Woodstock Tennis Club

FINALS DAY on September 6^th couldn’t have met with better weather!  All the results with pictures are on our website – https://wbtc.org.uk/finals-day-2026/

RUSTY RACKETS  The Autumn Term of group coaching at the Club is up and running, and Head Coach Tom Francis has added special sessions.  If you’re newish to tennis or returning to the game after a gap, we’re running a six-week evening course for “rusty” players STARTING ON WEDNESDAY 7 OCTOBER.  Click on the following link and scroll down to Wednesdays:

https://www.thinksmartsoftwareuk.com/ocr/single_class_listings_view.php?c=64D244A313FE7&p_id=10&t=tennisbiz&set=yes

WALKING TENNIS  Have you heard about Walking Tennis?  The LTA are promoting it and it’s more fun than it sounds!  The idea is that anyone whose tennis activities are compromised by recent illness, surgery and/or anno domini can still enjoy the sport with its widely recognised health and social benefits.  Read all about it here: https://talkingtennis.net/blog-posts/walking-tennis-guide-including-rules-and-playing-tips
Our first-ever session, led by our Head Coach Tom Francis, was much enjoyed by all involved, and they’re keen to carry on.  So let’s expand the group!  There will be FREE regular sessions on MONDAYS at 12.30, STARTING MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21^st).  Just register on Woodstock LTC – walking tennis booking link – Book Here and come along and join in!

CLUB SOCIAL SESSIONS
A reminder that these run every week, and all members are welcome.  They’re on:
SUNDAYS 1.30 – 3.30
TUESDAY AFTERNOONS  1.30 – 3.30
TUESDAY EVENINGS  5.30 onwards. With our court lighting now available, the evening sessions – the social play on Tuesdays and the Team Practices on Thursdays – now run all the year round.

TEAM TENNIS
The Summer League season is almost finished and the Winter season about to begin.  Thanks to all the many members who’ve taken part in our matches this summer.
Special CONGRATULATIONS to our Men’s A squad who’ve won their division and will be playing next summer in Division 1.  And at the time of writing, both our Mixed C and Mixed D teams, each with a final match to play,  have a real chance of promotion.
Fingers crossed for both!

HOME MATCHES COMING UP [each match 2 courts]:
SEPTEMBER
SATURDAY 19^th, 1 pm:  Mixed C v Oxford Sports
WEDNESDAY 23^rd, 10 am:  Mixed Midweek v North Oxford
SATURDAY 26^th, 1 pm: Ladies D v Oxford City; Men’s E v Goring
OCTOBER
SATURDAY 3^rd, 1 pm:  Men’s C v Benson; Men’s D v David Lloyd
SUNDAY 4^th, 10 am:  Ladies B v Faringdon
SATURDAY 10^th, 1 pm:  Ladies A v Bicester
SUNDAY 11^th, 10 am:  Ladies C v Kings Sutton
SATURDAY 17^th, 1 pm:  Men’s B v Brackley
SUNDAY 18^th, 10 am:  Men’s A v Thame
SATURDAY 24^h, 1 pm:  Ladies D v Abingdon; Men’s E v Brackley
WEDNESDAY 28^th, 10 am:  Mixed Midweek v Wantage
SATURDAY 31^st, 10 am: Ladies E v Brackley
                   1 pm:  Men’s C v Oxford Sports; Men’s D v Portcullis

The Finals of this year’s Club Tournament were played on Sunday 6 September.  Tournament organiser Freddie Page writes: “Finals Day provided some really great tennis and close matches.  The weather brought out the spectators who created a wonderful atmosphere, and the barbecue provided delicious food – what more could you want?  I would like to thank Luke [Wildgoose] for manning the BBQ (they really were fantastic burgers) and also Matt [Penton], Helen [Belmont] and Jenny [Collins] for supporting me with the umpiring.”

The results:

Men’s Singles: Ben Lloyd [right] defeated Patrick Nagle

Ladies Singles:  Georgie Ponting [above] defeated Jenny Collins

Senior Men’s Singles:  Mike Allen [right] defeated Simon Cottingham

Men’s Doubles:  Ben Lloyd & Ed Gilkes [centre] defeated Patrick Nagle & Simon Cottingham

Ladies Doubles:  Georgie Ponting & Jenny Collins [left] defeated Tory Houghton & Liz Hipkiss

Mixed Doubles:  Georgie Ponting & James Lilburne [left] defeated Tory Houghton & Mike Allen

COURT LIGHTING
IT’LL SOON BE TIME TO LIGHT THE COURTS AGAIN for evening play from September to March.  Existing lighting-fob holders have already been emailed about renewing.  If you didn’t invest in a fob last year and would like to do so now, it’s very easy: just click on this for details:  https://wbtc.org.uk/court-lighting-how-to-order-a-key-fob/

CLUB SESSIONS

A reminder that these run every week, and all members are welcome.  They’re on:
SUNDAYS 1.30 – 3.30  (except 6 Sept, approx. 3 till 5)
TUESDAY AFTERNOONS  1.30 – 3.30
TUESDAY EVENINGS  5.30 onwards.
With our court lighting now available, the evening sessions – the social play on Tuesdays and the Team Practices on Thursdays – now run all the year round.

NEW TERM’S COACHING  BOOKING IS NOW OPEN for the Autumn Term of group coaching at the Club, for both adults and juniors, starting in the week beginning September 7th.  For all details go to our website pages https://wbtc.org.uk/junior-coaching/ (for juniors) and https://wbtc.org.uk/adult-coaching/ (for adults).

WALKING TENNIS
Have you heard about Walking Tennis? The LTA are promoting it and it’s more fun than it sounds!  The idea is that anyone whose tennis activities are compromised by recent illness, surgery and/or anno domini can still enjoy the sport with its widely recognised health and social benefits. The main differences are an underarm serve, the ball can bounce once or twice, and anyone caught breaking into a run loses a point! Read all about it here:
https://talkingtennis.net/blog-posts/walking-tennis-guide-including-rules-and-playing-tips
We hope to establish one or two regular sessions of Walking Tennis per week.
Our Head Coach, Tom Francis, has offered to organise and coach a first session, for free. We are proposing Tuesday 15 September 11.30am-12.30pm for the first try-out.  It’ll be open to members and non-members, so if there’s an ex-tennis player in your household they too might pluck up the courage to get back on the court.
If you’d like to come to the try-out session, please email woodstocktennisclub@gmail.com. And if you can’t make the
date suggested but are interested anyway, please email likewise to let us know.

IMPORTANT: CHANGE TO COURTS TIMETABLE
Please note that checking the Courts Timetable is now simpler than ever.  If you’re ever in doubt about court availability, just click on  https://wbtc.org.uk/courts-timetable/

On that page you’ll find a link to the Club’s core schedule, showing the pattern of court usage which applies to every week.  You’ll also find a regularly updated list of occasional exceptions: they’re few and far between, but it’s always worth quickly checking this list before arranging play. (For instance, you’ll currently find an exception on Wednesday 16 September, when 3 courts will be taken from 5.30 to 7.30 for a Ladies Team Coaching session.) 

On the same page you’ll also find a handy list of when League matches are being played on the courts.  For convenience, the up-to-date list of home matches is always given here, too, in this newsletter sent to all members.  Here’s the upcoming list, which you may find helpful to note …

      HOME MATCHES COMING UP [each match 2 courts] SEPTEMBER
SATURDAY 12^th, 1 pm:  Mixed B v Bicester; Mixed D v Appleton
SUNDAY 13^th, 10 am:  Mixed C v Benson
SATURDAY 19^th, 1 pm:  Mixed B v Oxford Sports; Mixed C v Oxford Sports
WEDNESDAY 23^rd, 10 am:  Mixed Midweek v North Oxford   

AND TALKING OF TEAM TENNIS.…
We’ll soon be forming squads for the Winter League weekend season, starting in October, and we’re entering teams across a wide ability range, with an extra Men’s team and an extra Ladies.  If you haven’t been playing in the Summer League and are interested in playing team tennis, please let us know.  Simply email Men’s Captain Matt on matt.penton@btinternet.com or Ladies’ Captain Fiona on fionasutherland54@gmail.com.

COURT LIGHTING – HOW TO ORDER A KEY-FOB

We have planning permission to play under our court lighting from September till the end of March, with an automatic cut-off every night at 9.30 pm. 

The club’s current timetable can now run all the year round, so that, for example, our popular Club Nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays continue right through the winter.

TO USE THE LIGHTS: We’ve installed a touch-pad on each side of the courtside feeder pillar (see picture below), one controlling the lights on the single court and the other controlling the lights on the three-court block.  Both pads switch on and off using one and the same key-fob.

If you’d like your own fob so that you can play in the evenings whenever you wish, you can order one and pay for it by bank transfer.  The cost will be £15.  This is for the whole winter from September through to 31 March, and enables you to play as often as you like.

TO ORDER YOUR FOB, SIMPLY EMAIL woodstocktennisclub@gmail.com SAYING “FOB, PLEASE!” and pay £15 by BACS TO:
Account Name: Woodstock Bowls and Tennis Club
Sort Code: 20-98-48
Account: 10952672
Payment Reference: Key-fob /Your Name

WE WILL THEN ARRANGE A TIME FOR YOU TO COLLECT.

 Please note that key-fobs are available to all ADULT club members.  Unaccompanied juniors cannot use the lights.

***  N.B.:  YOUR FOB MUST BE ORDERED AND PAID FOR IN ADVANCE – THEY ARE NOT  AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON COLLECTION. ***

CONGRATULATIONS
to our Men’s team who won their group of the National League’s county section.  On 5th July they faced the other group’s winner, North Oxford, in a decider, and although they lost the match (a mix of doubles and singles rubbers) 4-8, captain Josh Ponting reported that it was “a very high level of tennis despite the heat, and we’d deserved the chance to prove ourselves against the best in Oxfordshire”.                                 

LADIES SOLSTICE TENNIS!
Meanwhile Midsummer Morning saw a brave new enterprise with a ladies’ competition to mark the summer solstice!  Hilary Foakes writes: “We had a great (very early!) morning on the courts, followed by breakfast and prize-giving at the King’s Arms.  Vanessa Sadler was our brilliant organiser, and Jackie Orton and Jane Tracy were joint winners on points.”

SUMMER HOLIDAY CAMPS 2026
Our excellent coaches are running three-day Tennis Camps for juniors in the holidays.  Come and join us for some fun and engaging tennis sessions.  The remaining dates are:
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19th August
09:00 – 11:00 (Ages 5-9)
11:15 – 1:15pm (Ages 10-15)
Please use the following link to check availability and book your place:
Woodstock Tennis Club Summer Camps – Book Here 

*** Members please note: on the mornings of the Junior Camps there will often be only one court free for play.  All four courts will be available as usual each day from 1.30.NEW TERM’S COACHING  BOOKING IS NOW OPEN for the Autumn Term of group coaching at the Club, for both adults and juniors, starting in the week beginning September 7th.  For all details go to our website pages https://wbtc.org.uk/junior-coaching/ (for juniors) and https://wbtc.org.uk/adult-coaching/ (for adults).

DATE FOR THE DIARY
FINALS DAY for this year’s club championships, complete with barbecue and an open bar, will be
SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER, 10.30 till approx 3 pm.
Full details of the day coming soon.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: COURT AVAILABILITY
Please remember: if you’re ever in doubt about court availability, just check the Courts Timetable on the club website: https://wbtc.org.uk/courts-timetable/
There you’ll find a link to the Club’s core schedule.  This shows the pattern of court usage which applies to every week.  You’ll also find a regularly updated list of occasional exceptions: they’re few and far between, but it’s always worth quickly checking this list before arranging play.
You’ll also see a list of dates when League matches are being played on the courts.  For convenience, the up-to-date list of home matches is always given here, too, and in the newsletter sent to all members.  Here’s the upcoming list, which you may find helpful to note …

HOME MATCHES COMING UP  [each match 2 courts]:

AUGUST
WEDNESDAY 12^th, 10 am:  Ladies Midweek v Abingdon
SATURDAY 15^th, 11 am: Ladies C v David Lloyd;  1 pm: Men’s C v Oxford Sports
SUNDAY 16^th, 10 am:  Ladies D v Mapledurham
THURSDAY 20^th, 10 am:  Mixed Midweek v OHRC
SATURDAY 29^th, 1 pm:  Mixed B v Bicester; Mixed C v Benson
SUNDAY 30^th 10 am:  Men’s A v Kingston Bagpuize