Social Events
The club’s primary social activity is ‘social tennis’ with two open tennis sessions during the week; one on Tuesday evening from 6.00p.m. and the other on Saturday afternoon. From April to September the Tuesday evening session is paired with a club supper, cooked at the club by volunteers and enjoyed by playing and non-playing members alike, the menu as varied as the members who prepare it. The final club supper is invariably a lamb roast, cooked slowly on the club patio. The early rounds of club doubles tournaments take the form of a round robin, played on a Sunday almost always accompanied by a barbecue and the Finals Day in September is inevitably a very social affair. Friendly tournaments, organised by members, take place throughout the summer with the emphasis on enjoyment as much as on tennis.
Special mention should be made of the Paul Bathard Midsummer Tournament, the origins of which are lost in the mists of time, but which the club’s long-time coach, Paul Bathard, made peculiarly his own. Played on the Tuesday closest to Midsummer’s Day, it is a handicap mixed tournament with varying rules, which starts at 6.00 and finishes when it finishes, but always without the use of floodlights. Supper is served during the evening, the bar is open and of course it never rains.
The bar is often open, especially in summer, run by members. The kitchen, too, with tea and coffee always to hand and cake as well, if someone has remembered to bring one.
Besides these regular events there is the legendary quiz, usually in November, sometimes a cheese and wine quiz too, a Christmas mulled wine evening and even a Christmas club supper. Further afield, there is a CLTC snooker evening, a golf day and an annual fixture with the tennis club of Castries in SW France, inevitably interrupted by Covid, but back on track for 2022. All of these have been initiated by enthusiastic club members and we are always open to fresh ideas.