2022 the start of the Summer Social events
Thinking back to this time last year when we were all still struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of Covid, parties were few and far between and sporting events mostly held behind closed doors. How that changed in 2022! Suddenly invitations were arriving with a certain regularity to attend all kinds of wonderful sounding events. First up on the calendar was the AELTC’s Spring press conference at the end of April which kicked off with tea and coffee before being ushered into the Media Centre’s player interview room where between the AELTC’s chairman, Ian Hewitt and COE Sally Bolton a series of announcements concerning tournament changes plus explanations and reasons for the decision not to allow Russian and Belarusian players to participate in The Championships due to the ongoing war against Ukraine. Admittedly few at the time really understand its impact and that the ATP and WTA would retaliate by withdrawing ranking points for all grass court events including the Championships. In reality the decision had little effect on the tournaments considering the number of top players who competed in the Championships. Following the press conference, a delicious brunch was served in the players restaurant enabling many to catch up with familiar faces not seen for several months.
The committee of British Tennis journalists Association also held their traditional Spring committee Meeting that took place the same afternoon when several pending issues were thrashed out and discussed. Again following traditions the BTJA committee members were invited to delicious dinner held in the Rolex suite and attended by several dignitaries from the world of tennis and AELTC committee members. These dinners are ostensibly annual affairs but due to Coved had been cancelled for the past three years – (although BJTA committee meetings still took place on Zoom). It was a wonderful feeling of returning to past normality and clearly embraced with much enthusiasm.
The next day I was up early to drive to Ashdown Park in the middle of Ashdown Forest, a two hour drive away but unfortunately lost my way several times in spite of Satnav and arrived late, and after the Shot Gun start had started but some kind sole ferried in a buggy with electric trolley and golf bag dragging behind to the 10th hole where I met up with my group which included the club’s lady captain and Sue Mercer, the widow of the late David Mercer, a legendary broadcaster who died during Covid. The course was a pleasure to play and despite the rush to get there, I played below my handicap, a blessing in disguise. A late lunch followed which included a raffle and auction with tennis tv presenter Marcus Buckland as the auctioneer and what a wonderful job he did. To my utter surprise I won a beautiful Waterford glass fruit bowl in the raffle. It was a fun event and driving back to London late that evening surprisingly took far less time than it did to get there.
The Queen’s Jubilee weekend followed and I spent a delightful day on Sunday as a guest of the 96 Club – (a classic car club) in Chesham Gardens in the heart of Belgravia, where a delicious lunch had been organised through Hari’s part of the Belgrave Hotel opposite and where we were also surrounded by numerous exotic looking classic cars belonging to members. It was a wonderful warm day and there were several famous attendees, including Joan Collins, Liz Brewer and a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.
My next rendezvous was Marc Burca’s birthday party held in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in the Boltons and full of faces from the past – it was absolutely amazing how Mark managed to gather such an eclectic group of people is incredible. Many were friends of friends who all interconnected somehow over the past forty or more years and certainly some had not seen each other since the first lockdown.
And finally on 22nd May Queen’s Club officially opened its grass courts with a day of mixed doubles played in a round robin formate and a delicious lunch. Most playing partners were chosen at random and I played with the lovely Max, a brilliant player and between us managed to reach the semi finals when we played the eventual winners but came out with our heads held high losing only five games to their eight, (all games were allocated exactly half an hour). Anyway what was fun was the sitdown lunch and meeting others taking part including Elaine Paige who I often play double with.
Well that was a few bits and pieces leading up to the end of May .. next up is my meeting with Pip Hare, famous for sailing in the 2020 Vendee Globe, the world’s toughest round the world sailing race – in Les Sables d’Olonne in France where she is preparing for the next Vendee Globe in 2024.