A great start to our Christmas schedule of events at the club! Our Christmas Casino & Cocktail night, which started as an idea conceived over Saturday afternoon tea at the club a few weeks ago, proved to be a very popular choice with members and guests who came. Proceedings started with a free welcome drink from the bar plus 40 casino chips for each person to play the four games on offer – roulette with Alan, black jack with Peter, “play your cards right” with Ashley and finally, Bez’s handmade wheel of fortune! After some early conservative betting, and fuelled by food and cocktails, a few risked higher stakes to try to come out on top when the deadline for betting grew near! First prize went to Phil who amassed in excess of 2000 chips from the starting point of just 40!! Second prize went to John and third prize to Dan Eldridge. A final prize game of “play your cards right” saw Peter win a play off against Caroline. Many thanks to everyone who came along and to those who helped with the event – a real team effort to make the evening the success it was. Special mention for Angela who brought the initial idea to life, organising the games, prizes, cocktails, as well as looking after the bar during the evening.
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Curry night delight!
An excellent evening at the club for Ashley’s curry night. The clubhouse looked as good as any Indian restaurant with all the colourful decorations and the atmosphere was enhanced by the tempting smell of food coming from the kitchen and the sound of Indian music in the background. Many thanks to Ashley for cooking four different delicious curries, Jane for making mango dessert, Tash, Jane and Angela for decorating the clubhouse, and Angela, Karen and Tash for looking after the bar.
Martin’s Midweek “Davis Cup” Tournament
A pleasant October evening saw sixteen enthusiastic players, including several of our new coaching members, gathered on the tennis courts for a night of fun, camaraderie, and friendly competition. The participants were divided into four teams, taking inspiration from the Davis Cup format. Team Australia, Team Serbia, Team USA, and Team Great Britain competed over six rounds, each lasting 15 minutes. Coach Martin added a dash of pressure with a countdown timer and rounds featuring unique challenges, like clean volleys and the elusive ace serve, to instantly win the game whatever the score! Team Great Britain emerged as the champions, narrowly defeating Team Australia. Congratulations to Karen Clark (Captain), Christine Czarnecki, Mark and Daniel Eldridge for their well-deserved victory. Loook out for details of the next midweek tournament on Wednesday 15th November.
End of Season American Tournament
Thirty nine players competed over six rounds in the club’s End of Summer Season American Tournament with eventual winners being Darren Glover and Tash Hilsum. Well done to both! They were presented with the Beresford Marshall and Deb Saund Memorial Trophies. Thanks to Steve for organising and all those who played and spectated.
Presentation Night 2023
An excellent evening at the club for the presentation of this year’s summer club tournament trophies. Our Chairperson, Bez, presented the winners of each event with their trophies. Two additional presentations included Club Captain Steve’s choice of Player of the Year which went to Duncan Taylor, and Sarah Ball was given a framed photograph which will be hung in the clubhouse to recognise her recent achievement – Ladies 55+ Racketlon World Champion! Thanks to Angela and Karen for looking after the bar, Marion for her delicious homemade patés, Gill and Linda for organising the rest of the food, and to everyone who came along to support the event.
Martin’s midweek fun mixed doubles tournament
Despite the weather’s best efforts to disrupt the night, sixteen participants braved the conditions to take part in coach Martin’s midweek tournament. This was a mixed doubles event where players had a different partner for each tiebreak round. It was great to see players of all levels participating and socialising in the bar afterwards. Tom Reader emerged as the champion, with Karen Clark in second place.
Generous donations raised over £76 to support ‘For the Love of Lloyd’ Crowdfunder. Many thanks to Martin for organising the event.
Two wins for Chrissie at L&W Summer Tournament Finals!
Success for club members at the Leigh & Westcliff Summer Tournament Finals Day which took place at the club. Chrissie had two wins, one with fellow club member Suzy in the Ladies Doubles Plate event, and the other with partner Jon Lee in the Mixed Vets Doubles. Adam & Tom took the Mens Doubles Plate title, whilst Paul & Rowland won the Mens Vets Doubles Plate final. Bad luck to Alison who faced tough opposition in the Ladies Vets Singles final, and to Diana who lost with partner Sue Sergeant in a close fought match in the Ladies Vets Doubles event. Many thanks to Sarah O’Sullivan and her team of helpers for providing refreshments throughout the afternoon, much appreciated by players and spectators, and also to Angela & Karen who looked after the bar.
Lloyd Burton fundraising team tennis event at WLTC
A fantastic day at the club for the team tennis event to raise funds for Lloyd Burton. We had eight teams taking part, three from Westcliff Lawn along with teams from David Lloyd Basildon, Deanes, Hadleigh Park, Kent Elms and Westcliff Hard. There were six players in each team (three men & three ladies) playing a combination of mens, ladies and mixed doubles across seven rounds, one against each of the other teams. After a great morning’s tennis in the sunshine, the team from Deanes came out on top – well done! In addition to the 48 players, there were a number of spectators who joined us to enjoy the coffee and homemade cakes available and a Ploughman’s lunch when the tennis was over. A raffle with an amazing number of prizes helped boost the funds raised for Lloyd – just over £1200 in all!!
Thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success, those that played, came to spectate, helped both in advance and on the day, donated raffle prizes, made cakes etc. A great team effort for a very worthy cause https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/…/for-the-love-of-lloyd…
Dan wins title at UK Police Sports Championships!
Congratulations to club member Dan Thrale who has won the Mens Doubles title at the Police Sports UK Tennis Championships 2023! Whilst Dan wasn’t able to retain his mens singles title this year, losing 7-6, 7-5 to the eventual winner, Dan won the Mens Doubles event with his new partner Oli Mentessi from Grove Tennis Club, bringing home the trophy for Essex Police for the first time ever. Well done Dan, yet another great achievement in this busy year!
Club Finals Day 2023
Excellent tennis at our Club Championship Finals Day. Well done to all players who reached finals and congratulations to the winners! The Ladies Singles title went to Chrissie Christou, the first time Chrissie has won the event, whilst Dan Thrale took the Mens Singles title for the eighth time in thirteen years as a club member. Dan & Gill Sanderson retained the Mixed Open title for the third consecutive year. The full draw and results in each event can be viewed on the LTA Tournament Software. Great to see so many spectators at the club watching the finals. Thanks to Mark & Dan Eldridge for serving in the kitchen all day and thanks to Angela for looking after the bar. And of course thanks to Steve for organising the tournaments so efficiently as usual.