Club News

Welcome to a new season at Farnborough Tennis Club!

As the weather begins to brighten - and hopefully to dry out at last! - our thoughts turn once again to a new season of tennis at the Tugmutton courts.

There is plenty of news about the club in the following update: the latest on the courts, a few dates to be aware of this year, some potential tournament variations and, of course, our annual renewal period.

Read on for more details…

Membership Renewals

Once again, we will use the simple email renewal process, as this seems to run very smoothly for all involved. Please keep a look out for your renewal email and don’t forget to check your Junk mailbox.

As per the AGM last November, there is no increase to subscription fees this year. We are also introducing a new Silver Membership, at a 50% discount on the Senior rate, for renewing members who are over 80 or in their 80th year.

Membership renewal fees are £120 for Seniors, £60 for Juniors and £150 for Families (£120 Senior / £30 Juniors, with family discount) until 30th April.

From 1st May, renewal fees will increase to £140 for Seniors, £70 for Juniors and £175 for Families (£140 Senior / £35 Juniors, with family discount).

See the Members page on the website for more details about your membership, your responsibilities and the annual renewal process.

Social events

After the successes of the Quiz night, Christmas meal and 50th Anniversary dinner in recent years, we are keen to organise a few more social events.

Whilst these are still in the early stages of planning, this is just to let you know we are looking at organising a Quiz for May time and a Christmas meal in early December. Proposed dates are 9th or 16th May and 7th December, respectively, although these are subject to change, dependent on availability of halls, etc.

We will keep you posted here with any updates on our social events.

Court environment updates

Our suppliers, ETC Sports Ltd, did offer to undertake some repairs to the courts during the Winter season, but did not recommend this approach due to likely issues driven by the cold weather. Following further discussions, we agreed they should return in the Spring when the warmer weather will be more conducive to a successful repair of the cosmetic cracks using hot-lay tarmac. They are also happy to try out a cosmetic repair to the net post on court 3, although we realise we may have to replace this at some time in the future. We don’t think any of the cracks have worsened since ETC last inspected the courts and the net post seems to have stabilised, as they thought it might.

Meanwhile, the Cricket Club have started the re-development work they had planned inside the pavilion. This includes creating a Ladies changing area, with showers, in the storage area adjoining the toilet we use. The work involves putting a new door through to the toilet area, so that the Ladies may use these facilities during training or matches. The work should be completed in time for the new cricket season and we will agree, in due course, on any restrictions as to the use of the toilet facility. (This will most likely be during cricket matches on Saturday afternoons and possibly some summer evenings).

Gardening at the courts

As discussed at the AGM, we believe we need to implement a few regular gardening sessions now, to keep our new courts free from weeds and encroachment from the surrounding vegetation.

We propose to hold regular gardening sessions, with a few member volunteers, over a few weekends during the Spring and Autumn.
To combat the new Spring growth around the courts, we will be looking for volunteers to join in the effort for a few hours one weekend at the end of April, the end of May and the end of June.
To clear away the Autumn deluge of acorns, leaves and weeds, we will follow this up with a few hours one weekend at the end of September, the end of October and the end of November.

Club Tournaments

The main Club Tournaments are open to all Senior Members. These are played either as Knockout Rounds, or in a Round Robin format, following random draws for the initial ties and Doubles pairs. As proposed at the AGM, the Committee have decided to use seedings for the draws this year, to achieve a more even competition.

This year, the Ladies & Men’s Singles, the Veterans Singles (over-60’s) and all three Doubles tournaments, will be drawn as Knockout Rounds.

The club aims to hold at least one Saturday Finals Day during the summer, although dates are subject to change because of weather conditions, holiday periods and unforeseen injuries. Any proposed Finals Days will appear on the News page of the website.

Deadline dates will be set by which each round should be played. Players are asked to play their matches by these deadlines to keep the tournaments on schedule. All participants should be pro-active in arranging match dates.

Note that only fully paid-up Senior Members may enter the Club Tournaments. The draw for the tournaments will be made on Saturday 18th April, so please ensure you have renewed your membership by this date.

You can email your entries direct to the Tournament Organiser, Sue Leonard, at susanleonard@sky.com

See the Matches page on the website for more details about the tournament formats and the tournament rules.

Additional summer tournaments

As there has been a distinctly quiet period during the summer holiday months the past two years, we are keen to explore the idea discussed at the AGM of some additional summer tournaments. These would be designed as an event for a particular morning or afternoon in the summer, dependent on player availability, and as a one-off set of matches using some alternative formats.

These may take the form of singles, doubles or mixed events and are likely to use short-set, tie-break or handicap restrictions to ensure a fun and even entertainment for participants. Formats already suggested include: one-day events, tie-break tournaments, short-set formats and the use of handicaps such as single serves, no lets, sudden-death deuces and minus points.

We will keep you posted here with plans and dates of upcoming events.

Club Matches

We are hoping to arrange some friendly matches against other clubs again this year. While these matches have traditionally been held on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, we will also explore the possibility of playing in the evening or at the weekend, if these are more suitable times for both our members and for our opponents. These matches are always memorable occasions and a great opportunity to play at different venues, and compete against new players, in a friendly but competitive spirit.

We will need just four players per team. Kuniko Sato will arrange the Ladies Doubles and Brian Keegan the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles. You can contact them via email or WhatsApp or when you see them at the Club. Please let them know if you would be interested in taking part in a weekday match, or an evening match, or a weekend fixture, or even all three!

Matches this season might include Hayes, Bromley Lawn Tennis Club, Sundridge, Chelsfield, and Knockholt, though these are all yet to be confirmed. There is no immediate commitment on your part. We just need to know which of our members would like to get involved. Once we have organised dates and times, we will contact you again to see who is available.

Further contact details are available on the Matches page on the website and a full fixture list will appear there in due course.

American Tournaments

Dates for the American Tournaments are as follows and details for each will be sent out prior to the event.

Spring American - 26th April
Summer American - 28th June
Autumn American - 20th September
Mince Pie American - to be decided

Committee members for November 2025 to November 2026

The proposed date for the AGM this year will be 7th or 8th November 2026.

Chair Person - Peter Sargent
Membership Secretary - Jan Whitehead
Treasurer - David Howell
Match Organizer (Ladies) - Kuniko Sato
Tournament Organizer - Sue Leonard
Marketing, Promotion - Rich Butcher
Grounds Manager - vacant
Social Secretary - vacant
New Member representative - vacant
Honorary Committee Member(s) - Jerry Hosea
Ordinary Committee Member(s) - John Perkins, Chris Vale

Publicist & Match Organizer (Men’s & Mixed) - Brian Keegan