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Your Friendly Neighbourhood Tennis & Squash ClubStormontSEPTEMBER 2015 www.stormontltsrc.com
Welcome to the 2015/16 SeasonI hope you all enjoyed your summer of tennis and squash.The Club’s fortunes in the Middlesex tennis leagues were mixed as youwill gather from the reports on page 2. The squash team’s first ventureinto summer leagues was a triumph under Simon Ruff and Peter Key’sjoint captaincy. Simon’s idiosyncratic report is on page 4. Next stephopefully: to win promotion in the winter leagues too. We have a strongteam of young players and Simon has deservedly replaced me as theClub’s Captain of Squash.
Finals day saw a number of reversals of fortune. Fabien Zinsnerreclaimed his men’s singles crown from Ben Wiltshire but Wendy Levinlost hers to Hannah Rustin after almost 15 uninterrupted years. Sadly inthe mixed doubles final that followed Hannah ruptured the ligaments inher ankle at one set all. I am pleased to report that she is on the road torecovery but that was a sad dampener on an otherwise successful andlong day of tennis. As always thanks to Dinny Ravet for organising thetournament and to John Lanham for the barbecue.
As I mentioned in my Spring report, the Club’s membership numbershave returned to the levels we used to achieve in the noughties. Newmembers are very welcome. However, the Committee is acutely consciousthat we need to maintain our facilities at a standard that matches thesenumbers. Dinny has kindly volunteered to take over as Chair of theMaintenance Committee and effectively as Club Manager. Our thanks toPanos Savvides for his contribution over the past two years as chairman ofthat committee.
You will have seen the first fruits of Dinny’s labours – the replacementof the canopy between the club house and the ladies changing room andthe repainting of the exterior walls and woodwork. There is much still todo, not least the squash court heaters which seem to be jinxed and themen’s changing room which is showing its age. We cannot and would notwant to alter the basic configuration of the Club’s facilities – it is part ofthe character of the club – but we can improve them considerably. We will
also explore opportunities for grants and other sources of finance wherethey are worthwhile.
A long overdue task is to update Stormont’s website. It hasdefied the skills of several volunteers over the last year; my thanksto them for their efforts. However I am pleased to say that a newTheseus has offered to enter the Labyrinth and fight this particularMinotaur. I just hope that his success does not depend on string!Watch the website for signs of success.
You may have noticed that we recently purchased a defibrillator. It iskept in the bright green cabinet in the entrance hall to the squash courts.We hope of course never to need to use it. If there is an incident, themachine is set up for use without training – just follow the visual andspoken instructions given by the machine itself. It is programmed toensure that you cannot shock anyone whose heart has not stopped.
We have made one technical change this year. The Club’s year end hasbeen 31 December for as long as I can remember. As such it is out of linewith the membership year which commences on 1 October. We havedecided to align the two with effect from this year and will therefore bedrawing up the Club’s accounts for the 9 month period to 30 September2015. The AGM will also be somewhat earlier than usual in 2016. Manythanks to Jenny Taylor who as our Treasurer will bear much of the burdenof this change.
As ever, I would like to thank all committee members on your behalf forthe time and effort they put into the Club’s affairs. We are still looking fora replacement for Fiona Hill as membership secretary – she has generouslycontinued to answer queries and keep membership systems going in themeantime. We also have a long-standing vacancy for the secretary to theCommittee. Please contact me or any member of the Committee if youwould like to get involved.
Best wishes for an enjoyable season of tennis and squash.Tony Hulse, Chairman
TENNIS FINALS 2015
Dinny Ravet and Sally James beat Gina Titheridge and Sue Goddard Sally James and Fabien Zinsner beat Hannah Rustin and Ben Wiltshire
Hannah Rustin beat Wendy Levin Fabien Zinsner beat Ben Wiltshire Fabien and Matt Zinsner beat Ben Wiltshire and Ollie Clifford
Tennis Clubtimes Wednesday 6-9pm and Sunday 10-1pm continue throughout the year
TENNIS
LADIES’ FIRST TEAMLadies I Tennis Team in Division 1Regulars – Gina Titheridge, SueGoddard, Sally James, Dinny Ravet,Hannah Rustin were helped out byNorma Clarke, Wendy Levin, BarbaraKalirai, Zoe Levin, Ping Ru-Lo, KremenaMihaylova, Patricia Prichard, SusieTravers, Jeni Walwin and Jane AckroydThat’s a lot of help, thank you all, Closing out sets is imperative and can
make all the difference at the end of theseason.Two more points, which is just one
set, could have saved us from relegation. Dinny Ravet, First Team Captain
STORMONT TENNIS TEAMSWe have had a summer season plagued by injuries but have nonetheless played some great tennis.
Members are welcome tobring non-members to playtennis and/or squash atStormont or at St Luke’s(tennis only), butremember there is an adultvisitors fee of £1 and a 50pjuniors visitors fee to beput in the visitors bookusing 50p stamps from themachine before you start toplay. After a visitor has playedthree times they must jointhe club to continueplaying.
LADIES’ SECOND TEAMLadies II finished in fourth place,following promotion back up to Division3. We started the season off well withseveral good results but eventuallycame up against the strongestopposition in our final two matches,including the overall Division winners.We were pleased with our eventualresult and we had an enjoyable season.Thank you very much to everyone
who played – Norma, Patricia, Wendy,Jeni W, Susie T, Barbara, Zoe, Jenny,Carol, Jane A, Sarah, Kremena and Kate. Patricia Prichard, Second Team Captain
MENS’ SECOND TEAMSummer League 2015A ‘call to arms’ following a difficult Winter season brought forth a veritable‘thundering herd’ of 20 players for M2’s Summer 2015 campaign in Division 8. A verymixed bag of results, but a satisfying 4th place in the end, including a tie with one ofthe promoted teams in the final away match. Antonis achieved 6th place out of 105players in the divisional stats; one other gent came 104th! Team ages ranged from theteens to the full Freedom Pass. An excellent effort all round from: Antonis, Howard,Tim, Olli, Ed, Marc, Peter Dean, Chris, Alfie, Ernie, Bernard, Everton, Ian, Sam, GregNovitz, both Keiths, Peter Spens and Tom.
Peter Ware, Second Team Captain
LADIES’ THIRD TEAMThe 3rd team faced some strongopponents and are likely to be back indivision 5 next year having beenunexpectedly elevated to division 4 thisseason. However we enjoyed someexcellent tennis. With many thanks toJenny T, Sarah, Angela, Jane A, Jane D,Ping, Anne Ruff, Amira, Carol andKremena.Sheena MacCallum, Third Team Captain
MENS’ FIRST TEAMJust Not Enough...This summer season in Division 2 proved to be a bit too strong for the Mens’ First Team. We battled to the last match to try toavoid relegation but unfortunately the bottom slot was our reward!As usual, several teams which didn’t look that great on paper managed to turn out their good players for the matches against us,
a bit of a shame but we are determined to bounce back next summer.Thanks to all the players who made themselves available on a regular basis and to the stand-ins from the Second Team. Special
mention to Tim and Matt who managed to make all our matches, to Mark Tyler the newcomer who came straight into the teamdespite his lack of practice (I promise that I will not burn you directly from the second team next season and super thanks formaking up the numbers early in the season), Ben who even played with a broken toe and now unfortunately has to return to hisnative Guildford for a little while. We will miss you. Let the mighty Stormont spirit and commitment take us back to where we belong next year.
Fabien Zinsner, First Team Captain
St Lukes Tennis court is beingused a lot which is great. Pleasetake the padlocks in with youwhilst playing and ensure thatyou lock up when you go. Thebolt is stiff so please use thebrick to close it.
DINNY’S ADULT TENNIS COACHING GROUPSBeginners and Improvers Drop-in GroupsMonday 10.00 – 11.30am***Wednesday 10 – 11.15am***Improvers and Rusty Players Drop-in Groups Friday 9 – 10.15amSaturday 10 – 11.00amInvitation GroupsTuesday 1.30 – 3.00pmSaturday 11 – 12 noonFriday 10.15 – 11.45 Knowledgeable and wily doubles players
*** term-time only
FOR ALL YOUR TENNISCOACHING NEEDS
Contact Dinny Ravet 29 Fortismere Avenue
London N10 3BN mobile: 07961 434889
COSTIndividual lessons £28 an hour
One hour drop in £6One and a quarter hours £8
One and a half hours £10
JUNIOR TENNIS GROUPS Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday and Fridayafter schoolDinny restrings rackets and demos rackets
TENNIS
Reminders British Tennis MembershipJoin British Tennis for free atlta.org.uk/membership. Put that you are amember of Stormont which is in Middlesex.Our Wimbledon ticket allocation dependspartly on the number of Stormont B.T.members we have.10% Renewal DiscountDon’t forget to pay your subscription by 1st October and get your 10% renewaldiscount.Further details are on the membershipapplication/renewal form
JUNIOR TENNISTEAMS10 and underJamie Binns, Theo Browne, RichardCochrane, William Frais, Louis Macleod,Joel Moore, Oliver O’Brien, Jamie Smithand Luke Spens showed their metal byfighting every set. Came second in Division 2 group E.
12 and underGabriel de Leuw, Sam Gordon, LouieMekler, Joshua Muirhead, Julius O’Brien,Jake Shindler, Evan Symonds and EusebiVickers battled away.Came fifth in Div 2 group C.
JUNIOR TENNIS LESSONS COACHING GROUPSStart again on Monday 7 September
After school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.The groups are based on age, friendship and ability.Contact Dinny 07961 434 889 for suitability and availability of groupsPlease let me know if a regular is stopping or if you want to come Contact Dinny 07961 434 889
14 and underSameer Aiyar-Majeed, Gabriel de Leuw,Louis Des Forges, Ethan Gant, JoelMurphy, Joseph Silliton, Ben Simanowitzand Andrew Summers had some scarilylong games.Came third in Division 2 group G.
16 and underSameer Aiyar-Majeed, Robert Campbell,Louis DesForges, Daniel Gordon and ReubenTait with the pressure of exams only managedto play 2 matches and on both occasions oneteam or the other was a player short andcame bottom in Division 2 Group D.
Well done one and all.Huge thanks to marvellous parentswho drove the children to matchesand or stayed at home, providedfood and oversaw matches,sometimes for hours!
SQUASH
Designed by Val Wuttke Photos Dinny Ravet and A Nother © 2015 Stormont News. Sponsored and Printed by United [email protected]
After a solid winter performance under Tony’s stewardship, the entire Stormontsquash community got together to discuss how best to maintain our form until StSwithin’s Day, when the first squash ball of the season is traditionally tethered to agolden eagle and released into Lanchester Road. We both decided that forming asummer team was the way to go.Our mission was simple – to accumulate a crack squad of elite squash players, each
bringing to the table a unique talent and special skill. Unfortunately no suchindividuals were available so we just asked a bunch of local miscreants to join usinstead.
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STORMONT BOOK GROUP
The book group has continued to meetthis summer. We have read Night Fallson the City by Sarah Gainham, a bookfirst published to acclaim 40 years ago.It catalogues the difficulties andcompromises of a privilegedcommunity in Vienna before andduring the Second World War. MeBefore You by Jo Jo Moyes, very muchof today and dealing with disability.Disclaimer by Renee Knight, a pageturner. All the Light We Cannot See byAnthony Doerr, the recent Pulitzerprize winner and finally the modernclassic Song Of Solomon by ToniMorrison. Do join us if you areinterested.
Bridge at StormontBridge has continuedthroughout the year. We meetonce a month, usually on thesecond Friday, at 8pm to playbridge in the Club room. Pleasecontact Patricia or Jon on 0208883 7567 or 07774 146644 forfurther information if you areinterested in playing.
SQUASH COACHING@ STORMONTAs we start another season, our squashcoaching programme and introductionof new players into our great sport goesfrom strength to strength. We are nowoffering three days of after school juniorprogrammes, which include a growinggirls only group. This season theThursday squad will be looking to winthe inter club cup following two wins bythe Friday squad.We are delighted that seven of our
junior players are now part of MiddlesexCounty Squad who will be trainingregularly with our County coaching teamand players from across the countyevery month. We hope many of themwill be playing for and representing theCounty team very soon.Our school programme continues to
grow with Archer Academy includingsquash into their PE sessions as well astheir enrichment programme. Our localprimary schools, Tetherdown and StJames, continue with their schoolsprogramme which is delivered in schooland a visit to the club to try out tennisand squash at the end of the half term.Coldfall primary school will join our listof schools which will receive aprogramme of squash coaching (minisquash) at their after school, which wehope will develop into new playersjoining our club.Over the coming months we will be
running some adult introductory andbeginners group sessions. Watch thisspace for further details.
Vickie Prow
STORMONT’S SUMMER SQUASH SQUAD SUCCEEDSDrawn together by a shared love of the game and a large fishing net, old hands including
Fabien, David, Tony, Pete, Stuart and myself welcomed Nick back to the fold, reintroduced Alfie tothe mahogany boards, and provided some valuable competitive match experience tonewcomers including Puneet Mehta and Mark Tyler.As this was Stormont’s first summer squash team in living memory, we were thrown
in at the shallow end of division 6, and stormed to the top of the table – we’ll have atougher time of it next summer, so if you’re thinking of picking up a squash racket insupport of your local club, now’s the time!
Simon Ruff
SQUASH CLUB NIGHTWednesdays 8pmJoin us then
