Tennis round-up: Friendliness is what makes Lawn a winner....

Make sure people enjoy playing and then they will get results in competitions.

It is a maxim which has served the 87-year-old club well over the years as its current healthy state attests.

With a membership of 150, Westcliff Lawn has a men's and ladies' team in the Essex First divisions.

Then there are another three men's teams and one ladies' also competing at county level.

And that is not forgetting the four men's and two ladies' teams in both the Southend & District LTA leagues and the Leigh & Westcliff LTA's too.

"It is a very happy club," said Steve. "As far as I am concerned the emphasis is getting people interested in the game and the competitive tennis follows on from that.

"Men's and ladies' first team players will join in with the social side of things and the better players playing with the weaker ones to help them."

The club was founded in 1912 on its present site by the father of current president Pauline Cousins.

Westcliff was the main club in Essex from after the First World War until 1939 Westcliff and in the 30s provided practically all the county tennis side.

The club re-opened in 1948 but was later to fall on hard times which saw membership fall to around 30 people.

However, Lawn sold some of its land and thanks to the efforts of the remaining members started to build itself up again.

New courts were put down and the old men's changing rooms were converted by a member into a clubhouse to replace the old one, which had been used as billets for servicemen in the First World War.

Now the club boasts eight artificial grass floodlit courts and has another court for coaching purposes, as well as a recently-completed short tennis court for youngsters.

Steve, 38, is currently handling the coaching after the club's last coach left in September. Another previous coach is due to return from three years in the Bahamas in the summer.

The current captain, who works as a business banking manager for Lloyds/TSB admits that tennis fills most of his spare time - he even met his wife, Hazel, at the club.

When he is not working or playing at Westcliff Lawn, Steve busies himself in his role as tournament secretary for Southend and District LTA.

But a recent appointment has seen him taking responsibility for looking after the county's 313 teams.

For Steve has just become the third Essex LTA league secretary following the retirement of John Pattison.

"I enjoy doing all the work which is half the thing really," explained Steve, who added that the county league will be using a pyramid system in summer 2001 to ensure a greater variety of teams for players to compete against.

Steve is also a firm believer in the value of the doubles game despite some observers saying more prominence should be given to singles.

"I'm very happy with doubles because it gives weaker players a chance to play with better players to improve their game," he explained.

Court out - Westcliff Lawn members brave the chilly weather to get in a game of tennis.

Club captain Steve Wynn (right) says Lawn's strength is that it is a players' club

Pictures: MIKE BELLENIE

Playing among the stars

A chance to play alongside the stars of today's tennis world is the prize up for grabs in the Fred Perry Tennis Challenge.

The winners of the postal tournament will play at the 2000 Club Med Cup - a pre-Wimbledon international tournament - which has already signed up Gustavo Kuerten and Todd Martin to play.

The finalists will get a chance to play at the senior event and then receive their trophies and prizes from one of the Wimbledon stars on the grandstand court.

The tournament is open to boys and girls from Essex and 14 other counties aged under-nine to under-18.

The first rounds will begin in early March and will be played on a local basis. But players reaching the later stages may be required to travel longer distances.

Tournament results will be sent to the LTA ratings department for competitors with membership of the association.

A consolation plate will also be contested for the first round losers with the results again being sent to the LTA.

The Club Med Cup takes place between June 22 and 24 at the Roehampton Club in London.

Call 0171 862 0039 to request and entry form for the tournament. Entries cost £9 per event.

But hurry because the closing date for entries is February 14.

Decider settles Cup tie in Bay's favour

Thorpe Bay made it through to the second round of the Ladies Winter Cup thanks to a decider.

The score stood at two sets all until Judith Bremner and Elizabeth Hoare overcame Westcliff Lawn's Chris Britt and Gill Byford to make it 6-4.

Earlier Judith and Louise Bremner had defeated Helen Broadway and Gill 6-2 7-6 before Chris and Sue McMahon beat Elizabeth and Alice Hornsby to level.

Hockley found themselves through after winning the first rubber before Southend Lawn conceded the second.

Nicola Edwards and Pat Townsley set the ball rolling with a 6-1 6-4 defeat of Heather Bell and Sandy Bysouth.

Ilean Eley and Pat Bladon had won the first set of the second rubber 6-4 when Lawn pair Caroline Willis and Lyn Webster conceded because they could not come back from Hockley's 3-0 set lead.

Hadleigh Park also booked their passage with a 3-1 win over St Peters.

Sheelagh Maynard and Pamela Cole saw off Angela Sangster and Valerie Glover 6-2 6-0 but Saints pair Barbara Easton and Shirley Easton pulled on back in the second rubber.

They had gone down 6-3 to Park's Margaret Gabe and Barbara Berry in the first set before winning the second 7-6.

Crowstone had the easiest route to the second round of the mixed competition when Angela Greenwood, Paul Bundock, Kitty Livingstone and Rick Kilworth found Rochford were unable to find enough ladies to play and were given a walkover.

Hadleigh Park edged it 3-2 in their meeting with Southend Lawn.

Park's Steve Bish and Margaret Gabe won 6-4 7-6 to defeat Tim Padbury and Heather Bell.

Lawn's Graham Evans and Sandie Bysouth won their first set 6-2 but lost the other 2-6 to Rob Firmin and Linda Bowler.

Thorpe Bay took their place in the second round thanks to a 4-2 victory over Hockley, whose pairs took the lead in both rubbers only to lose out.

Frances Ferguson and Brian Jekinson defeated Hockley's Jan Thorpe and Pat Townsley 6-7 6-3 6-3, while Bay's Louise Ferguson and Trev Brown won 5-7 6-4 7-6 over Mike Mower and Pat Bladon.

In the the only men's cup tie, Hockley had a 4-0 win over Rochford.

Second round ties

Men's Winter Cup - Invicta v Westcliff Lawn, Thorpe Bay or Southend Lawn v Hadleigh Park, Kent Elms v Westcliff Hard, Hockley v Leigh.

Ladies' Winter Cup - Leigh v Thorpe Bay, Wickford v Hockley, Hadleigh Park v Kent Elms, Rayleigh v Invicta.

Mixed Winter Cup - Westcliff Lawn v Invicta or Kent Elms, Crowstone v Hadleigh Park, Westcliff Hard or Wickford v Leigh or St Peters, Thorpe Bay v Rayleigh.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.