members to use. It is part of the LTA’s ClubSpark online platform and members will receive an invitation to register after which they will be able to sign in to use the booking system.  Here is the link to the webpage https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/WestcliffLawnTennisClub  There is also an app ClubSpark Booker which can be installed on mobile phones to give easy access to the system.  Any questions about the system, please contact Steve.

Great to see the club re-open the courts last week when some of the lock-down restrictions were eased.  Singles play is allowed in accordance with LTA advice and guidelines. Doubles can only be played by members of the same household. Please refer to emails from the club captain, Steve, for full details of the current situation.  Our coach, Graham, is available for one to one coaching only.  Please contact Graham on 07745943403 or email [email protected] to book a session.

Congratulations to our Mens 1 team captained by Neil Attwood who are champions of the Leigh & Westcliff Winter Mens Division 1. Both pairs in the final match, Nick Spillett & Alex Goldhawk and Aaron Hilsum & Jack Wallace, won in straight sets to give the team a 6 point lead at the top of the table.

Success also for our Ladies 2, Ladies 4 and Ladies 5 teams who all won their respective divisions.

Good news for our Essex Mens team. The winter season has come to an end and our team have finished top of Division 2 of the Essex Open Doubles League which means promotion back to Division 1 next winter season. Well done to all the players involved – Dan Sanderson (captain), Anthony Weingarten, Dan Thrale, Adam Groves, Aaron Hilsum, Mark Gregory, Steve Wynn, Tim Wilcock and Graham Boosey.

Commiserations to our teams in the finals of the Essex Winter Cup competitions. Unfortunately both the Mens and Ladies Senior teams had to settle for the runners up positions this time around. Well done though to all players for reaching the final stages and thanks to club members who came along to support.