September is a month of transition around the club. Holiday season is over. School and university new years are getting underway. Outside, the evenings are drawing in, and floodlights are starting to be used. Inside, the new squash season is getting underway with team matches and Winter box leagues about to start.

Projects around the club and other related things

Lots to report!

The refurb of the ladies toilets is nearly finished and we are about a week away from re-opening them. Thank you for bearing with us during the work. We hope you like the improved and modernised facility, which makes better use of the space, equips us much better for busy times and events at the club, and has a baby-changing unit.

We have selected a contractor for the work to improve the rear fence corner of tennis court 12, the walkway entrance, and the back fencing along 10-12. Materials have been ordered and the work will begin shortly.

Planning permission has been agreed to upgrade to LED floodlighting on tennis courts 1-3 and 6, subject to written confirmation of no objection from Network Rail (verbal confirmation has been received), and work will start soon. Just in time for dark evenings.

A deep clean of our indoor tennis courts will take place on 6th and 7th October, to improve both their appearance and playing quality.

In the Fitness Suite, we have acquired a top-of-the-range Wattbike, second-hand from Herts Sports Village but in nearly-new condition. Great as a general exercise bike and the best in the market for those who want performance data and, for keen cyclists, integration with apps such as Strava and Swift.

In response to your feedback, an ‘Add to calendar’ feature is about to be released to the court booking system by our service provider. All court booking emails will contain the option to automatically add the slot to your electronic calendar.

Hardly a project, but we now have a new letter box outside the clubhouse. We have finally ditched the cigarette burnt-out monstrosity that endangered all children and small adults.

If you’ve forgotten your entry fob, the doorbell in the entrance lobby is finally working again.

Some of you know that we recently had sports video experts Blumonkey Media, run by squash member Gerry Sims, produce a drone film of the club for our new website (landing soon). We are so pleased with the footage. It’s going through a final edit and then we’ll release it to our club Facebook page; it’s too good to wait until the website is ready.

Moreover, with the help of tennis member, Monika Gibilaro, we’re upping our game on social media. Monika has kindly volunteered to run social media for the Berkhamsted Sports Grounds charitable association, of which we are a founder member, and we will be leveraging that content. Likes and subscribes and all of that good stuff please, to spread the work about our place.

Talking of filming, do you remember we had a film crew using our squash courts as a location setting for a couple of days last year, with Robert Carlyle playing the part of a detective whose hobby is squash?

We were sworn to secrecy but we’re now allowed to go public. The Hack, a major new ITV series landed on Wednesday with an all-star cast. Were we left on the cutting room floor or does fame beckon for us? John is binge-watching and so far we’ve been briefly spotted in episode 2. So much for Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame, we get 15 seconds. And we’re very sorry Robert Carlyle, but we won’t be picking you for any of our teams.

Tennis

For the 3rd consecutive year our National League men’s team made it through to the National Finals in Bournemouth earlier this month, which is a brilliant achievement. We claimed a highly respectable 5th place, a huge credit to our players and sponsors. A big thank-you to the supporters who travelled to watch.

On Wednesday evening this week we hosted the finals of the Aylesbury League Bronze, Silver and Gold mixed knockout competitions. It was a tremendous evening and our own team of Jenny Webster, Kate Murphy, Ollie Fradgley and Tom Lamming were victorious in the Gold cup final against Chesham Bois!

We were proud to host the event at our club (and England Masters squash event - see next section), which is such a great venue, with excellent playing, viewing and socialising facilities; and it is so rewarding to hear snippets of conversation from visiting players about how nice the club is.

Our Annual Club Handicap Tournament, in its 3rd year, is now underway, with Finals Day on Sunday 16th November.

Those of you with young children will know that we have revamped our Under 10 programme, catering for all ages from 2 years old, under the overarching theme of ‘Enjoy Tennis’. More information is available from our coaching team.

Squash and Racketball

Last weekend we were privileged to host the England Masters Southern Regional Tournament, featuring 180 participants from Over 35 to Over 80, including 20 of our own members.

It was a brilliant event and our members came away with silverware!

Brilliant job Ali Coker and Gavin Roger-Lund who were crowned O50 and O55 champions, respectively! Also, Tom Brookes, Richard Carr and Grant Kleiner who won their O50, O55 and O65 plate competitions!

We might also have claimed the Mens O60 title had Darren Withey not been playing for England Masters in the Racketball Home Internationals. An unfortunate diary clash but huge congratulations to Darren!

While we’re giving people a shout-out, our pro player Grace Gear has gone World Top 40! A great start to the new season, including a semi-final spot in the British Nationals, has boosted Grace up the rankings, bringing her ever closer to automatic entry into all the top world tour events (32 person draws).

Grace is a regular in our club 1st team when not away on tour, and we will publicise when you can come and watch her play.

Just one more thing - the Columbo section

Just so you’re aware, because the law isn’t widely known on this point, as we are a licensed premise there are various regulations with which we must comply. Among those are conditions about over-consumption, noise levels, and non-consumption by children.

All of which are incredibly difficult to manage if people bring their own alcohol. Hence it is standard practice for all licensed premises not to allow that to take place (aside from it being inconsiderate to the business/club). We are no different. It is a club rule that, when the bar is open, i.e. during our licensed hours (published on our website and in the entrance lobby), members and guests/visitors are not allowed to bring their own alcohol to the club.