Club Newsletter – March 2026

Dear members,

Welcome to our March newsletter! 

Spring has officially begun and this coming weekend sees the start of British Summer Time. So if any of you stored your tennis racket away for the Winter, now is the time to get going again and enjoy the better weather and lighter evenings.

Renewing your membership

Current memberships expire on 31st March. Thank-you to the many of you who have already renewed, and a nudge to anyone still to do so.

Launch of new email system and new website

In the first week of April or thereabouts we will be switching to a new email publishing and distribution system and releasing our new website.

This will bring improved services to you, although there may well be a few initial gremlins that we need to iron out.

We’re in the throes of landing multiple, significant and overlapping changes. For the most part they’re going smoothly and we’re where we need to be. Thank-you for working with us!

Tennis singles box leagues

To avoid a clash of deadlines with the 1st round of the club tennis tournament, the current box leagues were extended until 22nd March.

The next round (including the junior leagues) will be on the LTA system, as used for our doubles leagues, for those who have registered.

Club tournaments

The 2nd round deadline for the main tennis events is 15th April. Good luck everyone!

The squash and racketball events are all progressing well, tracking towards Club Finals Day for Squash and Racketball on Sunday 26th April.

National League Tennis

Our Winter team did fantastically well to qualify for the Premier League finals at Roehampton from 22nd May to 25th May.

This past weekend our Summer team were due to kick-off their campaign against Sutton but we were given a last-minute walkover.…. Can they reach the finals at Bournemouth once more? It’s the LTA equivalent of who in Strictly will reach Blackpool!

Next month they have 2 home fixtures on Sunday 12th April against Dukes Meadow and Sunday 26th April against Raines Park. Fingers crossed for the sun to shine on our terrace (aka the best beer garden in Berko) to bring a full house of supporters!

Squash teams

Most of the teams have now completed their Winter league seasons and we had some outstanding finishes!

We believe for the first time ever, or for as long as any of us can remember, our Ladies team won the Herts League, going undefeated! Congratulations to the team regulars Libby Montgomery (captain), Katie Winterstein, Sharon Plested and Sally Rowbotham.

Likewise, our Vintage team won the Herts and Middx League, also undefeated! Congratulations to Grant Kleiner (Captain), Richard Carr, Keith Farnham, Roger Greenfield, John Shaw, Kev Spratt and David Maguire.

There were also 2nd place finishes in their Herts League divisions for our 2nd and 4th teams. Well done everyone!

A special mention too, to the 5 of our members who competed earlier this month in the British Nationals: Libby, Katie, Ali Coker, Darren Withey and Andy Eilfield. Ali is now the British O50s champion, winning all his matches 3-0 on route to the title!

ITC court fees reduction

As mentioned at last month’s AGM, to encourage more of you to use the ITC when the weather discourages you from playing outdoors, we are cutting the cost of booking an indoor court at off-peak times for a trial period. Look out for new lower prices landing soon.

Club Open Day

On Sunday 17th May we will be holding our first Open Day of the year.

Do you have friends who may be interested in having a go or re-acquainting themselves with tennis, squash or racketball? Are you a tennis member who fancies giving squash or racketball a go, or vice versa?

Come on down, it’s free!

Club kit

Launched and available from Court10, run by Nick Georghiades one of our tennis members.

Lovely backstory, with Nick and a best mate whimsically envisioning their own racket sports apparel company in their Uni days and now pressing the Go button while still doing their ‘day jobs’. If you like what you see worn by our NPL tennis team, you can wear it too! Demo display in the Centenary Room.

Bar and cafe news

Next up on the social agenda is the Honey Ryder band playing at the club on Sunday 10th May at 5pm, featuring our tennis member, Lindsay O’Mahony. Tickets on sale now.

HONEY RYDER LIVE & UNPLUGGED Tickets, Sunday, May 10, 2026 from 5 pm to 10 pm | Eventbrite

Berkhamsted Sporting Excellence Awards

Last but by no means least, nominations for the Sporting Excellence Awards are now officially open!

Following the great success of Berkhamsted Sports Ground’s inaugural awards last season, they are back again.

Sport brings our community together. Behind every club are the volunteers and players who show up week after week. The awards celebrate the people whose hard work, passion and commitment represent the best of our local sporting community, with categories for:

• Club of the year (£1000 prize);
• Rising star of the year (£1000 for elite coaching);
• Team of the year (£500 prize);
• Young sports person of the year (£250 prize);
• Adult sports person of the year (£250):
• Volunteer of the year (£250); and
• Volunteer coach of the year (£250).

We were thrilled last year when our very own Tracey Mackey won the Volunteer of the year award and 8 year-old Carter Law reached the final two for Boys Young sports person of the year. Will we feature this year? It all starts with a nomination. Available here on the BSG website

Home

Nominations must be in by 10th April and the awards evening will be on 4th June at Berkhamsted Golf Club.

Until next month, that’s all for now. P.S. we think we may have broken our record for the most exclamation marks in a newsletter. Can you have too many?!

Club Council

(John Shaw, Phil Trimmer, Adam Suggett, Pete Walker, Matt Markwort, Tracey Mackey, Mark Shattock)