News
BREAKING NEWS
Slough Tournament
May 2013: We've had information sen through about a Drawforall tournament being held in Slough from 1st to 16th June (weekends only). Click here for the tournament link or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Open Day a great success
Apr 2013: On Sunday (21 April) Portcullis Tennis Club in Wallingford opened it’s doors to the local community so that everyone could play and have a go at our great sport. The open day was extremely successful, with over 200 people taking part in on and off court activities. The sun was shining and the club was buzzing, the tennis seasons has definitely arrived at Portcullis Tennis Club.
The club arranged lots of fun on-court activities for players of all ages and abilities, from 3 year old tots tennis – to adult cardio tennis and a fastest serve test. There was face painting, badge making, lots of yummy cakes and even a barbecue
Thanks to everyone that made the day such a success. The club is arranging another Open Day during Wimbledon, so watch this space.
Tuesday Clubnight Trial
Apr 2013: Click here to say if you are coming along to Clubnight on Tuesday 9th April.
New Committee Member
Apr 2013: We would like to welcome Julian Madej to the Portcullis Committee. Julian has only been with the club for a year, but, has made a great impact. Julian has agreed join our committee and to be the overall supervisor for Club Nights and also run the Winter Floodlit league.
Club Sessions
Mar 2013: We are starting to run organised club nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays where organisers will ensure the night runs smoothly. Everyone will get timed play in 20 minute sessions, and doubles and singles will be arranged swiftly at changeover to maximise play. We're looking for volunteers; so if you're happy to run a club night, please let Julian Madej ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) know.
Open Day
Mar 2013: We have an Open Day on Sunday 21st July 10am - 1pm. Come and have a go at speed serving or cardio tennis, we have a range of free tennis based activities for young & 'old' including coaching and matchplay. All ages from 5 years welcome. Refreshments will be available, including a BBQ weather permitting.
Roger's Mix 'n' Match Sunday 12th May
Mar 13: Our very own Roger Haycock is organising another Mix 'n' Match event (timing TBC), if you are interested in playing please contact Roger on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Junior Coaching Offer
Feb 2013: Free Coaching for Juniors - until end April 2013, click here for more details.
New Ladder Scheme
Feb 2013: Our coach, Ed has kindly set up a new scheme whereby we can take part in a singles ladder. For more info take a look at the link: Ladder Info.
Happy Birthday to Our President
Roy Holliday has been a long-serving player and committee member of Portcullis Tennis Club and as President still takes a keen interest in all its activities. He still plays regularly several times a week. The Portcullis Wednesday morning players marked his 80th birthday by drinking his health in “bubbly” and celebrating it with a beautiful cake shaped as a tennis racquet, made by member Sylvia Harrison. Roy said how much he still enjoyed his tennis but commented “ I think I’ll have to do more training. I’m not being picked for as many matches these days as I would wish.”
'OLD' NEWS
Flooding
Jan 2013: The courts are now free of standing water, and snow!
Club AGM
Oct 2012: Our AGM was held on Thursday 18th October, 2012. Click 2012 AGM Minutes to view them.
Good news - the floodlights on court 2 are now fixed & we are back to full illumination. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Newsletter from our Chairman:
Aug 2012: August 2012 Newsletter
Success in the Summer Leagues
Well done to our Oxfordshire Summer League teams - the Mens A, Mens B & Ladies B have all won their respective divisions & will be promoted. Fantastic news.
Mix 'N Match Tennis Drive
May 2012: Sunday 13th May saw a welcome turnout of 20 members for the annual Mix n' Match Handicap Tennis Drive. It's a mixed competition with partners changing throughout the afternoon. This year we were lucky to be blessed with good weather, and unusually we had more gents than ladies, so some of the men had to be ladies for the day. The winning man was Alan Hayes and the winning lady, Emily Capel Davies on a split tie from Matthew Wise (a junior with a temporary gender change for the afternoon!). A big thanks goes to Roger for organising it and to all those who provided refreshments.
May 2012: We had an allocation of Wimbledon tickets available to all those who are signed up members of both the club and of British Tennis. This years draw took place on Thursday 3rd May.
Open Day - Sunday 1st April
April 2012: We had a very successful Open Day on Sunday 1st April, with juniors meeting the new coach, Ed, in the morning and a chance for the slightly older folk to play in the afternoon. Hightlights were: Ed's Cardio Tennis, Jenny's coffee cake & the fantastic team who did face painting and badge making.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who was involved.
New Coach Announced
Feb 2012: We are very pleased to announce the appointment of a new coach at Portcullis.....Ed Nieburg will be joining us at the end of February. Ed comes with a wealth of tennis experience and lots of fantastic ideas for the Club.
Ed has been involved in tennis since the age of 14. When he finished school Ed travelled to Barcelona's Federacio Catalana de Tennis Centre, a professional tennis academy, where he spent two years training 5 hours on court a day with some of the top junior players in the world. He competed on Spain's Absolute Circuit, satellites and other tournaments in Europe. On his return to the UK in 2007 Ed decided to focus on coaching and the delivery of tennis. Ed now manages coaches at three community park sites which provide coaching to over 150 young people each week. He is a registered LTA coach.
Low Price Courses
Feb 2012: We are offering 60 places for children under 11 at greatly reduced prices (£45 instead of £78) this spring. Contact Ed for more details.
Waitrose Collection
April 2012: Portcullis Tennis Club will be one of the 3 groups competing for those little green token you receive when you go through the tills, so please get putting them in our section. All the proceeds will go towards supporting the provision of tennis in the Wallingford Primary Schools.
Sponsorship
Dec 2011:SCM Ltd Sponsors Junior Tennis in Wallingford
We are very pleased to announce an exciting new initiative in South Oxfordshire, whereby a local company, SCM Ltd has sponsored weekly tennis coaching via Portcullis Tennis Club in Fir Tree School for one year. We are actively seeking other sponsors and hope to provide the services of our coach to the seven other schools in Wallingford and the immediate surrounding areas.
Photo from left to right:
Ms Nilofer Khan - Head Teacher at Fir Tree Junior School, pupil Katie Winnicott aged 9, Steve Gothard – Chairman of Portcullis Tennis Club, Lee Simpson - Managing Director of SCM Ltd and pupil Toby Russell aged 9.
Here is the Press Release relating to the sponsorship
Dec 2011:£4000 Grant Towards New Courts
We would like to say a big thank you to the Oxfordshire Community Foundation for their generous grant towards the recent resurfacing of all our
5 courts, and also well done to our very own Craig Wright for all his hard work in securing the money.
Click here to see the letter confirming the grant
Fund Raising
Nov 2011: On Friday 18th November 2011 our Social Committee put on an excellent Quiz Night. We raised just under £300, so thank you to everyone involved, and especially Jill, Jenny & Christiane.
AGM
Oct 2011: Our AGM was held on Thursday 20th October 2011, YouTube presentation of the meeting.
Courts
With the support of our members and a grant from SODC we were very pleased to have some wonderful new courts laid in early 2011. There are 5 courts, 4 of which have floodlights, made of an all-weather fast draining surface which are fantastic to play on.
N.B. Please be aware that it will take a year before they are fully cured, so we’ll need to keep small heavy items, such as chairs with thin legs, off of the courts until at least Spring 2012.
Ryan’s Fund-raising Activities
Our ever active coach, Ryan Trickey, has completed his marathon tennis match and is now the proud holder of the World Record for the Longest Continuous Singles Tennis Match. The old record stood at 55 hours 55 minutes and 55 seconds, and Ryan and his fellow player Andy Aitken smashed it setting a new record of 72 hours. Very well done to both of them.
Photos from the 2011 Club Tournament
