Hello!

It’s been an amazing week at our Club. The summer holidays have got off to a super start with wonderful weather and a busy line-up of tournaments, events and activities for all. We had a wonderful week of tennis and have welcomed a range of visitors to our Club and continued with the Colchester & District league matches too. If that wasn’t enough Gareth Malone OBE joined my mother, Wendy to hold a summer concert for the music course they’ve been running. WHAT a success. They promise they’ll be back next year. And thanks to all those who helped on the course, got involved and filled the ballroom for the concert! Bravo to our young musicians and singers too! And here’s some great news, Aquafit classes are back! More details below. Our pizza nights are really popular too and continue with a return to the Club next Thursday for games night with added drinks offers too!

Let me turn to this week’s news!

Aquafit with Katy

Having passed her instructor exams, Katy is ready! Join us for another season of Aquafit in our heated swimming pool. The classes take place on Tuesdays at 11:15 am. The cost is only £8 per class for non-members. It’s a fantastic and enjoyable way to stay active and shed those extra pounds. Everyone is invited to dive into the fun. Changing rooms are available. Please sign up HERE or enquire with Katy to book your space! 

Join us for our Christmas Parties 2024! 

The sun is shining so why would I mention that Christmas is 21 weeks or just over 140 days away? Because we’ll be hosting our festive parties on the following dates and we hope you’ll mark your diaries! The dates are; Friday 13th, Saturday 14th, Friday 20th, and Saturday 21st December. The cost is £60 per person and includes a delicious 3-course meal and there’s a lively disco to keep you dancing all night.

We have already received enquiries so we’ve launched our online booking system! Please book your tickets soon to avoid any disappointment. Celebrating the festive season with your family and friends is always a fantastic and memorable experience, so don’t miss out on the fun!

Tickets can be booked HERE, or with our events team. If you or your company want to hold a festive event at the Club do get in touch with us too. 

Squash Courts Update

Our new LED lights have been installed! Thanks to the skilled work of Recharge Electrical, both squash courts now boast new, fancy LED lighting. This upgrade will improve visibility for all players and reduce lighting costs in the long run. Many thanks to Recharge Electrical for their prompt work on this project and to Jack and Gavin for once again steering a project through to successful completion. On time. And on budget! Thank you.

Pimm’s Croquet Party

The Pimm’s party was held at Susie and John’s house to raise funds for a set of ‘second colour’ croquet balls for the club. An auction was run by Ann, and a book that supposedly mentioned croquet was sold to John Anderson. A quiz competition, hosted by Gillian and Anne, was made more enjoyable with Pimm’s. The highlight question was “Who is Mark’s son and what is his name?”, and everyone got it right. A game of one-ball croquet on a bumpy lawn made the competition quite challenging, but John eventually won. The event raised almost enough money for the croquet balls, which are quite expensive but definitely worth the effort.

Come and experience the excitement of croquet with us, be more active and make new friends. All the information about social sessions, coaching and membership is HERE. 

Walking Football 

Our walking football team is having an awesome summer season playing competitive walking football and having a blast!

We have a walking football group for men over 50 and women over 40. It’s just like five-a-side football but without running or physical contact. We play every Monday afternoon from 2:00pm to 3:30pm, and every Wednesday evening under floodlights from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, almost all year round.

Newcomers are always welcome! Your first week is free, so come and join us! More info HERE.

Live Band | Saturday 7th September

Get ready to groove with the live band “After Hours” as they take the stage from 7pm on Saturday, September 7th. Have you got your tickets for this fantastic end to our summer season? We’re looking forward to having all of you there for an evening of fun.

Get your tickets HERE.

Security

Please do keep an eye out. It’s summer and sometimes unwanted visitors like to trespass. If you see anything untoward, please inform Kim. For access to the Club’s back gate, please speak to Kim for the access details and instructions! And don’t be afraid to either ask Kim to check or ask unfamiliar faces who may be playing on court politely, if they’ve signed in too! 

Club Survey

At the end of last year we conducted a survey and a response from us is way overdue. We got somewhat derailed by a few issues earlier in the year but are now back on track. Behind the scenes we have been working hard to pick up on your valuable feedback. To make changes, improve our Club and address matters raised. Now, I think you’ll understand the constraints and we cannot do everything but we can certainly prioritise and incorporate into our plans. 

Here are some of the highlights from what you said and what we’re doing.

Our survey received respondents from 97 Members and 17 non-members. The positives that came through were really helpful for us. To hear how much you like our Club, have appreciated the changes, enjoy the events, recognise how great the sporting facilities are, the quality of the courts and improvements made is all very helpful.

We’re acutely aware of the matters arising from the condition of some of the changing facilities (particularly the ladies’ changing room), some of the booking systems and where our cleaning regime falls short. Those are matters still being addressed. The events we hold are popular which is why our Christmas Parties are coming back, the Sunday lunches have continued but the survey also led to the creation of Thursday Night is Games Night. A huge vote of thanks to our Bar team and to Clive Allenby for making these happen. And the welcome addition of Chef’s amazing pizza too! We have also seen more events such as the Summer Music Night, return of the Jazz Club and a range of other events at the Club. Our 125th party too was a response to the sentiment by many that the Club needed a social focal point in the summer. We also received very helpful feedback on our Poolside Kitchen menu (which we adjusted and hope you’ll agree is superb this year) as well as more sporting events on the screen and better information on when we’re screening them. And special offers at the bar. Plus our notice boards all had a clear-up and we hope they’re better presented. Many of you commented on Pickleball. Now a reality. But with more work to do to make it permanent. Extra classes and Aquafit too were mentioned. As well as simplification of Membership for juniors. Also attended to with our special offer to 18 and under. Padel remains a focus for us and upgraded facilities are also firmly on our agenda. I am sure you understand such investments take time to plan, scope and organise. We’ll be presenting more details at the AGM.

There is more to do, of course. However we took on board all your comments. Found them to be very inciteful. Where we have been able to take action. We have done so. There’s still a long to do list of matters for us to attend to. But we’re on it. And always open to suggestions and comments from you, our Members! Once the summer season is over, we’ll be looking again at how we can interact with Members again to pick up further direction for your Club with a focus on our sporting facilities. 

Anyway, that’s almost it for this week. Please do continue to book your courts. Get involved with our coaching sessions and Club sessions too. With another tournament on the way, if you want to guarantee your court, please book! Same for all our other activities. From swimming to classes, and everything in-between. Please do continue to enjoy the super weather and fantastic events at the Club. And most importantly? We have done really well to attract more new Members but the more the merrier! Please do tell family, friends and maybe past Members too – now is a fantastic time to join. We have a range of offers available for families and juniors in particular. All the details are HERE.

And whilst the weather is good, pop down to the Poolside Kitchen or bar for a cheeky chicken burger (it’s still amazing!), a refreshing ice cream or cheeky pint! (Please drink responsibly yada yada). Enjoy.

Have a great week.

James Max

Club Chairman