Club News

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Sunday 7th December from 10:30 to 12:00 at the Crofton Oak Scout Hut near St Paul’s Church.

(Address: Crofton Oak Scout HQ, Crofton Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 8JE.)

All members are welcome to attend the AGM and all may speak on the agenda items and issues to be debated. Senior members may also vote for or against the resolutions presented.

Any member wishing to propose a resolution at the AGM must send a copy in writing to the Honorary Secretary before Friday 14th November so that provision may be made on the agenda. Any items submitted later than this may be included at the discretion of the Club Chairman.

Any members wanting to get involved in the work of the Committee may stand for election at the AGM. Please let one of the current Committee know of your interest before the day, if you can, so we can include you in the process.

Club Tournaments

Congratulations to all our winners so far, and well done to all our finalists too, with all the finals proving to be very competitive matches. The winners, finalists and match scores to date are:

Ladies Singles: Rose Howell beat Rosie Anderson 6-2, 6-4

Ladies Doubles: Rose Howell & Shirley Wicks beat Grainne Nichorbaidh & Jan Whitehead 6-2, 7-5

Men's Singles: Rich Butcher beat Paul Stainsby 6-1, 6-0

Veteran Singles: Duncan Gager beat Stephen Wade 7-5, 6-0

Men’s Doubles: Rich Butcher & Paul Stainsby were awarded a walkover for the Men’s Doubles final, as a combination of injuries, illness and holidays undermined their opponents chances of completing the match.

The Mixed Doubles final is yet to be played

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

Update on the Courts

We met with ETC Sports recently and reviewed the court surfaces, given there has been some initial surface cracking and a worrying problem around the far end of the net post on court 3. Unfortunately, they are seeing surface issues at numerous clubs, especially after such a dry summer, and the Tugmutton Common environment (water table, tree roots, etc) is not helping.

On a positive note, a number of the cracks are thought to be cosmetic and our suppliers believe they can be easily corrected; the net post less so, as it is dependent on the foundations underneath. These were not renewed during the re-surfacing, as we simply couldn’t afford it. The cosmetic work will be undertaken for free, but we would have to pay for the remedial work on the net post.

Following the review, we agreed to monitor developments until October, so that we can see the effects of the four seasons on the surfaces before we take action. During October, we met with idverde and ETC Sports and agreed to proceed with the cosmetic improvements before the Winter sets in. However, our suppliers have not been able to make the time to do the work as yet. We will keep you posted on how the work proceeds 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.

Mince Pie American - 28th December

Court Availability and Security

Other than Club Play sessions, members may come to the courts to play at any time from 8am until dark, with the exception of when events such as Club matches or Club American tournaments are scheduled. These events are publicised on the Club website.

Remember to lock the court padlock securely on the gate latch when you leave, to prevent unauthorised access and potential vandalism. If anyone else is playing when you leave, please check that they have a key to lock-up.

The gate latch must be pushed all the way to the left before the padlock is attached; if this is not done, the gate will not be secure and may be breached.