Dear Fishbourne Tennis Club member,

Welcome to the regular email update of the exciting things happening at your tennis club this autumn/winter.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

• Cheese and wine tasting followed by the Estelles Motown band, Friday 7pm, 27 September, the Fishbourne Centre. £25 a head, tickets from the Fishbourne Centre
• Macmillan Coffee Morning, clubhouse, Saturday 9-1pm, 28 September. Make/bring/eat/buy cakes, all for a good cause.
• Fishbourne vs Southsea annual friendly, at Southsea, Sunday 29 September
• Start of FREE tennis coaching for members of all ages and abilities during Wednesday afternoon club sessions, 3-4pm Wednesday 2 October. See below for further dates and information.
• Portsmouth & District annual awards presentation evening Thursday 7pm, 3 October, Lee-on-the-Solent Tennis Club. All P&D team players welcome to attend.
• Fishbourne’s fantastic fireworks and funfair, Friday 1 November, Fishbourne Playing Fields, bonfire 7.30pm, fireworks 8pm, entry by donation. Volunteers needed, more info below.
• FTC committee meeting, clubhouse, observers welcome, 6pm Monday 25 November.
• FTC Christmas Party 2019, save the date, more details soon. Friday 6 December, Fishbourne Centre hall.
• Christmas lunch and festive tennis, FREE to members, clubhouse, 9-2pm Saturday 21 December.
• Quiz Night, Fishbourne Centre hall, save the date, more details soon. Friday 17 January.

FREE TENNIS COACHING NOW AVAILABLE FOR MEMBERS

Wednesday afternoon club sessions in October and November are getting a boost with the presence of Generation Tennis chief coach Alex Bone on court between 3-4pm to give members who want it some help with their game. It’s for everyone, men and women, rusty racquets to team players, of any age. Alex promises an informal hour of hitting hints and tips in a flexible format depending on numbers. You just have to turn up and join in, with no booking or commitment required. Recently joined members and rusty racquets are especially encouraged to come along. The Wednesday afternoon club session between 1-5pm runs as normal. Alex will be on court for you between 3-4pm on the following Wednesdays:

• 2 October
• 9 October
• 23 October
• 6 November
• 20 November

CLUB SESSION TIMETABLE  AUTUMN/WINTER 2019/20

• Mondays, 5-9pm, club play (courts 1-3, if needed) with matchplay practice (court 4)
• Wednesdays, 1-5pm club play with free adult coaching 3-4pm (selected dates in Oct and Nov only)
• Thursdays, 5-9pm, club play all courts
• Saturdays, 9-1pm, club play all courts
• Sundays, 1-5pm, club play all courts

NEW MIXED DOUBLES CAPTAIN NEEDED

 After leading her team successfully for several years, and last winter claiming victory (and promotion) in the Portsmouth & District mixed league, Cressida Williams is taking a deserved break as captain. Which means Fishbourne needs a new captain to lead the team in its challenge in a higher division this winter. If you fancy it, applications from existing team players and new members to [email protected] asap please. Members new to being a captain will get full support. The matches are all played at weekends, there’s no age limit, and first match is at home to Ventnor on 13 October.

FTC AT THE FISHBOURNE FIREWORKS

Fishbourne’s fireworks night, this year on Friday 1 November, is the biggest and most successful event of its kind in the area, with last year 1000 people of all ages enjoying the show along with a funfair. It is the playing field association’s single biggest fund-raiser in the year – and that is good news for the tennis club. Help make it the success it needs to be by volunteering to assist on the night. Don’t worry you won’t have to light anything, just rattle a bucket and take the donations between 6.30-8.30pm – leaving you plenty of time to watch the display. Email [email protected] if you can make it, and the more the merrier.

NEW CHAMPIONS CROWNED AT FTC FINALS DAY

By common consent Finals Day was a major success this year with great tennis, big crowds, fab food and drink, plenty of fine weather and lots of new faces winning trophies. The club would like to thank everyone involved in making it such a success, including especially Ron and Joan for presenting the awards this year and Chris’s sister and Lewis’s missus for putting on such an ace barbie at such short notice.

The Chichester Observer gave Finals Day a half page report but if you missed that you can catch all the action including three different galleries of Nikki Holden’s brilliant photographs, on the FTC website at https://fishbournetennisclub.org.uk/news/

TIME TO ‘OPT IN’ AGAIN FOR WIMBLEDON TICKETS

It’s time to tick the box on the LTA website so the club again gets its maximum allocation of tickets to Wimbledon in 2020. Don’t forget, you have to be a paid-up member of FTC and a registered adult or junior British Tennis Member (it’s free) linked to Fishbourne Tennis Club. Then you can go to the LTA website and check the box that says you want to opt in to the Wimbledon ballot. You have to do this every year. It’s worth doing even if you can’t make Wimbledon next year since the more people who opt in the larger our allocation will be. The deadline for opting in is 23.59 on 14 February 2020. See the LTA’s FAQs for more information.

FTC Committee