A reminder that due to COVID-19, the Weston Creek Tennis Club (WCTC) will be maintaining the current restricted play for members only 1:1 singles tennis and coaching outlined last week. Social tennis, pennant, group coaching, casual bookings using Book A Court are still unavailable. Further information can be found HERE. 
 

• Members Singles: If you wish to book a court for singles play, please text Graeme on 0431 930 710 with your name, partner, proposed date and time (Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat, 1.5 hr sessions between 10-3pm), and he will confirm your booking via return text.  Please note that in accordance with the ACT Government’s agreement to restricted play at Weston Creek for members only, Graeme is checking memberships, so please make sure you are aware of the playing rules and are  member of the Club as advised in information HERE.

• 1:1 Coaching: If you wish to book 1:1 coaching, please contact Mark Walton on 0408 486 191 with your proposed date and time and he will confirm your booking.  Private lesson rates for adults and juniors at WCTC are $75 per hr, $40 per half hr or a discount of $65 per hr / 35 per half hr if four or more sessions are booked. More information HERE.

Many thanks to Graeme Rossiter for setting up our restricted tennis policy with ACT Government and for coordinating court allocations/supervising, to Tim Harris and Mark Walton thank you for assisting with court supervision, and for Tim’s diligence and ongoing maintenance of the  lawns and grounds of our facility.  With the new courts going in and Graeme painting all the rusty poles around the courts, the facility is starting to look almost brand new.  Also thank you to Norbert Auer who has commenced re-levelling the paving previously disrupted by the tree roots.  We wouldn’t be here without our volunteers and your support of the Club, so if you can spare a few hours over the next 3-4 weeks please contact Graeme – your help will be most appreciated.

A reminder membership renewal is due by 30 April 2020. We encourage members to renew with the Club for 2020-21, and to do so even with these restrictions, in order to support the Club and its financial viability. A great thank you to those who have already renewed with the Club. Your support is greatly appreciated.

If a member has not renewed by the due date, and no valid reason has been provided (e.g. overseas posting, pregnancy or illness/injury only), membership will be cancelled and the person will still need to pay the full membership fee at any point in the financial year if they decide to renew, however they will not be required to pay the joining fee again. If a member has a valid reason for postponement of membership renewal, the membership secretary can use his/her discretion to reduce the fee if the person decides to renew in that financial year, and they will not be required to pay the joining fee again either.

We are the second biggest tennis club in Canberra and the biggest tennis club in South Canberra with 12 courts to maintain. The Club incurs ongoing costs and charges which must be paid whether or not we play, so renewing now will help the Club in numerous ways.

Prior to COVID-19, the replacement of lights and resurfacing of courts 5-8 were identified as needing priority infrastructure upgrades. The Committee believes these upgrades are essential to the future operations of the Club. The Club is committed to maintaining and upgrading the facilities in order to improve the experience for its members and undertook the installation of new LED lights in February. The resurfacing of courts 5-8 started on Tuesday (photos below). The balance of the Term Deposit account reinvested on 1 February for 8 months at 1.5% is being used to pay for resurfacing of courts 5-8. All of the Club’s available funds plus a loan of $70,000 from the ANZ bank will be used to pay the balance of costs for this project. These repayments will be a financial burden and a sizeable reduction in membership income will put further pressure on our finances, so we would be grateful for your support.

We would also encourage non-members to join the Club and take advantage of the restricted 1:1 singles (the only Club that offers this option in the ACT at the moment) or coaching currently being offered at the Club, one FREE coaching session and additional benefits when the Club is back to business as usual. One FREE coaching session available to those who recently joined the Club for 2020-21.

The Government has been careful to temper optimistic terms like "the road out" by reiterating we are in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, with the Prime Minister guaranteeing the current restrictions will remain in place for at least the next four weeks at the National Cabinet meeting held on 16 April 2020.  ACT Government restrictions on social gatherings still apply. We will continue to monitor the situation and advise of any new developments / changes in our policy.

We will keep the 2019-20 and 2020-21 members in our mailing list until the Club returns to business as usual. However members can unsubscribe to the mailing list if they wish to do so by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email or by emailing the Secretary at westoncreektennisclub@gmail.com.

We hope to see you soon and will always appreciate your support of the Club, especially during these challenging times.

Yours Sincerely,

WCTC Committee