Muswell Hill news

Wimbledon Draw 2009 updated

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

As a result of new LTA rules, the operation of our Wimbledon Draw has changed this year.

The Club receives an allocation of pairs of tickets for the championships based on the numbers of Club members who are also members of British Tennis. This year, we have received 18 pairs of tickets in our allocation: the price per pair of tickets for each day and court is shown below:

Date

Centre Court

No 1 Court

No 2 Court

No 3 Court

Mon 22 June

£80

£74

-

£58

Tue 23 June

£80

£74

-

-

Wed 24 June

£100

£92

-

-

Thu 25 June

-

-

£80

-

Fri 26 June

-

-

£94

-

Mon 29 June

£144

£124

£100

-

Tue 30 Jun

£144

£124

-

-

Wed 1 July

£164

£140

-

-

Sun 5 July

-

£50 (x2)

-

-

All adult members and junior members aged 9 or over who are also members of British Tennis are eligible to enter the Draw for a pair of tickets, provided that they have also paid their membership subscription by the time of the Draw.

To enter, add your name to the Wimbledon list now in the Clubhouse. Junior members must gain the permission of their parent/guardian to enter (and the parent/guardian must attend the Draw below).

The 2009 Draw will take place at 4:00pm on Sunday 17 May 2009 in the Clubhouse. Members must be present in person (or send a proxy) to the draw; if their name is drawn (with a maximum of one pair of tickets per household), the member must select a pair of tickets from those remaining and pay for them by cash or cheque.

Both tickets of each pair must be used only by Club members (ie members can take adult and junior members but cannot take third parties on their tickets); junior members under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult member. The member must provide the names of both users of the tickets which have to be submitted by the Club back to the LTA to meet LTA security requirements.

Sunday matches updated again

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

There will be a Sunday morning match starting at around 11am and ending by 2:30pm on Sunday 21 June and Sunday 19 July (to be confirmed).

French Open

Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The French Open is being covered on the BBC Interactive channel (the red button on Freeview, Freesat & satellite/cable) between Sunday 24 May and Friday 5 June from 10:00am to 7:00pm every day.

The women’s final is scheduled to be shown on BBC2 at 2:00pm on Saturday 6 June and the men’s final at 2:00pm on Sunday 7 June.

Enter the Club Tournament 2009

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The draw is now open for the Club Tournament 2009 - please enter by putting your name on the form in the Clubhouse.

The categories are:

men's, men's senior, ladies' and ladies' senior singles
men's, men's senior, ladies', ladies' senior, mixed and mixed senior doubles
junior's singles.

If you don't have a partner for doubles, put your name down anyway, and Joe and Jeremy will team you up.

Please sign up by Sunday 28 June as the first rounds will kick off quite soon thereafter. The finals will be held over the week-end of 19 and 20 September, with the prize-giving and social at The Pavilion on the evening of Saturday 26 September.

If you have any questions about the tournament, please speak to Joe or Jeremy.

American Tournament & 40th Celebration

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The latest American Tournament held on Sunday 2nd August was won by Andy Asher and Sylvia Hines who can both be seen in the gallery photographs proudly clutching their prizes. See the gallery page >>

As well as a very successful tournament, there was a celebration to mark our longest serving member - Alan Cooper - attaining 40 years of membership. Although the celebration was meant to be a surprise to him, the Treasurer had let the cat out of the bag, allowing Alan time to both prepare and research a speech. Alan described some of the key events in 1969, including the Wilson government and the moon landings: he observed that the astronauts could well have rehearsed their endeavours on our courts which at the time had a similar surface to that of the moon. He also noted that his initial annual membership of 5 guineas would be around £96 in today's money, and asked Mike to justify why the subscription is now quite a lot more: the answers rained down on him in no uncertain manner.

Alan is in fact the only member of the club to play tennis with the founder of the club - Guy Chester - who at the time in 1969 was 86, and who died some 5 days later, though whether the shock of playing with Alan was a contributory factor is not known.

Club tournament results

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

If you came to the finals this last weekend, then you will know that they were just wonderful. If you didn't, then you missed a treat.

The results were:

Event	Winners	Runners-up
Men's Singles	Dave Obedechina	Artur Poremba
Ladies' Singles	Grainne White	Claire Unwin
Men's Doubles	Artur Poremba & Daniel Lynton	David Obedechina & Phil Edwards
Ladies' Doubles	Jane Brunner & Emma Josty	Kate Lambert & Sylvia Hines
Mixed Doubles	Daniel Lynton & Claire Unwin	Julian Chesser & Grainne White
Junior's Singles	Aleks Mitric	Nik Mitric
Men's Senior Singles	Luigi Bille	Byron Pittas
Ladies' Senior Singles	Sylvia Hines	Kate Engineer
Men's Senior Doubles	Andy Asher & Hugh Bulford	Byron Pittas & Geoff Medlicott
Ladies' Senior Doubles	Jane Brunner & Kate Engineer	Mary Dinwoodie & Jane Steele
Senior's Mixed Doubles	Andy Asher & Ouida Bradley	Fred Morris & Sylvia Berney

Quiz teams needed

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The Quiz Night will be held on Saturday 14 November at 7:30pm for a prompt 8:00pm start. Six person teams can include partners and friends: please sign up with Lorraine (8444 9945) or Mike (8340 9803), who can help match-make teams.

The cost is £6 a head, to include a buffet and your first drink, and there are PRIZES to be won.

The Pavilion is in Albert Road Recreation Ground, Durnsford Road, London N22.

Weekend club session times

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Weekend club sessions will start at 2:00pm and end at 5:30pm from Sunday 25 October 2009 until Saturday 28 March 2010 inclusive.

Christmas tea

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

There will be a Xmas tea in the Clubhouse on Sunday 13 December. The Tea will be from 4:00pm irrespective of weather, so even if bad weather prevents play, the tea will go ahead anyway.

Court repairs and Club improvements

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Please take care on the 3^rd court, as there is quite a lot of moss around the edges of the court that Joe will be spraying with moss killer, once we have a couple of dry days. Also, on the subject of court safety, we have contractors geared up to repair the tears on courts 1 and 3 but again they can work on the repairs only when we have dry weather.

The good news is that in March 2010 work will commence on the refurbishment of the 4^th court, involving a new multi-use hard court surface as well as new netting and an upgrade of the lighting. We believe that the work will take about six weeks. It has taken us four years of meetings with the Estate to arrive at this outcome! We also have planning permission to build a storage area behind the Clubhouse, and we hope that work will start on this in January or February, subject to the vagaries of Haringey's Building Control inspectors.

Extra club session

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

There will be an additional Club session on Bank Holiday Monday 28 December from 2:00pm to 5:30pm.

Coaching update

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Joe has cancelled his trip to Ghana in January, so coaching sessions have resumed as normal now that the snow has melted.

AGM 2010 and dates for your diary

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

At the AGM last night we were able to tell those who attended that we had two pieces of good news for the club.

Firstly, we have finally been given permission to have the fourth court re-furbished and that should be happening within the next month.

The other news is that within the next few months work should start on the storage shed behind the clubhouse and when completed this will allow us to clear the clubhouse of chairs etc to leave space for some comfortable seating etc.

Dates for your diary:

Sunday 28 March - Club sessions return to 2:30pm - 6:00pm

Friday 2 April - there is no play allowed on our courts

Monday 5 April - additional Club session 2:30pm - 6:00pm

Saturday 24 April - 4:00pm Wimbledon Draw (please note this date has changed from the date given last night at the AGM)

Sunday 25 April - 2:00pm - American Tournament

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 September - Finals weekend

Saturday 2 October - Prize giving

Saturday 13 November - Quiz night (provisional)

Sunday Teas:

There will be tea in the Clubhouse at around 4:00pm on the first Sunday of the month for the next few months.

If you would be willing to provide the tea (you will be reimbursed by the club) please sign your name on the list in the clubhouse.

The dates are: 7 March, 4 April, 2 May and 6 June.

Membership renewals

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0600

With the new membership year starting on 1 April 2010, renewal requests were emailed (or postal mailed in a small number of cases) to all existing adult and junior members yesterday. Members are asked to renew their membership as promptly as possible (or to advise the Treasurer, Secretary or Membership Secretary if they do not plan to renew) so that we can offer places to new members on the waiting list. There is a financial incentive to renew promptly (by 15 April), and a financial penalty for renewing late.

Wimbledon draw date

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Through circumstances beyond our control, we have had to re-schedule the date for our Wimbledon Draw, which will now take place on Sunday 9 May at 1:00pm in the Clubhouse.

The Draw this year will be in a different form, in that you do not need to sign your name on a list, you just need to turn up on the day with the following:

your British Tennis Membership number
knowing your preferred dates if your name should come out in the Draw (we will advise you when we have the dates for our ticket allocation)
a cheque or cash to pay for your tickets.

Please note that you must have paid your subscription for 2010/11 before entering the Draw and if you are unable to be at the Draw in person you can send a proxy but unfortunately committee members are not able to act as a proxy. Only one pair of tickets will be allocated per winning household.

If you are successful in winning a pair of tickets in the draw, the Club member with British Tennis Membership is now allowed to take any guest, who does not need to be a Club or British Tennis member.

Wimbledon ticket allocation

Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

We now have the details of our Wimbledon ticket allocation.

All tickets are in pairs, and the prices are for the pair.

Date	Court	Price	Schedule
Mon 21 June	Centre No 1	£82 £76	1st round
Tue 22 June	Centre No 1	£82 £76	1st round
Wed 23 June	No 1	£94	2nd round
Thu 24 June	No 2	£82	2nd round
Sat 26 June	No 1 No 2	£112 £96	3rd round
Mon 28 June	Centre No 1 No 2	£148 £126 £104	4th round
Tue 29 June	Centre No 1	£148 £126	Ladies' quarter finals
Wed 30 June	Centre No 1	£170 £144	Men's quarter finals
Thu 1 July	Centre	£170	Ladies' semi-finals

American Tournament update

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500

A reminder that if you have signed up for the American Tournament on Sunday 25 April you will need to be at the club at 1:45pm at the latest so that we can start the tournament promptly at 2:00pm. Parking will be difficult so if you can walk, cycle or share a lift that would be helpful.

The work on the fourth court is ahead of schedule and if the weather holds the contractors will be laying the tarmac next Monday. We then have three to four weeks to wait while the tarmac cures and then the lines can be painted and that will need 4 days to dry – so progress at last!

If you have paid your subscription for this year, please put your new Parking Permit for 2010/11 on your windscreen ASAP.

New group session

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Joe has a noon class on Saturdays for people who are new to tennis or have not played for some time. Once they improve they move to his 1:00pm session and once Joe considers they are ready, they have the option of playing in the general club sessions.

To aid this process, there will be a session on Saturdays from 6:00pm to 8:00pm for those who are not yet ready for club sessions but would like to practice with others of a similar standard. The first one will be on 1 May 2010.

A new and enthusiastic member Grace has asked for this and we invite any club members who do not yet feel able to join in a club session but would like the opportunity to practice with others.

If you would like to attend then either email myself or speak to Joe. There are already a few people who are interested.

Wimbledon Draw 2010

Wed, 05 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

A reminder that our Wimbledon Draw will be this Sunday 9 May at 1:00pm. To be eligible for the Draw you need to have paid your subscription by Saturday 8 May (we cannot accept payment on the day of the Draw) and to be a Member of British Tennis

On the day of the Draw you need to come to the club or send a proxy (who cannot be a member of the committee) with the following:

your British Tennis membership number (if you do not have a number you can sign up for free at http//www.lta.org.uk/britishtennismembership).
cash or cheque book to pay for the tickets.

You will need to have chosen the dates you would prefer to go to Wimbledon from the available dates below. All tickets are in pairs, and the prices are for the pair.

Date	Court	Price	Schedule
Mon 21 June	Centre No 1	£82 £76	1st round
Tue 22 June	Centre No 1	£82 £76	1st round
Wed 23 June	No 1	£94	2nd round
Thu 24 June	No 2	£82	2nd round
Sat 26 June	No 1 No 2	£112 £96	3rd round
Mon 28 June	Centre No 1 No 2	£148 £126 £104	4th round
Tue 29 June	Centre No 1	£148 £126	Ladies' quarter finals
Wed 30 June	Centre No 1	£170 £144	Men's quarter finals
Thu 1 July	Centre	£170	Ladies' semi-finals

Fourth court update

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The 4th court now has temporary lines and a net. It will still require a top coat of paint in a couple of weeks time to bring it to its full glory, but at least we now have four courts which will be very useful to you all and especially Joe during the summer match season. The 4th court floodlights also now work but are not to the standard of the others: Joe has the key. We are looking to upgrade the lights in due course.

When the court gets its full paint job, it will be dark green within the actual playing surface and light green around that. That should look wonderful and will highlight the actual playing area, so no reason whatsoever then to hit the ball out, though you will still need to get it over the net - we are working on that one for you.

We will have to arrange for the court to be marked our for 5 a side football as well but have cunningly arranged that those lines will not impinge onto the tennis court at all.

We are in discussion with the Estate and the church to agree times when we have priority on this court and those will then be bookable in the same way as the other three courts. However until we have that agreement, the use will be on a first come first served basis with Joe having first option.

This is just the first of many improvements we are making this year. As you know, we are the 'best little tennis club in North London' but why stop there!

Returner's session on Sunday

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Please note that the new session that we started for those club members who feel they are not quite ready for the normal club session has moved from Saturday to a Sunday.

So from this Sunday, there are two courts available from 6:00pm until 8:00pm. This should suit those who go to Joe's noon Saturday group as they now have a day's rest between the two.

Grace, who started this group, wishes to extend an invitation to those who already go to club sessions as well if they would like to attend.

Fourth court usage

Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The estate has now agreed priority for the 4th court which we will share with them (Chester House and the church).

The new booking sheets will show when you can reserve and guarantee the court and when you can use it if free but not reserve it. For the latter occasions, you would have to vacate the court if someone from Chester House or the church wished to play though outside Wimbledon-inspired enthusiasm they do not use them often.

Our priority / bookable times are:

Monday to Friday: 5:00pm until 9:30pm

Saturday: noon until 8:00pm (the club session will use the court during the usual times)

Sunday: 10:00am until 8:00pm (the last 2 hours is on a trial basis as I added it in after the initial request; again usual club session applies).

The agreement is that if someone from the estate is using the 4th court during our priority, then they would be politely asked to leave but allowed up to 5 minutes to finish a game and the same would apply in reverse. No one else can use the courts: a few outsiders chance their arm from time to time, so only club members and people from Chester House, the church or occasionally workers from the sheltered housing can play. So far none of the residents have played but you never know.

We are aiming to upgrade the lights on the 4th court as well and move their control into our club house but in the mean time Joe has the key for the lights, needed from about 8:30pm at the moment.

We have shared the cost of the upgrade with the estate and they have been generous with us as our priority times are those when we would most likely use them.

Extension to the Clubhouse

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Work has started today on the foundations for the storage extension to the Clubhouse, and also on a soakaway next to the gate to Court 2 to try and stop water flooding on to the court.

The builders need to use part of our parking space to store earth for removal, so there will probably be only three or four parking spaces available over the next few days. They will hopefully be able to clear the parking area for the weekend.

Access via the gate to Court 2 may also be restricted until the end of Friday.

Date	Centre Court	No 1 Court	No 2 Court	No 3 Court
Mon 22 June	£80	£74	-	£58
Tue 23 June	£80	£74	-	-
Wed 24 June	£100	£92	-	-
Thu 25 June	-	-	£80	-
Fri 26 June	-	-	£94	-
Mon 29 June	£144	£124	£100	-
Tue 30 Jun	£144	£124	-	-
Wed 1 July	£164	£140	-	-
Sun 5 July	-	£50 (x2)	-	-