Welcome to our new Membership Year and the first edition of ‘Our Club’ – a monthly round-up of news around the club. Hope you enjoy it… and let me know if there’s anything you want to hear more about!
Emma Pattison
Club Chair
Floodlights
Our major project this year is the replacement of our floodlights – the running costs of our existing lights has jumped to over £12 per hour, an 180% increase in our annual energy bills. But just as importantly, it’s twenty years since our old lights were installed and the new LED technology will give us better quality lighting with a reduction in energy consumption and related carbon emissions of over 50% - what’s not to like?!
The replacement will cost around £50k and we’re aiming to secure external funding for 50% of this. Watch this space for progress…
An Award Winner in our Midst
Our incredible John Tate has won the ‘Unsung Hero’ award for Avon LTA – an award that recognises the outstanding and unstinting work performed by volunteers in tennis clubs around the area. It’s impossible to over-state John’s impact on our club – over 35 years he has been a major driver of every big club project, yet is also tireless in making sure the club is in great condition every day – whether clearing leaves from the court, mending fences, cutting hedges, making sure the clubhouse door doesn’t stick…the list goes on and on!
Our warm congratulations to John – and big, big thanks for everything he does. The Avon LTA Awards ceremony will take place in Bristol on 17 June - more on this to follow…
Safe to Play
We want everyone to enjoy their tennis in a safe environment and, in March, we welcomed the LTA to the club to assess our safeguarding practices. A survey was sent out to members and coaching parents as part of this visit – 51 of you responded (many, many thanks!) and your comments were carefully reviewed and built into our action plan. We’re pleased to report that the LTA are extremely happy with what they saw and they’ve given us a green light in terms of our safeguarding standards. This is a great result!
A reminder that if you ever have any questions or concerns relating to safeguarding, our wonderful Welfare Officer, Diane Zimmer, is always available to help.
A Goodbye Wave
I was touched to see an email from Geoff Wells who has decided to reluctantly hang up his tennis racquet after over 50 years as a member of Backwell Tennis Club. In Geoff’s words,
"[In 1968] there was a modest hut, two courts, and at the end of the day players dragged an old carpet on the rough surface to even out the bumps! The club has developed in leaps and bounds since then in its size, courts, buildings, lighting and with fantastic coaching… I shall be sad to leave a very friendly club, which manages to cope with a wide range of abilities, and which has given me much pleasure over many years."
A warm thank you to Geoff for his loyal membership - we wish him well in his golfing, walking and gardening.
Prime Video LTA Youth Girls programme / Spring Bank Holiday Coaching Camps
We were delighted when Tom Fowler was selected to join the LTA’s flagship coaching programme for this year.
Prime Video LTA Youth Girls is a girls-only beginner’s tennis course, encouraging the next generation of girls to start their journey playing and loving our sport. Delivered by trained LTA coaches, the six-week introductory course is packed with games and exercises to build confidence and skills on court, all whilst having fun with friends.
Tom completed the training camp for coaches earlier this year and will be running the programme on Sunday evenings in June and July 6-7pm. Look out for the booking links over the next month…
Drop Shots…
The Club Tournament is open for entries – make sure you get yours in by midnight on 7 May
Spring bank Holiday coaching camps for children aged 4-15 will run on Monday 29 May - Friday 2 June | Booking - Ages 4-8 | Booking - Ages 8-15 |
Play Your Way to Wimbledon for juniors is coming to BTC in May – stay tuned for more on this…
Our policies are periodically updated and can be found on our BTC Website here.