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6th May. Despite it being a Bank Holiday Weekend we had lovely weather for our second American Tournament of the year on Saturday 3rd May. There was a very good turn out and the Men's section was won by Paul Kirk and the Ladies' section by Pam Harvey.

The new Phoenix Rising season starts again this week with coaching on both Tuesday (improvers) and Thursday (beginners) evenings. Saturday supervised practice continues all year.

6th April. We kicked off the new season yesterday (Sat 5th) with a Charity American Tournament. The weather forecast hadn't been very good but we got away with only a couple of short sharp showers. The Phoenix Men's section was won by David Morran and the Ladies' by Mariline Cooke. Phoenix Rising was represented solely by Ladies and the highest scoring of those was Frances Rowe. The event was very well attended and, while the final count hasn't yet been done, we raised over £90 for the British Heart Foundation.

6th March.The spring newsletter has been issued so if you haven't had your copy please contact Hilary. This letter also contains committee member details and a list of current members.

17th January. Happy New Year! You should all have received your latest newsletter and renewal of membership form. If you haven't then please contact Hilary.

Last year's news

14th December. A good number of Phoenix Rising members braved the awful weather to attend a feedback meeting last Saturday (8th). Christine found this a very useful meeting. The last winter coaching session was rained off and has been re-arranged; however, due to the holidays it will be on Saturday 12th January.

The last two Phoenix Rising American Tournaments have been run by Lawrence. The November Tournament was won by Kevin Roychowdhury in the Men's section and Julie Green won the Ladies' section. In December, Julie continued her winning streak in the Ladies' section while Jason Farrer won the Men's section.

20th October. The club trophy presentations were made today. David Jones, performing his last duty as outgoing Chairman, presented the trophies. See our presentations page for photos of our winners.

Our new chaiman, Ian Butler, then paid a warm tribute to David Jones who has served the club so well as Chairman for 30 years!!! Ian then presented David with a gift from the club and said that he would be given honourary club membership; and a bench, dedicted to him, would also be put up next to the courts. A bouquet of flowers was presented to David's wife, Jackie, in thanks for her support. David thanked everyone for the gifts and said that he had been pleased to serve the club. He also stated that he would be back playing very soon (following eye surgery).

Jackie, with her bouquet, and David receiving his gift from Ian Butler	David and Jackie with the trophy winners and other members of the club

6th October. The last Phoenix American Tournament was held today and, as this was not a one that counted towards the Tony Page trophy, Phoenix Rising joined in. All enjoyed a good afternoon's tennis in excellent tennis weather. The Phoenix Men's section was won by David Morran and the Ladies' section was won by Clare Smee. Phoenix Rising did themselves proud and achieved some very good scores. Alex Wood won the Men's section and Ladies' section was won by Melanie Woods.

11th September. The Phoenix AGM was held this evening and a goodly number of members attended. David Jones stood down as Chairman after 30 years of service. Tributes were paid to David and a vote of thanks was given for his long and valiant service to the club. A new Committee was elected with Ian Butler taking over as Chairman.

It was also announced at the AGM that Christine Clark and Brian Eves would be awarded the Richard Crundell Trophy.

8th September. The Friendly League Finals were held on our courts today. The weather was good and all matches were keenly fought. The Ladies Double title was contested between Yvonne Rann and Patti Williams of Phoenix and Frances Shaw and Melanie Woods of Phoenix Rising with the Phoenix Rising pair prevailing. All the results and photos of each event can be found on the Friendly League website under Individual Tournaments and Latest News.

5th September. Fantastic News!!! Our Men's A team were top of the Colchester and District Men's League Division 1 and will play in the Premier Division next season. Many congratulations to all who played in the team.

Our Ladies A team also did very well, missing out on promtion to the Ladies Premier Division by only 1.5 points. Our Mixed A team was only just pipped to promotion to Division 1 by one point. All our other teams will stay safely in their current divisions.

The last American Tournament whose scores contributed to the Tony Page trophy was held on Saturday 1st September. The Phoenix Men's section was won by Ian Butler and the Ladies' section was won by Pam Harvey. For Phoenix Rising, Alex Wood won the Men's section and Ladies' section was won by Frances Rowe.

When all the scores for the season were added up it was announced that the Tony Page trophy will be awarded to Ian Butler and Christine Clark.

8th August. We had a very hot day for the American Tournament held on Saturday 4th August. The Phoenix Men's section was jointly won by Ian Butler and a visitor, Sam. The Ladies' section was won by Clare Smee. For Phoenix Rising, Jason Farrar kept his 100% record by winning the Men's section but this was closely contested by Alex Wood who was only one point behind him. The Ladies' section was won by Frances Shaw.

The team players are all very busy now trying to get all the previously rained-off matches played. Many have two or three matches each week! Let's hope that the rain keeps away.

26th July. The weather kept fine for our Charity American Tournament held on Saturday 14th July, though there weren't as many people attending as last year. The Phoenix Men's section was won by Colin Potts and the Ladies' section was won by Christine Clark. For Phoenix Rising, the Men's section was won by Jason Farrar and the Ladies' section by Claire Balcombe.

The rain continues to take its toll on our club sessions and matches. Let's hope that the weather cheers up for August so we can get through our backlog of matches.

2nd June. The first of our dual American Tournaments took place today. The Phoenix Men's section was won by Ian Butler and the Ladies' section was won by Jane Kirk. For Phoenix Rising, the Men's section was won by Jason Farrar and the Ladies' section by Frances Shaw.

The next American Tournament will be held on Saturday 14th July starting at 2pm and will be our annual charity event, where we hope to raise as much money as possible for the British Heart Foundation. So we'd like lots of participants and raffle prizes will be gratefully received.

7th May. Our second American Tournament was held in much cooler weather than the first. There was a good turn out and the Men's section was won by Paul Kirk and the Ladies' section by a visitor, Sara Panizza.

Phoenix Rising starts this week! This has proven to be very popular with 36 members. I'm sure that you will all make these members very welcome.

16th April. Normally we are pleased if it is dry and not too cold for our first American Tournament of the season. This year we were all suffering from the heat! It was very sunny and hot. The Men's section was won by Ian Butler and the Ladies' by Rosemary James.

22nd March. The new Phoenix Rising pages are now live! We hope that this will be another successful arm of the club so do spread the word about it.

10th January. Happy New Year! You should have received your latest newsletter and renewal of membership form. If you haven't then contact Hilary.

We were saddened to hear of the death of a former member, George Graves, and also of the death of Les Lamb's wife, Jean, who both died on the same day in December. Cards have been sent on behalf of the club to Les and to George's Family.