Bearsted & Thurnham Tennis Club

On Sunday 16th August Bearsted & Thurnham Tennis Club were proud to host Kent Tennis (Kent LTA) in partnership with Fatima Whitbread MBE to promote her nationwide campaign and provide a Tennis Fun Day for care leavers, care-experienced young people and their families – helping to give them a sense of belonging within a community, meet new people and inspire confidence.

The afternoon included tennis coaching, games, a barbecue and an inspiring talk from Fatima, one of Britain's most celebrated athletes and a passionate advocate for children and young people in care.

Thanks also to our club volunteers who helped make the day run smoothly - Ann and Neil Buscombe, Mandy Miles and Sandy Chidwick for bar duty, Cathy Hoskins, Sheila Burton, Mike Sturla (general kitchen help) and Gary Duckworth on the BBQ.

Ladies day took place on Saturday 16th August. We had a wonderful afternoon of tennis with a thrilling final with Katie and Teresa just beating Helen and Theresa. We all then feasted on a wonderful array of salads, cheeses and meats followed by strawberries, raspberries and cake. Thank you to everyone who took part, whether in a playing capacity or a helper.

Despite the gloomy forecast of rain, 28 men were determined not to be put off taking part in the annual Men's Social Day on Saturday 7th June. The luck was on our side as the rain stayed away for most of the day for a seeded round robin system that enabled everyone to have alternate partners and opponents throughout the day, followed by a fantastic BBQ. Congratulations to the winners – Neil (for the 3rd time!!), and his partner in the final, Daniel. Also to Alan and Ayo who didn't go home empty handed as they received the wooden spoon! Looking forward to next year's event!

The Charity Autumn Ball last Saturday helped to increase the total money raised for the Young Lives Foundation - YLF to almost £2,500.

Thank you to everyone who supported our Charity Autumn Ball on Saturday evening and for those who bought raffle tickets over the past few months. Our Chairman's chosen charity for this year is Young Lives Foundation - YLF which is a Maidstone based charity supporting disadvantaged and troubled children across the South East of England. 85% of donations go to front line support, which is a high proportion.

We have managed to raise almost £2,500 from our food nights; golf event; autumn ball and raffle - we sold over £700 of raffle tickets on the Ball night alone, so everyone who attended please pat yourselves on the back - the Ball and Raffle have by far been the biggest charity revenue generators with c.£2,100 raised from these two events alone...so well worth the effort.

Thanks also go to those who generously donated prizes:
DialAFlight.com
Bearsted Golf Club
Faithful Quality Tools
Crouch the Butchers
xtreme2clean
B.clean
Inspired Studios and Peter Pinto
Rachele Laurenson Ceramic workshop
Oak on the Green
Fed on the Green
Global Bullion Vault

Today the club hosted a charity tennis afternoon organised by Gemma Duckworth on behalf of Wards estate agents who support the Tree of Hope – a charity that is transforming the health of sick and disabled children by supporting families across the UK to fundraise for their children's healthcare needs. The objective was to encourage tennis novices from Wards and their guests to pick up a racket and give it a go, whilst raising some money for the charity too. We had some fun tennis on two courts combined with some basic coaching by Paul and Gary Duckworth using the ball machine. If you would like to know more about the charity please visit www.treeofhope.org.uk

What a fabulous finals weekend we had this year, starting in the evening on Friday 6th September and finishing on Sunday afternoon. The tennis, food, drink, socialising and the organisation were all superb. The weather was mostly good, but despite a couple of heavy downpours on Sunday, we managed to get it all done!

The club was delighted to formally open its two new artificial clay courts on Saturday 14th September, thanks to the generous donation of land by Richard & Dena Ashness on which the courts were built – their support has made this project possible. The day's events included tennis drills set to music, led by our skilled MTA coaching staff, followed by some exhibition tennis featuring the talented MTA juniors who recently won the Kent County Championships. Some club members then joined in with MTA for a championship tie break round robin, and the day was then rounded off with a barbecue.

Progress on our new artificial clay courts - the carpet went down at the beginning of August and is now just awaiting the artificial clay top surface. More photos of the progress can be seen on the website at https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/BearstedandThurnham/News/ae472967-0c3a-44ec-a2bf-49f0332a4aeb