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Things are beginning to take shape at the new pavilion. The club house is complete, the bar being fitted and Nigel and his team are battling hard against the rain to finish the outside areas.

Once all this is complete we are hoping to have our Opening day. August 24th is looking promising so please watch out on village notice boards for the chance to join us in raising our glasses to celebrate what has been a long and hard journey on route to a new era in the club's history - over the years many people have helped to get us where we are today and it won't be long before we see the result of their hard work and determination.

On behalf of the club I also thank the residents of Hook Norton for your understanding whilst the work and much needed fund raising has taken place. Your patience is very much appreciated.

It's gonna be great in 2008 !

On Tuesday 8th July, Ash Taylor (centre), tennis development manager for Oxfordshire and Berkshire Lawn Tennis Association, together with two other officials from the Oxford Lawn Tennis Association, Mary Evans and Linda Boston, presented the Clubmark to Matt Hill (far left), junior development officer of Hook Norton Tennis Club.

“Despite its comparatively small size, Hook Norton Tennis Club is committed to the development of its junior and senior members alike, and Tennis Clubmark underpins everything that our club values,” said Club Chairman Rick Wilkinson (second from right).

The Inaugural “Keith Davies” Fun Mixed Tournament was held on Sunday 15th June.
After some very exciting tennis, an excellent lunch, the final was contested by Chris Butcher partnered by Neil ‘Nelly’ Smith against Elaine Priestley and Sean Callery.
A very close match was eventually won on a tie break, the winners being Elaine and Sean, here pictured with Sonia Davies who very kindly came along to present the winners trophy. Keith would have been well pleased with the day.

The Ladder Cup tournament
groups played a round-robin format followed by semi-finals where the winner from one group plays the runner up from the other and the winners of both semi-finals playing the final match of the tournament.
Group A consisted of Elaine, Jordan, Julian, Sean and Renato with the two places for the knock-out stage being hotly contested.
In the end Sean came through as winner of the group having won all of his matches and Renato came second having only lost to Sean.
The five players in Group B were David Hudson, David Tarring, Rai, Richard Ricardo and Ross. Dave T won the group with a loss of only 5 games in four sets and Rai came runner-up of group B.
The semi-finals were surprisingly won by the two runners-up of the two groups.
Renato and Rai won their semi-finals 6:3, so the final match of the day was Renato against Rai which ended 6:2 in Rai’s favour.

Afterwards the remaining players went to the pub for a couple of well-deserved pints of beer.

Future Events

Men’s doubles championships will be held on Sunday 14th September and ladies’ doubles championships will be on Sunday 28th September. Contact Gilli Hunt to confirm you want to play.

Junior coaching – Summer 2008 This will take place from Monday 28th July to Thursday 31st July and from Monday 4th August to Thursday 7th August. Mini tennis red (ages 4-8) will be from 9.30 am to 10.30 am (£16 for 4 days); Mini tennis orange (ages 8-9) will be from 10.30 am to 11.30 am (£16 for 4 days); Mini tennis green (ages 9-10) will be from 11.30 am to 1 pm (£24 for 4 days); and juniors (11+) will be from 1 pm to 3 pm (£32 for 4 days). If you would like more information please telephone Marc Gilkes on 01295 265085 or email: marcgilkes@fsmail.net

Adult Coaching: The ladies coaching sessions are on Tuesdays from 10.00am-11.30 am; the cost per session is £7.50. Please contact Marc if you would like to attend. Steve Bone continues his weekend coaching every third Sunday – contact Sean Callery for more details. Email: sean@caller.demon.co.uk

Like all the other sports clubs affiliated to the village’s Sports & Social Club, the Football Club is tremendously excited about the imminent prospect of the opening of the new clubhouse/pavilion and is naturally most grateful to all those whose combined efforts over the last decade have brought this about. Without doubt, the clubhouse/pavilion will be a marvellous facility which will be a credit not only to the Sports & Social Club but also to the whole of Hook Norton and its surrounding area. For its part, I know the Football Club feels privileged to be part of what is going on and will cherish its use of the new building which, together with the existing covered spectator accommodation (shortly to be increased to a capacity of 200) and floodlights, has helped to make The Bourne become a truly excellent venue for football at Non League Step 5 level.

Those of us who are closely involved with the Football Club not only derive much pleasure from these facilities and from any success that our teams may achieve on the field of play but also we get much satisfaction from knowing that we give pleasure to our supporters of all ages. Also, and perhaps more importantly, we believe that what we are doing is beneficial to the community by providing a healthy and responsible outlet, especially for our young people. You only have to visit The Bourne on any Saturday morning in winter (to see our countless young footballers) or on any Thursday evening in the summer (to see our countless young cricketers) to obtain evidence of this belief.

As with the many other helpers at the Sports & Social Club, those of us who work together for the benefit of the Football Club do so as volunteers, investing a fair amount of our own time and money into what we consider to be a worthwhile cause. We do our level best to administer the club’s affairs in a correct manner, not only in the interests of the club itself but also with the well-being of the village as a whole in mind since we are fully aware that not everyone shares our passion for “the beautiful game”.

The fact that we are still in the close season has allowed me to develop my above thoughts since there is, as yet, no on-field activity to comment on. That situation will change from 11th August when the Hellenic League 2008/2009 season commences.

As is normal for Hooky, our fixtures (not yet published) will commence with a succession of away matches until the cricket season is over. Changes for the new season see Karlton Stratford taking over the managership of the First Team, assisted by James Foote, whilst Layi Olubaji will manage the Second Team, assisted by Andy Rogers.

As previously reported, Garnet Thomas has succeeded me as Club Secretary.

As I write this article in early July, I am able to report that training is already underway and a series of friendly matches, mostly away, have been arranged for both teams in advance of the commencement of the new season. Already, the club has won a cup, being the Hungerford Cup, which was awarded by the Hellenic League in the close season, following a majority of other clubs in the League voting for Hooky as the club that they considered had made the most progress, both on and off the field of play, over last season. Let’s hope this augurs well for the new season.

Up the Hooky!