Hello!

As Christmas gets closer, so the news and prospects become more difficult to navigate. Our New Year’s Eve Dining and Dancing Event IS going ahead. Details are below. Once again the country finds itself in a position where the news agenda is being driven by the spread of the latest Coronavirus variant, Omicron.

Of course we will be taking guidance and the lead from the government and the rules they put in place. We expect this advice to continue to change in the coming days and we will act accordingly. Until then, we have asked our staff to take Lateral Flow Tests to ensure your safety. Similarly, if you are attending an event at the Club, please do take a test before attending . This means we can stop the spread and make sure we are as safe as we can be. We won’t be asking for vaccination status at this stage, as the entry rules apply to much larger venues. Similarly with mask wearing, it remains voluntary. Please do sanitise your hands on arrival at the Club and stay away if you feel ill or test positive for Covid.

Our Christmas events are all going ahead and we have some good attendance at the party nights and for our Member’s Sunday lunch. Bookings have now closed for these events. If you would still like to attend – by all means call the office for any last minute availability.

Carols with Caryll. We have a really good crowd turning up to the Christmas Eve event at 6pm at the Club… canapés will be served and we’ll have some tasty cocktails from our friends at King of Soho Gin. They’re our generous sponsors of our Christmas Trees this year. You can find out more about them on www.spiritofsoho.com – or you can order a G&T at the Club to try for yourself. There are two types of gin on offer, their London Dry and the Variorum – with a hint of strawberry. Both are delicious and very refined! Back to the Carols… Depending upon the weather and advice we receive closer to the time, we can make this an outdoor event should it be necessary, so we are confident that we can proceed! If you want to come along – please do let Glenys know… glenys@fosltc.com – so we can cater. We won’t be charging for the event but we do need to know numbers so we can plan accordingly!

New Year’s Eve
We ARE going ahead with our NYE dinner & dancing (yes there IS dancing too!), and it’s a Black Tie event. Again, our staff will have undertaken Lateral Flow Tests and we’d ask you to take one too! If you want to book, please do so by lunchtime tomorrow (Saturday) via the website. We know this is in short order but we have to ensure we can cater for you. Chef is working hard to get the very best quality ingredients and will be preparing a wonderful catering for the evening. In addition, if you want to order Taittinger Champagne for the evening, that can be ordered online at just £48 a bottle for Members. If you want to book? Please do so here or be in touch with Glenys glenys@fosltc.com ASAP!

To other business…

Gym
We have a special schedule of classes over the festive period. Katy and the team are working hard to make sure there’s plenty on offer for you! Why not battle the excess mince pies straight away and get involved? Details on the website.

RACKETLON
We’re holding a special tournament to battle it out on the squash courts, tennis courts and table tennis on Thursday 30th December! There are sign up forms in the Club. Please do get involved – it should be a hoot.

Schedule
If you want to see what’s going on at the Club… please see the notices attached to this newsletter, look at our noticeboards or you’ll find everything online at www.fosltc.com

Tennis
Pete will be running two days of Juniors’ coaching sessions on the 21st and 23rd December. Details on how to sign up can be found here.

And talking of tennis.. earlier in the month we held our Mulled Wine and Mince Pie Tournament. 16 keen and hardy members braved the elements to play in the fun tournament which was one by Maddie Coombs (ladies) and Chris Everton (men’s). A great event and thanks to Bill Greeno and everyone who took part or got involved organising and persuading Members to play! We’ll be announcing more tournaments for the New Year soon.

Club Opening Hours
As you might imagine the Club’s office will be closed over the festive period on bank holidays. Full details of when we are open (and closed!) and our bar opening hours can be found on the website or the details are set our below.

Although I did mention for you to book the NYE dinner and dancing, since you’ve got this far, I’ll give you a final push! You can book here.

D’reen Cearns
As I mentioned briefly last week, we were all very saddened to hear of the passing of Doreen Cearns. To Andrea Leno and the whole family, we send you our thoughts and very best wishes at this sad time, whilst celebrating her long and active life too. Doreen had a very long term association with the Club. Having put in a huge amount of work over the years organising tournaments and social events too whilst remaining a Vice President for many years. For those of you who’ve been Members for a longer time, you’ll have known Doreen and indeed her extended family. We owe a huge debt of gratitude for everything she did and for the family’s long association with us. Along with many families who have been associated with us for generations – the Blands, Tomkins, Pertwees, Towlers, Lonsdales, Dales, Barbers, Glucksteins and many more… our history and legacy of those who put so much into our Club is as relevant today as we look forward as it was when they made the Club so central to Frinton and it’s social and sporting scene.

The funeral is on 20 December at St Mary’s, Chigwell.

And finally, as we continue to prepare for the festive season, please do come and visit. With the current and ongoing uncertainty and situation we’ll be doing everything we can to be as safe as possible but also to be a refuge for you and your friends and families throughout the festive season.

Have a great week

James Max
Club Chairman