HNNL February 2008 page 4
For details of Sports and Social Club events and happenings
please visit their website


Sports & Social Club - Youth Club 11 - 16's
Friday 8th Feb 6 - 8pm £1
Friday 22nd Feb is Pancake Night 6 - 8pm £1   Free Pancakes
Friday 7th March 6 - 8pm £1
New Members Welcome. Come Along
 For more info go to the website at www.hooknortonsportsandsocialclub.co.uk
or phone the club on 730132


NEWS FROM HOOK NORTON TENNIS CLUB
The Future
The club is working hard to complete the necessary step to be awarded the Lawn Tennis Association's 'Clubmark'. This will be a big achievement for the club as we will be one of the first clubs in Oxfordshire to get it.
Achieving Tennis Clubmark means the LTA endorses and supports the tennis programmes delivered on court and the policies and procedures we have in place off court.
Junior coaching
The coaching programme began again on Monday 21st January; days and times for sessions remain the same. Mini tennis red and orange sessions continue indoors at Hook Norton Primary School and the Village Hall and the mini tennis green and junior sessions at the tennis club.  Please contact Marc Gilkes by telephone on 01295 265085 or email marcgilkes@fsmail.net for further details. The mini tennis red and orange players have been successfully competing against other clubs in events held at Hook Norton and Woodstock between November and January.
We have entered Boys and Girls 14&U teams into the Oxfordshire Junior Club League during the winter and will be entering into the National Junior Club League and t he Road to Wimbledon in the summer.
Adult Coaching:
The ladies coaching sessions re-started on Tuesday 22nd January from 10.00am-11.30 am; the cost per session is £7.50. Please contact Marc if you would like to attend.
Matches
As at mid December, the floodlit B team is top of division 2 and the floodlit D team is 2nd in Division 4. The floodlit A team is in the middle of Division 1 and the floodlit C team is in the middle of division 3.
The weekend team matches are under way, but it is too soon to report on them at the moment.

Tennis Club t-shirts
These are now on sale. Please contact Rai Wahlen to buy one. There are also cotton polo shirts available in blue or white. Contact: (raimund.wahlen@rwconsulting.org.uk)
Mulled wine and mince pies evening
This took place in December on a Tuesday club night. Over 25 people attended on a cold evening and it was a very enjoyable event. Thanks to Richard Blencowe for organising it.
Tennis Club AGM
This will take place in the Sports & Social Club on Thursday 6th March at 8 pm. All welcome.

HOOK NORTON (SENIOR SECTION) FOOTBALL CLUB
As I look out of the window and, more significantly, at our football pitch, it would not surprise me in the slightest if an unknowing observer took the view that we are in the business of playing water polo, rather than soccer! Yes, you could say that we are definitely suffering as a result of the current atrocious and prolonged winter weather, especially excessive rainfall, which has led to First Team league matches, scheduled to be played at The Bourne on consecutive Saturdays, having to be called off because the pitch was unplayable on both occasions. Whilst the next First Team league match is now a week away on 19th January when we are due to face table-topping Almondsbury Town, we are nevertheless scheduled to play Easington Sports in the Third Round of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup at The Bourne on the Tuesday evening beforehand. This tie promises to be a mouth-waterer for a number of reasons but, with even more adverse weather forecast, there has to be a considerable doubt at this stage whether our pitch will be fit for that evening. By the time you read our next Newsletter article, you will, of course, know the outcome.
The extra focus that recent inclement weather has placed on our pitch has served only to emphasise the immense importance that our groundsman is to the whole operation.
We can easily forget the level of importance that the groundsman, in our case Billy Green, has on the success or otherwise, not only of staging matches but also in producing conditions that are, hopefully, conducive to good football being played. So, it is against this background that I should mention that, for the time being, we are without the services of Billy, following his sudden and unfortunate illness that began on Christmas Eve.
Fortunately, Billy is now recovering well but, having regard to the nature of his illness, he is under doctor's orders to refrain from work for a while. In his absence, those of us who are able are having to roll up our sleeves and do the best that we can, although we are fortunate in having the help and guidance of Steve Belcher from the Cricket Club, to whom we are most grateful.
Not least because of recent postponements, the First Team still has just under half the season left, with the majority of matches outstanding to be played at The Bourne.
Currently, the team remains handily placed in the middle reaches of the table whilst the Second Team is beginning to make a steady climb from the lower part of Division 2 (West). In relation to the Second Team, it would be remiss of me if I did not make mention of the enthusiasm and efforts made by its Manager, Marcus Carberry and his Assistant, Tony Luckett. Apart from their work with the team itself, these two, both of whom live at Brackley, have never been backward in coming forward when voluntary work has been required at the Sports and Social Club to which we are affiliated. Whilst Marcus has carried out repairs to floor covering, Tony came over to Hooky especially to repair a serious leak in our central heating system. Thanks, chaps; it is all appreciated so much.
That's it for now; by the time I submit my next article, Spring will be just around the corner and the cricketers will be starting to put linseed oil on their bats. How time flies!
Geoff 'Jesse' James


HOOK NORTON SPORTS & SOCIAL CHRISTMAS BALL
Dear those who attended and supported.
Many thanks to all of you who braved the awful weather to attend the night, still managing to look dazzling and dapper in all your wonderful dresses and suits.
Although the evening in the end was really enjoyable I feel I must apologise to all those of you who like myself were disappointed with the service we received from my chosen caterer, a caterer whom I have used many times in the past without any problems and who had therefore promised me great things for the night.
Unfortunately those great things did not materialise and both myself and my trusty sister Kerrie felt the brunt of your anger. We had been promised a wine waiter, starters on the table for 8pm and a host of other goodies we were looking forward to sampling, instead we got no wine waiter resulting in Kerrie and I hoisting up our ball gowns and running round the tables trying to give out the wine, guests giving out the meals and others having to collect them from the now totally chaotic kitchen and friends of ours running us down for wasting their money (the meal I hasten to add being only part of the price and not the full ticket amount as quoted by some!). We too had paid for what we thought would be a trouble free, relaxing evening after all our hard work at the club in 2007 but it wasn't to be. No one could have felt more disappointed than us after all our efforts to bring you a good night, our only consolation was that the Blue Meanies entertained us fantastically as ever and fitted in around the mayhem without any fuss like the true professionals that they are and we have come to expect.
I would like to say Thank you to the other guests on our table who had to put up with being disturbed every 5 minutes whilst Kerrie and I sorted things out, not least my husband Terry who had expected to actually get to see me after all the nights I'd spent sorting. Instead he became caught up in the cross fire and acted as chief negotiator to getting the band organised.
I would also like to thank the people who I had arranged to help during the night and who DID turn up, not expecting to do double the work - Louis and Stuart behind the bar, Debbie and Beth who suddenly became waitresses/ hostesses / wine experts and such like. Louis for helping me tidy up till 6.30am the next morning ready for the bazaar, and to our two wonderful waitresses Chloe and Amy who, whilst only being 16 showed true determination and grit not to let the angry hoards or colourful language aimed at them deter them from the job I had asked them to do. I think they showed sheer professionalism beyond their years and I was extremely proud of them. Well done girls !!
I would also like to thank the photographer and Ray for capturing the evening for posterity. Ray's album (extract above) can be found on our web site: www.hooknortonsportsandsocialclub.co.uk and the photos from Clarke can be found at www.dephoto.co.uk. Thank you Melvin for taking charge of the raffle and doing such a fine job, our penguin kidnapper for returning Drogba - (because penguins dive too !!) although anonymously, safe and well 3 weeks later, Banbury marquee hire for all their help in the dreadful weather conditions. To who ever had a go at Kerrie and ruined her night after all her hard work helping me - oh yes!! and the bright spark who sent me the wonderful post card saying and I quote “ the ball was crap give us a refund” for really making my week (they had even taken the trouble to put a stamp on it and posted it to my home address. It arrived on the Thursday).
On a better note : Thank you to Dave Cooper (guitar and case), Carol Cooke (port), Sam (at castle flowers) for their kind donations of raffle prizes, Paul Souch and Terry Warner for transporting the stage for us. To Colin our wonderful treasurer who supported me throughout. To Kerrie for all her help, our girls Bronte and Chelsea for helping set up on the day, Sacha for looking after Zach all day, Zach for behaving and letting her !!
And finally and most importantly to all the WONDERFUL, UNDERSTANDING, LOVELY people who did realise there wasn't anything more Kerrie and I could have done and have thanked us, sent us cards and have assured us that they will support the clubs events in future and accepted that although a pain in the derriere, these things can happen. Because of these kind of people and all the people who carried on regardless on the night, I did speak to the caterer the next day. He was extremely sorry and as a result AND being big enough to admit he made mistakes, a copy of what he has sent me and we've agreed is below. John hopes that this will somehow rectify the evening's misfortunes and that you will join us at this special event courtesy of him (invites via heads of tables) in the spring.
Here's to 2008! And hoping you can attend. Yours sincerely and undeterred!
Colette (club social / secretary)

Hook Norton sports and social club

To whom it may concern

I cannot apologise enough for our catering on Saturday after the great effort by Colette and Kerrie to produce such a grand effort .
I still cannot really understand how things went so slowly as we have done four similar events of this size this year without a problem. My thinking is some small problems on the evening spiralled and the more we tried to correct things the more difficult it became. I had set out to give you a great meal and give your fund raising a boost.
If only It was possible to rewind to Friday and start again I would, but as this is not possible we must look to the future and hopefully amend the situation.

This I propose will happen in the form of :

* A donation of £400 to club funds
* Payment for band to play at future event (up to £600 booking fee)
* A pig roast for 200 people at the above event on a mutually agreed date
* A donation of a turkey to your Christmas raffle

I hope that you can accept this as my apology and that you will continue to support Colette and Kerrie in their great enthusiasm for your sports and social club.

JOHN KENCH