Sad News - Club Closure Thursday 5th November until 2nd December 2020 ....
The Prime Minister has announced new national restrictions for England to be implemented from Thursday 5th November to Wednesday 2nd December. The measures will have serious implications for recreational tennis and will unfortunately seriously impact Abbeydale Tennis Club.
The new restrictions mean that The Club will be forced to totally close all the indoor / outdoor courts and Clubhouse for 4 weeks.
The LTA and Regional County Associations fought hard to persuade the Government that given tennis is a naturally socially distant sport with that net acting as a natural barrier, that tennis should be exempt from these restrictions, but unfortunately these requests were turned down and all tennis venues must close for all activity.
Firstly, a HUGE thank you to the many many members who have already contacted us to pledge their support to The Club during this second lockdown, by offering to keep their Direct Debit payments for November, even though they know we won’t be able to offer the services for which they pay for this 4 week period.
Without this member generosity, it’s not an exaggeration to say that it would be difficult for us to survive a second lockdown, so a huge thank you to everybody who has been in touch with us and to everybody who does continue to support us through November and it’s been very humbling to hear how much of a part of people’s lives our Tennis Club is.
However, we appreciate it’s not only us that is going through a tough time and many members will have lost jobs or be on reduced income and we can’t presume that everybody will be able to keep their payments going and therefore we are introducing measures for members who wish to suspend payment for November 2020 to do so. ( Should you wish to suspend for November, instructions on how to do this are at the bottom of the page. )
Over the lockdown 2 period, we will continue to work hard behind the scenes and in the few weeks you are away, we should have completed the building of the heated covered outdoor area, anticipating a return to Tier 2 or 3 Local Lockdown rules for December that include not socialising indoors, so this area will be vital for members after they’ve played. We will also complete the pressure washing of the 4 outdoor courts, after last weeks Winter Moss Treatments and get the courts ready for a return to action for you all.
As a Thank you for any members who are able to support us in November, we will issue you with a “Months Membership Voucher” for either a family member or friend to use, so as soon as we are all back playing you have a voucher to give to someone of a full months membership.
We want to stay positive and so ….. Remember you can book courts and classes for December 3rd onwards in JUST fifteen days time on 18th November !!
Finally, Maria ( Gledden ) will keep all the Social Media pages up to date with what we are doing round The Club, as that seemed a very popular feature in Lockdown 1 and The Abbeydale Team, would also like you to reply to these posts and keep us up to date with what you are all up to keep busy, without tennis !
November 2020 Suspension Offer - Due to members all having different payment dates, meaning some members have already paid on the first of the month and some others due throughout the month, we will have to deal with each request individually.
Therefore in the first instance, please contact our Membership Secretary Lucy Slater on the e-mail address Playtennis@btconnect.com and she will make contact to organise this with you. Lucy will be also working a couple of mornings a week, when she will be available to talk to you in person, even though The Club isn’t open.
If by any miracle The Government give tennis any last minute reprieves we will contact members immediately.
John & The Abbeydale Team