A very nice day on court unfortunately saw a smaller than usual turnout for this years mens doubles tournament. However, a very determined set of four gentlemen contested a well fought final with two new tournament winners taking home the spoils.
Congratulations to Alex Ensor and Paul Smith.
Shown below (and soon to be posted on the outside of the clubhouse) is the court usage for this year.
The courts will be closed on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 March while our contractors carry out annual maintenance tasks.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
We have now received our allocation of tickets for Wimbledon this year.
We have 9 pairs, up from 7 pairs last year. So thank you to everyone that opted in.
This year, you no longer need to add your name on to a list in the clubhouse. Instead, everyone who was a registered LTA British Tennis Member on 17th February, was linked to our club, who had opted in to the ballot and is a member of the club when the draw is made (subs paid) will automatically be entered in to our club draw on the 23rd April (you do not need to be present but please come and join in the friendly start of season tournament) for one of these pairs of tickets:
Monday 3rd July - Court number 1
Monday 3rd July - Court number 2
Wed 5th July - Court number 1
Fri 7th July - Centre Court
Tues 11th July - Centre Court (Ladies Quarter Finals)
Tues 11th July - Court number 1 (Ladies Quarter Finals)
Wed 12th July - Court number 2 (Mens Quarter Finals)
Fri 14th July - Court number 1 (Mens Semi Finals)
Sat 15th - Centre Court (Ladies Final)
The fixtures have been published for this seasons matches:
Another memorable tournament was held on Saturday 18th June.
The Gods were favourable and we had a dry day, we even had a little sunshine. Even though the temperatures were not up to previous years levels, the amount of Stella consumed (lager and Cidre) wasn't down too much.
After scrambling around a little bit we had 16 competitors so split ourselves in to two groups. The seedings also worked well so the random draw threw up very similar standards of pairings. We also managed to split up our invited guests.
The quality of tennis was high throughout the day, especially helped by the amount consumed by most of us. However, despite a spirited fight put up by Shep (Kevin Shepherd) and Derds (Martin Thackray), the tournament was finally won by Kira (Reuter) and Dean (Neaves).
Photos of the day can be found in the Gallery.
A hard fought tournament was finally won by Howie Pether.
The list of the home team fixtures has gone up on the front of the clubhouse to the right of the door. This shows when 2 courts will be used for home matches which will take priority. However, there will be one free court which can still be used.
On Sunday 24th April we held the draw for the 7 pairs of Wimbledon tickets allocated to us by the LTA.
All the names of those who put their name down on the list in the clubhouse to be in the draw were put in a hat and randomly picked out. The lucky 7 are (in the order they were drawn):
Vernon Reuter
Alexander Wienand
Linda Dingle
Cayden Pether
Andrew Hawkins
Olivia Miller
Chris Newcombe
These 7 will get to choose which of the tickets they would like in the order in which they were drawn. If for any reason there are tickets left after this (usually because the person drawn cannot go on the dates that are left) reserves were drawn and they then get their choice in the order in which they were drawn. They are:
Liz Miller
Bridgit Flanagan
Kath Marshall
Vicki Wienand
We hope you all have a great day out and, for those not on the Centre Court, we hope you have wonderful weather.
For those who are interested, these are the tickets we were allocated this year:
June 27th Centre Court £106
Monday June 27th Number 1 Court £88
Tuesday June 28th Number 1 Court £88
Thursday June 30th Centre Court £138
Friday July 1st Court 2 £120
Tuesday July 5th Centre Court £208
Friday July 8th Number 1 Court £74
Remember, if you want to be in next years draw, log on to the LTA website and register your wish to be in the ballot, associate your LTA logon with Hemingfords Lawn Tennis Club, and put your name down on the list in the clubhouse next April.
The ballot has closed for this year but look at the LTA website (https://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/grand-slams/wimbledon/ballots ) later in the year. We will also send out emails to remind you nearer the time.
The date of the infamous Stella Tournament has now been set; Saturday 18th June.
For those that dont know, this is a doubles tournament that is open to both lady and gentlemen members of the club. However, there is a difference from normal tournaments; the only liquid allowed to be imbibed once the tournament has commenced is Stella. The concession that has been made over the years is that this not only refers to Stella lager but also Stella Cidre.
There will be a minimal entry fee for the tournament but this does cover supplied drinks.
If you would like to enter the tournament you can simply turn up at 2:00 on the 18th June. However, it would be appreciated if you could let Chris Young (the tournament organiser) know so that we have an idea of how much drink to buy!
Following the tournament there will be a BBQ open to families. This is likely to commence at 6:00.
More details will be posted in the clubhouse nearer the date of the tournament.
You can tell the summer is here as the Singles Ladder has started. We have already had a couple of matches and there are some new names at the top (see the picture below).
If you want to get involved all you have to do is challenge someone (ladies as well as men). Rules are on the Spring newsletter (here) and in the clubhouse next to the ladder.
After a well attended and well organised clean up morning (thank you Andrew), the clubhouse and grounds are now looking ready for a new season. Thank you to everyone who took time out to join us, it is very true that many hands make light work and the vast majority of what needed to be done was completed in a couple of hours.
As part of the clean up we have also installed Honour Boards on to the newly painted wall in the clubhouse (see the picture below). If you get a chance have a look at them, it really emphasises the history of our club.
A reminder that this Saturday we will be 'sprucing up' the clubhouse. If you can spare us any time at all then please join us, im sure we can find something for you to do!
Following promotion from the bottom division last year, the Mens B team have followed this up with promotion to Division 3 this year.
Last nights match was a little bit of a tense affair knowing that a win would guarantee promotion. However, despite one of the opposition not turning up until 6:45, we had a fairly comfortable win in the end.
I would like to thank the stalwarts of the B Team; Chris, Piero and Vernon, as well as our reliable subs; Bradley, Matt, Jonny and Ben.
Finally, I would have liked to have put up a celebratory picture of the B Team but Vernon decided to celebrate by going off on holiday! Hopefully we'll get something sorted when he gets back.
Four pairs took part in this years tournament. A good turn out given the state of some members after the Stella tournament the preceding day!
After a random draw some good tennis was played in wonderful weather. Congratulations to Bridget Flanagan and Rob Youngs for getting their names on the trophy this year.
Winners: Bridget and Rob
This years competitors
This years tournament was a hotly contested event. We had six pairs of competitors, ladies and men, and it was good to see Kevin Shepherd and Mary George take up their invitation and come back to the club to take part.
Despite it being a very warm day which resulted in the considerable consumption of Stella Lager and Cidre, the youth of Alex Thompson and Bradley Young overcame the experience of Kevin Shepherd and Ben Sedgemore. Well done to them, but experience will do their utmost to redress the balance next year.
Winners: Alex and Bradley
Runners up: Shep and Ben
After a tough fought battle for second place the A Team finally came out victorious and win promotion to Division 1 for the first time since 2009.
Congratulations to the team of Helen, Kira, Rebecca, Howie, Rob and David (only 4 of them played at once!).
Having been demoted last year, the Mixed B team have won promotion back to Division 3 next year. This is after finishing top of Division 4.
Well done to the team of Babs, Linda, Vernon and Chris, and the super-subs who played a very important part.
On Saturday 13th June two ex members of our club started playing tennis for 24 hours to raise money for the Nepal Earthquake appeal at their new club in Rothley, Leicestershire. Im pleased to say that Mary George and Kevin Shepherd (Shep) completed the challenge and so far have raised over £3,000.
On the morning(!) of Sunday 14th Chris, Andrew and Alex joined Mary and Shep at 3:00 to add their support. Despite Mary and Shep being a bit tired (they had only played for 13 hours by then!) a competitive match ensued with Hemingfords obviously coming out on top.
Well done to the pair of them for a tremendous achievement. If you want to know more please visit their Just Giving page or read their story in their local paper.
After a hard fought and tight competition Rob Youngs managed to emerge victorious.
David Johns reluctantly handed over the trophy having not been able to defend the title due to work commitments. However, he said he would ensure he was back on court for next years tournament to ensure he was only 'lending' the trophy for one year.
