Chariman's Christmas Newsletter

 Chairman's Christmas Newsletter

 
 Dear DLTSC Members,

I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to the festive season! First of all, welcome to all our new members, we now have well over 800 members!

Juniors
Junior club nights are running well with varying numbers depending on weather. Both summer and autumn camps have been attended very well. Please note that the Junior Christmas party/fancy dress is at the last club night, which is on Friday 19th December.

Social
We had another successful black-tie Christmas event last Saturday. Lots of laughter, the meal was great, and the dance floor was never empty. The 90 covers sold out within ½ hour, so we will have a look to see if we can find an equally good but bigger location for next year.

Tennis
The winter season is well and truly upon us, and the courts are continuing to play very well. The GRACE/Jackson Stops tournament is underway, finals day 28th Feb 2026. This year a new format has been trialled, and we have had some very good feedback from players praising its inclusiveness and the opportunity to meet and play with more members. Organising it is a significant challenge though, and we will need to have more members come forward to help us keep delivering such great initiatives.

The proposed additional floodlights project is still in the planning process with the council. Although we have answered some further technical questions, we await to hear further news. Thanks to all members who sent in letters to support our application, and in particular to James Masters for all his great volunteering work for the club.

The Board has approved a Tennis Committee proposal to trial a new process to manage our floodlights to ensure that they are not left on when nobody is playing. More information on this will be issued soon.
Discussions with the council about a potential satellite padel centre at Pippbrook are unfortunately on hold whilst the Council’s recreation centre operator is reviewing its options. Once their review is complete, we will know whether they will entertain a competitive bid from us.

A good number of our members are enjoying playing in teams participating in formal and informal leagues with great camaraderie and (mostly) excellent successes.
 
Squash
The continuing growth in the numbers of both junior and adult squash players is keeping our squash coaching team (Paul & Matt) busy. This includes the recently started Sunday morning sessions which Paul & Matt take turns to cover. These are typically attended by 6-8 children for mini-squash, plus 4 or 5 adults in our beginners classes. Each of these classes would ideally have say 10 people per session – to make them viable for the coaching team, so we would like to encourage more to join in.

The progress of our 6 adult teams in the various winter leagues for clubs across Surrey can be found in each issue of the Squash Newsletter, which we hope you enjoy reading. This winter we also have 3 junior teams playing in Surrey Cup Junior Leagues at ages U11, U15 and U19. On a recent Sunday the Club hosted the latest U19 contest, with 4 other local teams and this gives a great opportunity for those not playing in a formal league to have a chance to play competitively against other clubs in a very friendly atmosphere.
 
Gym
Mark Richards, the Club’s Fitness Trainer, is doing an excellent job improving our gym. The room is being reorganised and has been redecorated and is now looking great. His classes are proving very popular, and the new gym layout will allow him to include even more members. With the Club’s support for the gym, Mark is able to keep his class prices very reasonable, and if you are interested please contact him on mark@naturalfitnesscompany.co.uk.
 
Other things your Board is working on
As you may know we have been working on plans to improve the outside seating area at the Club. The new chairs and tables have been very popular, and we would like to expand the patio area. Finding a reasonably priced contractor to do the works needed has proven challenging, but we are hoping to proceed with these works in the new year. At the same time, we plan to tackle the root issue on court 2.

Our Treasurer Robert Coyle has taken the initiative to upgrade our accounting system and to find a new accounting company to support us with that. After a thorough review, local accountant David Whitman has been selected, and the Board has approved him to become the Club’s new Reviewing Accountant.

And lastly, we have installed a new coffee machine and also replaced the cold water dispenser. The coffee machine has taken a bit of adjusting, but I have been assured that it now serves some very tasty brews. Please give it a try!

Thank for reading this newsletter. I wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Club for the Christmas Party this Sunday from 12 o’clock – free tasty Xmas bites! And don’t forget to join us for social tennis and squash from 10!

Arnold Jager
Chairman of the Board
DLTSC