Last week could turn out to be our busiest tennis week of the whole year. We had the following tennis action:
Senior competition tennis resumed on 29th January and then our 10 Junior teams started their new season on February 5th
Damian’s coaching classes began for the new school year with a lot of new pupils
Basterfield Park TC hired two courts for their midweek Ladies team who need to use our courts intermittently this season
Social tennis was very popular mid-week plus we had possibly one of our largest turnouts for Saturday social tennis
Senior club tournament resumed on Sunday
Court bookings were busy on the back of the Australian Open finals including many external bookings.
A big thank you to Frank Fox for his efforts last week to fix a plumbing leak on the water bore. Without this we would have struggled to get our courts watered and it would have really impacted on all of the tennis we did have.
Sadly, an attendee at Saturday social tennis subsequently testing positive for Covid. We’ve followed the guidance and Darrin Hunt kindly bleached the club rooms. For those of you who are sentimental, the spider web encrusted Christmas lights were taken down from the verandah of the clubhouse. I think I deserve danger pay.
WATER – We are having some fantastic warm February weather. Please water the courts prior to play and before each set. This is critical to maintaining the quality of our courts.
GUEST FEES – Sarah Graham has finalised the membership lists for 2021/22. Members can bring guests to play on the courts, however, you will need to include them as a guest when booking the court for a $5 fee.
GIRL’S CHAMPIONSHIP – In December we concluded our girl’s championship. I’ve attached a photo are our four semi-finalists Lani Lithgow, Rosa Evans (champion), Tijana Kravic (runner-up) and Abi Bligh.
Please don’t forget to support our sponsors at Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham who provided us with our defibrillator.
Kellie from Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham presents a sponsorship to Highmoor
Kellie Saunders from Terry White Chemmart in Cheltenham presented me with a cheque for $1502 for our new defibrillator.
We are fortunate to have a wonderful sponsor in Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham. They have sponsored a new defibrillator for our clubhouse to replace the one they sponsored 5 years ago. Fortunately we have not had to use either yet.
Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham was formerly known as Cheltenham Friendly Society Dispensary Ltd.
I encourage all members to support Terry White Pharmacy Cheltenham as they have been very generous to our club. I have been using them myself and they are really are great value for money. They are also doing vaccine booster shots if you need to book in.
Terry White Chemmart Cheltenham are a not for profit and support the community. So let’s support them as a club.
“We’re more than just a pharmacy. As a not-for-profit organisation, run by the Cheltenham Friendly Society, we have been putting profits back into the community since 1918. Our primary objectives are to address community health needs with our products, services and educational programs, and deliver funding to school and community groups through our Community Grant program.”
Membership We are finalising memberships from last year. So if you are yet to renew then please do so by Wednesday January 26th. A reminder for all senior and junior competition players that you need to be a paid up member of the club to play. Please contact Sarah Graham by email. I’d like to thank Sarah for her efforts in coordinating the membership renewals. Guest fees If you are playing with a non-member, then please remember to book them in as a guest when you book the court. It is a $5 guest fee. Even better, encourage them to join the club. For parents of juniors, the guest fee will apply to the parent if only the junior is a member. So rather than pay guest fees, I encourage you to join up and get plenty of exercise. Competition tennis Senior competition resumes on January 29th and Junior competitions starts the new season on February 5th. For any aspiring senior competition players, please refer to Glenn Collins’ email on Friday 21st Jan. Nominations for the winter tennis season are due on February 13th. Watering the Courts It is critical for the courts to be watered prior to play and for each new set. The club spent over $10,000 on court maintenance last year and to keep the en-tout-cas in good order the courts must be watered regularly. The club has also purchased a new wet weather roller and is getting the other two rollers re-lined with foam. I don’t expect they’ll be required for a few days yet. Welcome to our new members We are delighted to have so many new members join the club over the last year. We hope you enjoy your tennis at Highmoor and look forward to seeing you on the courts. Regards, Bernie
On behalf of Highmoor’s management committee, I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2022 is a more fun than the last 2 years.
Holiday Clinics
Damian Graf is running tennis holiday clinics in January. The December clinics were booked out so please contact Damian to secure your spot.
The details are:
January 6th and 7th (Thursday and Friday) 9:30am to 12 noon
January 20th and 21st (Thursday and Friday) 9:30am to 12 noon
Costs are $40 for a single day or $70 for 2 days.
Bookings are essential, please contact Damian by email or phone 0412 295 658.
Damian is also running a Hot Shots clinic for 5-6 years olds on January 4th. So please contact him to book your child in.
Junior Championships
Damian did a terrific job organising the Highmoor junior championships after lockdown ended. We have had a lot of great feedback from parents who were glad to see the kids having some extra tennis. The tennis was very high quality and the club junior program is in great shape with another 8 Saturday junior teams and 2 Sunday teams.
Girls: Congratulations to Rosa Evans on becoming champion, Tijana Kravic on runner-up and the semi-finalists were Abi Bligh and Lani LIthgow.
Boys: Congratulations to the champion Nick Capel and the runner-up Ian Rachinsky, semi-finalists Josh Glassock and Leo McInerney. Well done to all the players who competed. The Senior championship will recommence in Feb and March next year.
Please remember to water the courts over summer before each set and even mid-set if the court gets really dry. We use bore water so you can water them thoroughly. Best wishes,
The Highmoor AGM was held on Wednesday, December 8th, and thanks to those attended at the clubhouse or by zoom. On Tuesday the 7th, Jeff Mayes’ funeral was held at Studley Park and the club was very well represented. A big thanks to Maurice Pattison and Geoff Robinson who spoke so well at the service in praise of Jeff. At the AGM, we confirmed the management committee members for the next 12 months. The good news is that all members of the current committee are continuing and we also welcome Darrin Hunt and Kyle Malligan to the committee. Darrin is a regular Tuesday social player and Kyle plays in one of the Senior competition teams. The other committee members are:
Dale Collins – Treasurer and Secretary,
Sarah Graham – Membership
Damian Graf – Coaching and Junior Coordinator
Glenn Collins – Senior Teams
Jennie Armstrong – Ladies Social
Janet Wardlaw – Member Protection Officer
Paul Luke – Facilities
Further, Jason Mahmoud and Janet Wardlaw are Senior Team selectors and Alan Kempton is the club auditor. I will be taking on the role as President after Jeff’s passing and with the support of such a great committee we hope to maintain and grow the club. If you have any queries or thoughts on improvements to the club please me know via email at bmwmcinerney@gmail.com or on 0424 797 420. Membership Renewals
Sarah has sent out all renewals for the 2021/22 membership year. The membership fee has been discounted by 50% to allow for the time in lockdown for renewing members. If you haven’t yet renewed could you please do so. Any queries please contact Sarah by email at Sarahgraham368@gmail.com or by phone on 0408 033 322. Regards, Bernie McInerney
It is with great sadness that we learned of the recent death of Highmoor Club President, Jeff Mayes, at age 70.
Those of us who had the pleasure, or even privilege, of getting to work or socialise with Jeff on a regular basis came to realise that this guy was a great bloke, an exemplary citizen with a heart of gold. The term ‘paragon of propriety’ is not applicable to many people, but I think it does apply to Jeff. He was always such a stickler for doing the well-considered responsible thing.
Jeff was never one for seeking the limelight, always unassuming. He was a member of Highmoor for approximately 13 years and he took on key roles of club secretary for six years and as president over the last five years and he often spoke of the value and importance of volunteers in the community. He loved his tennis and the sense of community within the club.
Even as Highmoor Tennis Club president, he would always understate his role, and he was never one to ask others to step in for him to do the work; he was hands-on, always very interested in the maintenance of the Highmoor facility – initiating and overseeing the implementation of important improvements to things such as sprinkler systems, court maintenance, fence screening and court hosing systems. He was often seen quietly and inconspicuously raking up leaves from the tennis courts before tennis on Tuesdays or Saturdays.
Jeff was the ideal clubman, always offering to help in any working bee, whether it be as a cook at the annual Bunnings sausage sizzle tennis club fund-raiser or as a key contributor to the Highmoor lights and fencing project in 2014 or the clubhouse kitchen renovation in 2010 and clubhouse refurbishment. Jeff patrolled the Highmoor facility as though it was his own second back yard. He particularly loved the camaraderie of the Tuesday morning mens group and was very actively involved in the Saturday afternoon organised social tennis, where, apart from mixing it with the best of us social tennis men, he would be only too happy to make up a four in a mixed set or attend to a maintenance issue such as a leaking court hose. He was always very fair to all. Everyone at the club liked and respected Jeff.
Jeff was a good hitter on the tennis court and all of us Tuesday and Saturday players enjoyed playing sets of tennis with or against Jeff. He was known to hit a good cross-court ground stroke with a bit on it and was no stranger to making deft interceptions at the net to pat the ball out of reach of the opposition.
Ironically, Jeff was one of the fittest of the older folk at Highmoor – a keen walker (10,000 steps a day was nothing for him) and he’d dropped his weight from 90 to 78kg, with no known health issues and, it seemed nothing more of a health ailment than the odd recurring calf issues that put him out of action for a few weeks here and there. He ate according to a structured diet and was an active member of the local bush walking club, another one of his passions.
It was a big surprise to all of us when we heard that Jeff had died. He deserved to live a longer life than he did. Highmoor will be so much the poorer for Jeff’s passing. We’ll all miss Jeff.
