The winner takes it all

The club tournie is go go... The entrants have thrown down the gauntlet and the draw has been made. It's on the noticeboard in the clubhouse, so pleez go and have a look, see who you're doing battle with and let the games commence.

Each round has a play-by date so we can keep proceedings chipping along at a decent pace, so keep an eye on them. All play-by dates are weekends and Wednesday evenings - we'll have the bar open in the club so come down and play, or come down and watch some most excellent tennis, and we'll ply you with tinnies.

And Saturday 19th September is Finals Day, so don't forget to put that in your diary - biryani, barbeques and beers. Bargain...

Yee-Haw

Big thanks go to everyone who played, panted and prayed for sunshine in the YouEssAye-YouEssAye-RIPTeddyKennedy-HotDog Open last weekend; we'll be doing another one soon, so keep your eyes peeled. Congratulations to our victorious champs Jeremy Nicholls and Tony Horton, and to our plucky finalists, Galia Piunovskaya and Adam Vaughan...

cHiCkEnStOcK

This Saturday • from 7pm • £4 • beers; bands; barbeque
tickets from Greendays cafe (Lark Lane) or on the door...
Pete Bentham & the Dinner Ladies • Voo • Emily & the Faves • The Haunted Swing • Bernie Connor (DJ)

Team MB; team MB - it's time to kiss the badge, kids

We have a limited (and therefore very special edition) number of Mersey Bowmen t-shirts left, in sizes small, medium and large. If you'd like to turn out in official Bow colours this season, email me back and stating which size you'd like, and we'll put one to one side for you. First come, first served (no dodgy tennis pun intended......

It's CHICKENSTOCK - the Dinner Ladies' Rock 'n' roll picnic

If you didn't make Glasto this year - and, let's face it, it was MuddEE - rock off to Chickenstock at the MB on August 15th; Pete Bentham and the Dinner ladies are topping the bill, supported by VOO + EMILY & THE FAVES + THE HAUNTED SWING, while one Bernie Connor (he used to DJ at Eric's, you know) will be doin' the mixing. And there's a barby. And a bar full of beer. Tickets are selling fast at the bargain price of £4, so snap 'em up now if you want one. Speak to Stevie B to get your hands on a ticket - his email address is sjb1@talktalk.net or give him a call. Have a look at: http://www.myspace.com/petebenthamandthedinnerladies

The ticker-tape-tastic MB American Open is on August 22nd

Instead of our traditional mid-August finals day, we'll be playing an American Open tournament. It's open to current and former members alike, and anyone you fancy bringing down to impress/ sell into Bow-slavery or dish out a sound thrashing to, so invite friends, family and frenemies... We'll be playing a round-robin format - pairs'll picked out of a hat to ensure that you're all as equal as possible, and we'll play a semi-final and final at the end of the day.

It'll be £5 per person to enter and lunch will be provided... please email me to enter - you don't need a partner, all pairs will be picked at random on the day. All comers welcome.

In return we promise you cheesy USA-USA prizes, hot dogs, star-spangled banners galore and the right to life (you see, no getting knocked out in the first round here...), liberty to express yourself with a bat and the pursuit of happiness on a tennis court. But not to bear arms. Or bare arms. One of the two...

A club tournament with more than 33% of the club's players in it? Never...

Well well well... In a controversial yet decisive move, we've decided not to play the club tournament next month, but to move it to September. We obviously have far too many members with time to play with and money to burn, as approximately half the club is away for most of August. Instead, we're going to start the tournament on the Bank Holiday weekend, as it just doesn't seem right to be giving out the tupperware when so many of our much-loved players can't, actually, play (much as I have been a beneficiary of this in the past ;) ) The deadline for entries is Friday 28th August at 6pm when we'll do the draw, and you can start playing any time you like after that (you don't need to be here for the Bank Holiday weekend to enter the tournie.)

So if you thought you couldn't play and fancy it now, please put your name down now. You can email me, or stick it on the list in the clubhouse. Once again for the record: men's singles, ladies' singles, men's doubles, ladies' doubles, mixed doubles. Finals Day will be September 19th, so please make sure you're around for that. We'll be having a bit of a do...