2010 and the early months of 2011 have been yet another successful period for all sports sections and other activities that take place at the Club. You may recollect that last year I advised that the Committee continued to adopt a cautious approach to our projected income levels and general finances as we remained uncertain whether the general economic problems and the UK recession would adversely affect our overall member numbers. However as 2010 progressed our confidence in the targets/budgets we set out at the start of the year grew as we remained at almost 100% capacity in all membership categories. As a result the finances of the club remained in a very healthy state with good cash balances at both the start and the end of the year. Many economic and political commentators are advising 2011 may well prove to be another tough year - we will begin to see if this has any impact on the club when the next tranche of the tennis subscriptions become due in April – these tennis subscriptions account for over 75% of our total projected annual income and depending on the numbers of members renewing will give a clear indication of the state of our finances for the remainder of the year.
I would like to thank several people for all their input during 2010 starting with Michelle Wheeler, our Club Manager, who has supported the members from all sports sections in her usual enthusiastic manner for which we remain very grateful.
Steve Jarvis, our head grounds man has continued to improve the quality of both the grass tennis courts and the cricket square/outfield year on year and we remain extremely fortunate to have the benefit of Steve's expertise and enthusiasm.
Facilities improvement programme
The facilities upgrade programme has continued over the past 12 months with the renewal of the boilers and heating installation in the CLTC clubhouse which, following years of being repaired and patched up, had finally reached the end of their economic life. We have also introduced a new electronic membership card system which was masterminded by Richard Churchman and is designed to deliver increased efficiencies in terms of stock control and faster service from the bars for those members who choose to add credits to the new cards.
Members will be aware that we submitted a planning application for floodlighting to HCC tennis courts 6, 7 and 8 early last year and following several months of discussions with the planners and our neighbours we finally were granted permission in November 2010 – to enhance our chances of receiving approval we had obtained letters of support from local schools who use the facility, the LTA, and Zoë Billingham also organised individual letters to Camden Councillors from many of our Junior members. Just to ensure we got the planning committee’s full attention Zoë organised a coach to deliver a delegation of 40 of our juniors in tennis kit to attend the final planning meeting which made a very impressive sight in the main committee chamber at Camden Town Hall and must have impressed the Planning Committee as our approval sailed through with hardly a comment!! The order for the floodlights has now been placed and the works commenced in early February with completion programmed for mid/late March 2011 when we will organise an opening event for all members to attend. [Stop Press: Opened 17th March for play. Official opening night: Friday 1st April – all welcome!]
We are also in the process of agreeing the specifications for the re-surfacing of HCC tennis courts 1,2,3,4 and 5 with the School Trust and would hope that these courts could be re-surfaced with much improved playing surfaces during the course of 2011 dependent as always on costs. The other ongoing facilities “project” is the refurbishment of the main bar in the CLTC clubhouse which is looking very “tired” and outdated. The Committee will be reviewing design proposals in the next couple of months. If this project goes ahead there will inevitably be a period when the CLTC bar and kitchen are closed which will cause some inconvenience to members but we will aim to keep the closure period to an absolute minimum. Further details will be circulated as the programme develops.
Tennis
Marilyn Brooks was re-elected as Chair of Tennis at the 2010 AGM and has put a huge effort in over the year continuing to improve all aspects of the tennis section. Marilyn has been supported by her tennis subcommittee which is traditionally an un-elected group of members assembled by the Chair of tennis who are representative of the various sections of tennis members in order to provide feedback to the tennis Chair and guidance through the year. The sub committee last year comprised Zoë Billingham, Karen Stoker, Gary Back, Caroline Jones, Richard Wetzki, Ben Gudzelak, David Turfrey, Anna Hay and Chris Bradnam supported by Michelle Wheeler and Peta Churchman.
The tennis teams enjoyed mixed success during the 2010 season, with the Ladies winning the Premier Division of the Middlesex League and reaching the semi-finals of the Middlesex Cup competition. In the Middlesex League the Ladies 2nd team were relegated to the Intermediate Division and the Ladies 3rd team relegated to Division 1 where they will play this season with the Ladies 4th team who retained their position in Division 1.
In the Ladies AEGON Team Tennis competition (formerly NCL) the Ladies 1st team retained their position in the new Regional tier in 2010 whilst the Ladies 2nd team were relegated to County Division 2.
The Men’s 1st Team did exceptionally to win the Premier Division for the first time in several years but were unfortunately knocked out of the Middlesex Cup at the quarterfinal stage. The Men’s 2nd team came fifth in the Premier Division which was a very creditable achievement given the quality of other teams. The Men's 3rd Team did well to be promoted back to Division 1 whereas the 4th team were relegated to Division 3 to join the 5th team who managed to retain their position. In the Men’s AEGON Team Tennis competition (formerly NCL), the Men’s 1st team were relegated to County Division 1 but the Men’s 2nd team were promoted in their first season to Division 2.
The Winter Middlesex Cup mixed team have battled their way through to the final once again and played the Final against our old rivals The Globe at the club a couple of weekends ago – after a tense match we reached a position of 4 rubbers all with the last match on court at one set all – very unfortunately we lost the final tie break shoot out to lose the match 5 – 4 but the team and the spectators had a very enjoyable afternoon’s tennis.
Our Veterans teams all had competitive matches in their respective age group competitions where we fielded teams in the Men’s over 35, 45 and 55 competition, the Ladies 50 competition and the Junior and Senior Mixed competitions
The Club Open and Handicap Tournament as ever saw all events fiercely contested with Lena Keothavong winning the Ladies' Singles defeating Karoline Graeubig in a high quality final. Ben Gudzelak emerged as the 2010 Men's champion after a hard fought battle against Petr Capkovic. The 2011 tournament will take place in July with final dates to be confirmed shortly. The Committee and all participants in last years Tournament are especially grateful for all the scheduling efforts and diplomatic refereeing skills provided by Anna Hay capably assisted by Peta Churchman both of whom somehow managed to retain their composure and sense of humour whilst trying to balance competitors' personal diaries, surface preferences, handicap challenges etc, and were still able to complete all events on schedule!
Following the postal ballot which followed the 2010 AGM which indicated a majority of members in favour of continuing with organised social tennis on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons these weekly sessions have continued and are popular with those attending.
We are also very grateful for all the efforts of the Junior Tennis Committee who promote the interests of our Junior players which is chaired by Marilyn Brooks supported by Nicki Siddall, Caroline Cohen, Jennifer Labrom, David Kilbourn and Liz Shinder, Therese Raphael, Elena Rizk, Chris Bradnam and David Turfrey
In January 2009 David Turfrey started a new Junior Development & Performance programme at the Club aimed at improving the playing standards of all age groups which have continued throughout 2010. A number of juniors were selected by David Turfrey and the team of coaches to participate in a series of performance squads. We currently run 5 squads each week (to include the Eleanor Caplin squads) and there are 30 children who regularly attend these squads and compete outside in LTA competition at County, Regional and National level.
Marilyn Brooks and Nikki Siddall ran yet another very successful Junior tournament in 2010 with the finalists and winners at differing age groups as follows:
|
Girls 10 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Chiara Rizk |
Runner up : |
Martha Rushbrooke |
|
Boys 10 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Tom Skinner |
Runner up : |
Marlev Moat |
|
Girls 12 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Olivia Cox |
Runner up : |
Phoebe Dart |
|
Boys 12 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Alex Shoff |
Runner up : |
Oliver Brown |
|
Girls 14 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Naomi Labrom |
Runner up : |
Olivia Cox |
|
Boys 14 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Alex Shoff |
Runner up : |
Oliver Brown |
|
Boys 16 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Ben Jones |
Runner up : |
Max Ephson-Clarke |
|
Girls 18 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Nanami Yamaguchi |
Runner up : |
Naomi Labroam |
|
Boys 18 and under singles |
: |
Winner: |
Toby Cohen |
Runner up : |
Ben Jones |
|
Girls 14 and under doubles |
: |
Winners: |
Olivia Cox & Naomi Labroam |
Runners up : |
Nanami & Kureha Yamaguchi |
|
Boys 14 and under doubles |
: |
Winners: |
Ben Jones & Max Ephsom-Clarke |
Runners up : |
Rohan Sikka & Seth Dunford |
|
Girls 18 and under doubles |
: |
Winners: |
Nanami Yamaguchi & Naomi Labroam |
Runners up : |
Phoebe Dart & Olivia Cox |
|
Boys 18 and under doubles |
: |
Winners: |
Toby Cohen & James Kilbourn |
Runners up : |
Ben Jones & Max Ephson-Clarke |
|
Mixed doubles under 14 |
: |
Winners: |
Ben Jones & Olivia Cox |
Runners up : |
Seth Dunford & Naomi Labroam |
The LTA have once again invited us to host a $15,000 Men's Futures Event from 31st July to 6th August 2011 following another successful tournament held last summer, when members enjoyed seeing the rising stars of the future in action.
The Cumberland Club is proud of its position as the sole British founder member of the prestigious Centenary Clubs Association founded in 1995. The Association comprises member owned clubs which host international tournaments and which are over 100 years old. From the 8 founder clubs, the Association now numbers around 50 prestigious clubs throughout the world. Members wishing to visit any of the member clubs should ask our office for an introductory letter. Member clubs host matches and tournaments between each other with some hosting and others clubs visiting the hosts. Every event is a memorable experience. During 2010/11 a senior team visited Rome for a tournament at host Tennis Club Parioli, with other teams from Barcelona and Santander. The standard of tennis and hospitality were excellent. For the second successive year our Under 12’s boys visited Carrickmines LTC in Dublin in company with 4 other teams from clubs in Barcelona, Santander and Prague. Then a mixed under 14 event was hosted by the I Cesky Club in Prague which we attended along with two other clubs from Barcelona, and clubs from Dublin and Stockholm. Our thanks are due to David Turfrey who organises the junior visits; all the juniors who have been on any of these trips have enjoyed the experience. During the coming year we plan to host Carrickmine juniors in April and host senior teams from a couple of clubs on the weekend of 10/11th September. Some of our juniors and maybe a senior team may also visit other host clubs this year. Our thanks are due to Donald Macleod, who represents us at the ACC and is currently a member of the Association’s committee, and to Brian Hatton.
Chris Bradnam with his team of coaches continues to run the coaching programme and the junior tennis school with great success. We were extremely fortunate to add David Turfrey to the coaching team in 2009 as lead coach. David has continued to transform and improve our junior programme beyond recognition. Many members benefit from individual coaching from the team albeit demand, at times, outstrips supply of coaches/court availability so early booking of lessons is recommended. In an attempt to make more coaching time available to members we have reviewed and tightened the opportunities and arrangements for non-members receiving coaching which have generated more capacity for those members who wish to sharpen their game. Chris continues to be actively involved with both the BBC and Eurosport tennis commentary teams and we all enjoyed his daily bulletins earlier this year from the 2011 Australian Open and recent Qatar ATP event.
Our younger tennis members continue to benefit from the income generated by the Eleanor Caplin Fund administered by the board of Trustees, comprising Richard Churchman, Marilyn Brooks, Debbie McCormack and Scott Grieve with ongoing programmes which benefit young players both inside the club and also from local schools in the area – we are very grateful for their efforts.
Alun Webster was re-elected as Chair of Squash at the 2010 AGM and has continued to improve all aspects of the squash section over the past 12 months. Ably supported by the rest of the Squash sub-committee; Nick Dart, Rikki Kent, Chris Rogal, Tracy Parker and Zubair Khan. It was with regret that Matt Crawcour tended his resignation from the squash committee this year. I would like to thank Matt on behalf of the squash committee and the squash section as whole. Matt joined the club as the club pro and later served as chairman of the squash committee. He was instrumental in entering Cumberland in the prestigious Bath Cup competition as well as organising the Cumberland Cup, he also represented the club in the various teams over the years and has his name on the honours board winning numerous club championship.
As usual we have been active in the Middlesex leagues this winter in addition to the prestigious Bath and Queens Cup competitions. All our teams are currently battling away in their various League and Cup Competitions and are currently coming towards the end of this season. All teams are doing well in their respective leagues at the time of going to press: Men’s 1: 3rd in Division 1 Men’s 3: 6th in Division 4 Mens 2: 5th in Division 3 Ladies: 4th in Division 1 Bath Cup 1: 4th Bath Cup 2: Bath Cup Vets: 7th 3rd The Men’s Cumberland Cup team unfortunately lost in this year’s first round to Bath & Racquets.
The Middlesex League Men’s teams have generally got off to a reasonable start to the season. The Men's 1st team having retained their position in the 1st division, they initially looked to be handicapped early in the season with last years Club Champion Merek Toms being posted overseas for work, however Mark Raynor managed to recruit Tim Richards and Sam Levine as well as promoting Reuben from the second team to support the remaining squad members from last year. The Men's 2nd team are having a better season having been relegated last season and are, currently lying 5th in Division 3. While the Men's third team are consolidating their position in division 4 having been promoted last season. The Ladies 1st team are currently 4th in Division 1.
We continue to benefit from the coaching support from our former world ranked no.8 squash professional, Zubair Khan. Zubair has continued to play an active role in conjunction with Mark Rayner and Chris Rogal in promoting the Middlesex Junior Squash programme which sees a number of talented youngsters coming to the Club on a regular basis. A successful junior’s afternoon has been well attended on Tuesdays organised by Zubair. Zubair also ran a junior competition in January which was well attended by the Juniors both from Cumberland and other clubs in the locale. Chris Rogal was instrumental in hosting a very successful Middlesex U-13 Inter-County championship.
2010 also saw another very impressive “London Squash Open” invitation event organised by Zubair. Building on the success of previous tournaments Zubair was able to increase the level of prize money whereby he was able to attract players ranked in the top 30 in the World. Following the success of this tournament some of the sponsors have already indicated their willingness to support the tournament again this year. Our thanks are due to Zubair for promoting this new tournament supported by the organising Committee including Chris Rogal, Mark Rayner, Tracy Parker and Alun Webster which we hope to see repeated in 2011.
The club championship was once again a closely contested affair with Merik Toms retaining his open men’s championship defeating Ryan Fitzsimon. Matt Crawcour defeated Tahir Hussein in the Over 35s final. Tahir unfortunately suffering from a bout of food poisoning had to retire in the Over 45s final where he was defeated by Nick Dart. The over 55 was won by David Harris, defeating Chris Rogal in the final.
The women had a returning champion after a year’s absence in Tracy Parker beating Nan Levy in the final. Ben Gudzelak showed that Tennis could indeed be transferred to a squash court in winning the handicap final against Omar Maroof. I look forward to seeing his handicap this year. Our thanks go to Rikki and the office for organising the tournament and chasing those late entries and Zubair for officiating in the finals.
The winter team squash event took place in January earlier in the year and was as usual was incredibly popular and well supported. Thanks are due once again to Rikki Kent for giving up yet another weekend to organise the event.
The squash members also remain, as ever, very grateful for Rikki Kent’s input into the organisation of the Squash Leagues and Monday evening “club nights”.
With the retirement of several senior players and the election of a new President, new Chairman and three new captains the 2010 season was always going to be one of transition for the Cricket club. We are, therefore very pleased with the performance of all our teams in 2010.The 1st team came 5th in the Premier division of the Middlesex County league. The highlights of the season being crushing victories over arch rivals Ealing, Brondesbury and Finchley. The 2nd team flirted with danger but finished the season strongly to secure 6th place in their Division. The 3rd team played strongly throughout and were 4th in the Middlesex 3rd X1 Division One. The Women's team were 3rd in the North London Women's League. Congratulations to captain Jenny Heppell and to Bessie Carter who were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the League bowling table.
In 2010 we entered a team into the Chess Valley Sunday League for the first time. The intention was to give younger players the opportunity to play a longer form of the game against adult opposition. Brilliantly captained by Jon Lombard the youngsters won all their matches and were promoted to a higher division.
Social highlights of the Cricket season were the visit of "The Grumpy Old Cricketers" Mike Atherton, Vic Marks and David Lloyd- always a sell-out event- and the season's finale the Celebrity Cricket match. Emma Thompson has promised to practise her bowling as it took her 6 attempts to get the first ball anywhere near England International Owais Shah, who is to be congratulated on his patience.
The colts continue to thrive and if the enthusiasm shown at winter training is anything to go by we should be in for a vintage season in 2011. We would like to thank Paul Weekes and his team of coaches, Alan Brooks, Roger Carter and all the extremely supportive parents for their hard work and dedication. The colts represent the future of our club and it is extremely gratifying to see them in such good hands.
Jim Carter was re-elected as the Chair of the Cricket section for 2011 and we wish Jim and the teams every success for this summer's season.
Ali Toner was elected the Hockey Chair for the 2010/2011 season and the Hockey section has continued to thrive both on and off the pitch consistently fielding 8 Men’s and 7 Ladies league teams on a Saturday throughout the league season, regular high attendance at youth training on a Wednesday evening, and a full summer programme for all members.
The 2010/11 season is nearing its close as this report is written, and there has been mixed success for the club. The Men’s 1st XI are confirmed champions of Regional Division 1 in an as yet unbeaten league season scoring more than 100 league goals, so will be making a well deserved return to the Premier Division next season. Men’s and Ladies 1XIs entered the National Trophy competition for the first time this year, and whilst the Ladies run of success ended in the early rounds, the Men have reached the quarter final of this national competition and a trip to Leeds in the coming weeks will determine whether they progress deeper into this prestigious competition. The Men’s 3XI and Ladies 4XI are both currently in promotion positions, whilst the Ladies 6XI looks likely to attain its first promotion since forming 3 seasons ago.
All other teams have performed well in what has occasionally proved difficult conditions, whether from the challenges brought about by unexpected promotions last season, poor weather interrupting consistency, or some serious injuries to key squad members. The club looks forward to recruiting more players over the summer months, and making a strong start to their respective leagues next season whilst maintaining their reputation as one of the most successful and social clubs in the Middlesex Region.
Paul Tereo, our gym instructor, is available to introduce and induct new members to the gym equipment and also offers members personal training/fitness programmes.
We have been extremely fortunate that Anna Hay has continued to lead the Social Committee during 2010 and over the course of the year they have organised a number of hugely enjoyable evenings for members and friends including the ever popular quiz nights, an impressive Summer Cocktail party which followed the Club Tennis finals and proved a great success, the resurrection of a New years evening get together and a new innovation in January earlier this year in the form of a traditional Burns Night supper at which the predominantly non - Scottish club members took very quickly to the haggis, neeps and tatties and deep fried Mars bars prepared so well by Robbie (or Rabbie as he was known for the night!) and his excellent team. There was no Christmas revue in 2010 but as a replacement the social committee put on a "Rockaoke" night - a karaoke night with a difference, the music supplied by a 5-piece band with club member Julian Carey on drums and was all in all a great success. There was some new talent on the mic as well as some well known established club performers, led by the inimitable Peter Brown! The Xmas Revue will be making a welcome return in 2011 and Steve McCormack will be looking for willing participants later in the year! All our thanks are due to Anna and other members of the sub committee comprising Steve McCormack, Nick Jones, Michelle Wheeler, Peta Churchman and Adrianna Kocurova.
David Iwi has continued to successful lead the Bridge section which continues to thrive with enjoyable Friday evening sessions, normally twice a month. There is a mixture of duplicate and teams, with the bridge in a friendly atmosphere being interspersed with a break for a light buffet, and players of all standards are welcome. We have won the prized Queen’s Cup, and among our matches we have had wins against the M.C.C., Hurlingham etc. David Iwi remains chairman and Rosie Cowley has joined the committee David and other members of the Bridge section would also wish to thank Colin Hess for all the invaluable support Colin has provided over the year. Sadly however two prominent enthusiastic members, Jill Gardner and a previous Chair of the Bridge section, Chris Kellerman, have died during the year and will be sadly missed. Paul Tereo, our gym instructor, is available to introduce and induct new members to the gym equipment and also offers members personal training/fitness programmes.
Cumberland’s annual cricket match against the All England Club first started in the mid 1950’s and has been enormously enjoyed and keenly contested ever since. The result in 2010 was one of the strangest ever. The format is for 36 overs per side, with no one allowed to bowl more than 6 overs. We batted first and although Steve McCormack played a long innings top scoring with 28 runs, our innings was a total collapse and we were all out for 97 runs in 30 overs. Indeed our batting collapse was such that the opposing skipper took sympathy on us and, rather than give his better bowlers six overs each, asked every one of his team to bowl so everyone, bar the wicket keeper, bowled at least two overs. Game over, we all thought! But no! The AELTC contrived to bat collectively even worse than us and collapsed to all out for 85. Peter Jarvis won man of the match for his 2 runs scored from 22 balls, added to a catch and bowling figures of 4 wickets for 7 runs. In the 10 overs per side match which followed the All England took major revenge, before everyone returned to Wimbledon to enjoy their generous hospitality.
Snooker
Rob Sumner continued in his role of Snooker Chair in 2010 and organised a number of successful tournaments throughout the year which were enjoyed by our snooker members
The Cumberland and Hampstead Golf society held Spring and Autumn meetings together with the well-supported knock out tournaments during 2010 which were all extremely capably organised by Sue Edwards and Avril Munro. Any member of any section of the club who is interested in golf should let the office know and details of planned events will be forwarded. The next golfing date for diaries is the Spring Meeting which will take place at Hendon Golf Club on Friday 8th April 2011 – entry forms are available through the club office and all standards are always very welcome.
2010 and early 2011 has seen the continuing growth and popularity of the newest section of the Club, the Backgammon Group, which came together originally due to the enthusiasm of Ray Kershaw. Regular social evenings have continued to take place where players of all abilities are welcomed. Ray also enters a "Cumberland" team in the London Backgammon League where we compete against an impressive list of other members clubs, including RAC, Chelsea Arts, Hurlingham, MCC and Roehampton . After finishing top of the London Backgammon League in 2008-09, we slipped to mid-table in 2009-10. In the current season we are again challenging for top spot with wins against MCC, Chelsea Arts and Home House; a draw with Hurlingham; and a defeat by the Groucho. The remaining fixtures are against Roehampton and the RAC. In January Ray organised a very successful Sunday afternoon tournament for members and guests and Ray hopes to hope to repeat this soon.
Christmas Fund
As ever our thanks are due to John Mark for all his behind the scenes input in organising the Staff Xmas Fund which, thanks to the generosity of members, saw a sizeable sum collected and distributed by John to thank all our hardworking staff. John was supported last year by David Goreham for which we are very grateful.
Website
Those members who regularly visit our website will have seen significant improvements to the style and content of the site over the last 12 months for which thanks are due to our "Webmaster" Alex Edwards, who has dedicated many hours of work.
Club officers and Main Committee
Alan Brooks was elected Hon. Treasurer at the 2010 AGM and has devoted many many hours over the year to prepare management monthly accounts and the year-end results which Alan will present to the 2011 AGM. I am sure Alan will continue to advocate that we should budget for a healthy surplus each year in order to make provision for continued improvement of the club facilities and also to cater for any unforeseen emergencies. We remain extremely fortunate to have Alan in charge of the financial reins of the club.
James Barlow has again diligently spent many, many hours in his role as Honorary Secretary advising the committee on various constitutional matters relating to the club’s rules etc., and also guiding us through the increasing amount of external legislation with which we now have to comply which has as always been invaluable and avoided substantial fees for external legal advice.
I would also like to take the opportunity of thanking all my colleagues on the Main Committee, Alan Brooks, Marilyn Brooks, Richard Churchman, Dimitri Kennaway, Zoë Billingham, Charles Woodruffe, Celia Goreham, James Barlow, Ali Toner, Alun Webster, Jim Carter, and our President Donald Macleod for all their help, support and contributions during the year without which the club would not be as successful as we are.
All members benefit from the magnificent support and service we receive from our fantastic staff team behind the bar for which we remain very grateful. Particular thanks are appropriate to Adriana in her role as clubhouse/bar manager and equally to Rob Kocur whose catering team provide such a wonderful good value menu of food throughout the year for members and visiting teams. Peta Churchman as ever has magnificent support to all sections and members throughout the year and ensured the smooth running of the Club office and the membership systems for which we are very grateful.
I hope we will all agree that 2010/11 was another successful year in the Club’s history however the Main Committee supported by the various sub-committees will continue to drive forward for further improvements both on and off court in 2011/2012.
Simon A Jones