Pambula Tennis Club - Club News March 2024

The Spring comp wrapped up just before Christmas and the 100 club draw was done at the grand final.

The comp was won by Kel’s Kias who won the night in quite a convincing fashion. Well done to Leon’s Lamborghinis on giving them a hard time along the way.

Kel’s team consisted of Kel Arthur, Peter Cross, Shelley Smallwood, Krishna Penukonda and Leisel Haar. Leon’s team were Leon Nunn, David Baum, Wayne Paton, Jenny King and Josh Leggatt.

It was noteworthy that there were several comments about how far Leisel’s and Josh’s game has improved during the life of the competition.

The 100 club prizes were taken out by Vicki Barber – first prize of $350, Stevie Gordon – second prize of $100 and Mark Spinks - third prize of $50.

Josh Leggat won the lucky door prize of a free membership for next financial year.

As always the comp and the grand final night were run seamlessly by our Vice President and Treasurer Speed and Nicole Gordon. They provided the competition prizes and the BBQ. Nicole was also the driving force behind the 100 club.

The January Holiday Doubles nights went well with both club members and visitors taking part. We hope to keep building this up over time to make it a must play event for the club during the holidays.

We received word that our application for the Category 3 Club Grants was unsuccessful. Only 15 per cent of the applicants were successful. We have received some general feedback about the application and will make some alterations to the new application round that is now open.

The Community Building Partnership grants are still being considered and we hear the results of those in May this year. If anyone has an idea for some smaller grant monies please bring it up at our next meeting on the 19th March, starting at 6pm, at the clubhouse. Suggestions so far include a new safe instant hot water system and a starter kit for a mobile Pickleball nets and throw down line markers. This would allow us to try Pickleball on courts 5 and 6 and to hire it out to interested parties like schools etc.

The recent rains revealed that the drainage on courts 3 and 4 still needs attention. A former member is going to look at re-drilling the seep holes on courts 3 & 4 to see if this makes a difference to the drainage.  Also, the President needs to chase up some retaining wall quotes and we need to keep our other infrastructure quotes up to date. In addition to this we are looking at acquiring new brooms for court grooming.

The Crown Reserves Improvement Fund (CRIF) round for 2023 has closed and we were not able to apply this year for various reasons.  We are in the process of drafting a letter to Reflections in anticipation of the 2024 round so that things are in order when this grant round opens this year.

The social tennis group had a great day at their Christmas Party. It was well attended and very enjoyable. The group has continued to play over most of the summer break. We play Monday and Thursday mornings between 9am and 11am.

Vicki Barber and Sandy & I have acquired some Pickleball bats and balls and we will trial them on courts 5 and 6 in the coming weeks.