........and to our new website for the new decade.  We hope that you will enjoy browsing through what we have on offer this season and will use the exciting and busy tennis calendar to form the basis of your diary in 2010!

Please take a few moments to familiarise yourself with the website.  Many of the tabs across the top have drop down menus which will reveal all sorts of exciting details and the odd photograph - some are very odd indeed.  The "Latest" tab tells you how to find out more about forthcoming events.  As the season proceeds we will use this "Latest" tab to direct you to new items and events that have been added so it is worth getting into the habit of checking this from time to time.

                                       old clubhouse, new website

The committee has listened carefully to members' comments and you will see some changes and some new items.  In response to the popularity of First Friday Social Tennis this has now been extended to F3rd (third!) Fridays too.  Our Ladies Invitational Strawberries and Fizz tournament in aid of Breast Cancer Care has been hugely successful for 5 years and it was suggested that we run an Invitational Mixed Doubles too - watch out for that on Sunday 16th May.  It is in aid of Tilda, a hospital in rural northern India.  As the holder of the Sandy Macrae Charity Cup, Alastair Ward has nominated St Columba's Hospice as the charity for that event this year.  Hopefully we will have a sizeable donation for this very local good cause by the end of June.  Weekday players have enjoyed coffee and tennis once a month during the past couple of seasons.  In addition to this we have added a weekday players "pot-luck" lunch on Friday 11th June.

Junior coaching was so popular last season that members sometimes found it difficult to get a court - an amazing problem to have.  While still encouraging juniors to get out on court and grab every opportunity they have for playing and being coached, we ask other members to note the times and courts that are allocated for coaching.  Unless stated, the other courts are not being used for coaching so please go ahead and use them.  A few newer members asked if we could run an old duffers class for relative beginners.  We decided to drop the old bit and just go for Duffers tennis on Saturday afternoons - no experience required, just a good sense of humour!

For the more competitive among you , Ladies and Gents Practice Nights resume during the first week of March.  Ladies have also arranged a separate coaching evening on Thursdays and the men are having a short sharp block of coaching for 4 weeks from Wednesday 24th March.  In addition to this there will be a block of coaching for the new mens 4th team on Saturdays in March.  All of these team coaching sessions are aimed at developing match tactics rather than stroke development.  Individual lessons may be booked directly with the coaches.

We have arranged a demonstration day, rackets and kit rather than placards and marches, to coincide with the Brass Monkeys fun tournament on Sunday 28 March.  This is the perfect opportunity for you to play a few games with different types of racket and to avail yourself of the discount we have negotiated for rackets, clothing, shoes and even re-stringing.  SWEATSHOP which is  located in the David Lloyd centre at Newhaven Harbour will be in attendance from 2pm so feel free to pop along to see what is on offer even if you do not want to participate in the tournament.  Mulled wine and hot dogs at about 4pm.  All seniors and juniors are very welcome.

This season your membership form is to be completed online!  There is also the facility to pay subscriptions online using your debit or credit card via PayPal,  which provides inbuilt online security.  Alternatively you can pay by cheque, posting it to the subscriptions secretary as usual.  You will not receive a separate subscription renewal notice - this is it.  Click on the memberhip tab at the top of this page and follow the instructions.  As usual, membership fees are due by the end of March otherwise a £20 penalty will be incurred. 

After a severe winter, let's hope for a long, hot, sunny summer with lots of playing opportunities.  I look forward to seeing many of you on court soon.

Judith Law

Honorary President

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