Good evening Ladies
I am delighted to welcome you all to our 28th AGM and our 3rd year at the County Cricket Club.
I hope that you will all enjoy your dinner and the wine which has been provided by the Association. The bar is available if you wish to make further purchases. I would like to remind you all to fill in a charity proposal form, if you haven’t already done so, for the draw later.
Before we begin our dinner, let us take a few moments of quiet reflection to count our blessings and to consider the idea that we here are almost certainly part of the luckiest generation that has ever lived. But let us remember that there are people around the world whose circumstances are cruelly different.
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I hope you have all enjoyed your meal. Please join me in thanking John and his team for their excellent service.
We are delighted to see so many of you here tonight, and I believe there is a record of 238 players from both the Vets and the Super Vets. Thank you all for your continued support of the Association.
When I first made these notes in the sunshine last week, I began with, “What a relief at last to have been experiencing some better weather after what has been a very long, cold, wet and windy winter. Let’s hope that wasn’t our English summer! I know this has caused many of you to have issues completing your matches. This is why we urge you to arrange your fixtures early in the season. Nevertheless, we hope that you have all had some great tennis.
And what a polite game tennis is. The main word seems to be sorry and admiration for each others play across the net!
I would like to thank the Committee, who are all volunteers, for their hard work from running the leagues, the website, treasurer and secretarial duties and of course all the effort that goes into organising this event tonight.
Unfortunately, Mary Vesty our Super Vets Tournament Organiser has been unwell and we are very sad that she feels unable to continue with her role on the Committee. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all of us to thank her for her magnificent work in running the Super Vets and all her continuous work on the Committee. Mary was unable to be with us tonight and we send her our best wishes. This year both the Vets and the Super Vets leagues will be distributed by email.
We are very pleased to have Barbara Williams and Alison Trafford, both from Roundhill Tennis Club, who have volunteered to join us on the Committee and we will be finding jobs for them.
Please don’t forget that we are always open as a Committee to comments or suggestions.
Sadly last year we lost a stalwart of Leicestershire Tennis, Martin Nicholson, who I am sure many of you would have known from the County Championships. He worked hard for many years to promote tennis in Leicestershire and will be greatly missed.
Last year we donated £500 each to 3 charities; Rainbows, Hope Against Cancer and The Diabetes Association. This year we will again be donating to 3 charities at £500 each and the drawer will take place before the prize giving.
I am happy to introduce and thank Steve Good who is kindly doing our photography again this evening. We will call the winners and runners up of each division together so that they can collect their prizes and have their photos taken. However, I am sure that if anyone would like any individual photos, Steve will be happy to oblige.
It is my pleasure to introduce our guest speaker, Mr Alan Gray, a former Wimbledon Umpire, who I am sure many of you will remember from last year to continue with Part 2 of “You cannot be Serious”….. Mr Alan Gray.
Anne Lucas