Kingsgate Lawn Tennis Club

Well played to our Apsley As who hosted Wellow As yesterday.
Lots of tie breaks and some great rallies which ended in a 4/4 draw.
It’s great to have a big team out there again, enjoying the sunshine and some fast paced tennis holding in at the premier league level!
Big thanks and well done to Netta, Phil, Jen, Rachy B, Steph, James S, Sarah and Hal for a fantastic afternoon.

Well done to our Apsley B Squad in their away match vs Wellow B yesterday:

“A robust hot afternoon of play was presented by a hospitable Wellow yesterday which I think was enjoyed by all.
Unfortunately despite close games they managed to edge ahead of us.
Many thanks for Rachel, Yuliya, Claire, Charlotte, Sam, Alastair and Rick for joining me and for literally battling on relentlessly.
Well done everyone.”
Hamish

Our ladies B team played at home this Saturday. From cpt Jan:

We played David Lloyd 1 today in the scorcio heat against some opponents half our age! It was a hard fought match. They secured a 3-1 win. A good effort all round. Thank you all for providing a delicious match tea. 😊

Well done to our women’s As who played Riverside Bs on Saturday. A little unsure still of the actual final score as rain stopped play mid final rubber, but we won the previous 3, so taking it as 1st place.

Well played Rachy B, Sarah, Susannah and Claire, and thank you Rachy for fab team leading & driving 🙏😊

If any Kingsgate members would like to join the online feed of our John McKenna’s memorial service taking place in Manchester, please note the following details.

It’s on May 29th at 11am.
The live stream will be on Facebook.

You need follow the St Anthony of Padua, Stretford FB page.
The live feed will be there.

Friday tennis & Black Boy drinks for our John

John McKenna

We are all quietly stunned by John’s passing last Saturday morning.
It’s difficult to find adequate words to justify John who was so loved by everyone, so this post will be shorter than it should be.

John was a natural athlete and strong tennis player who represented the club, played in every mix in he could get his hands on, and whose name is on the tournament winners board more than once.

Whatever the occasion, it was more fun with John. He would have a club house cup of tea or beer with anyone, not out of politeness but because he was interested in people and genuinely cared.

Being on court, with him or against him, was always fun. His court banter and ridiculous commentary were legendary and often had us all in stiches.
From his football skills with a tennis ball, to his inevitable rough or smooths, to his impossible backhand slice, John made us laugh.
John will be very missed by us all, in particular by Nigel’s Friday group, some members there having been very close friends with John and his family for decades.

Lucy and Dan are holding up and are surrounded by family and friends.
Lucy is keen to commemorate John in some way at the club when the time feels right.

Bless our John. May we bring a little of his wonderful positive spirit with us whenever we walk on court.

We held our beginning of season mix-in on Sunday.
There was a huge turn out and David and Tim did a fantastic job organizing all the tennis, starting with the morning mix in.
This was followed by them guiding everyone through a super fun, one point only, singles champs. Well done to Oscar for having nerves of steel and working his way through the rounds to victory!

The BBQ lunch, salad and cakes, as always was a spectacular feast and our excellent new kitchen was put to very good use.
A big thank you from us all to everyone for bringing their delicious food contributions but, as always, extra thank yous to those special few: Janie, Mike and Robyn for going the extra mile.

These events take lot of hard work and preparation behind the scenes, so thank you again to everyone, who helped set up, wash up, tidy up and organize a very successful day.

Let’s continue with those wonderful club memories leading us into a long, sunny 2026 season of tennis, fun and friendship.

Our ladies As also played our first summer match yesterday morning, in similar high winds against Avenue. Sadly we came second, but it was a good battle against a strong team.
Well done Clare, Julia, Rachel, our new team cpt, and Inger who was playing her first match for Kingsgate.

Our amazing new Apsley B team played their first ever match yesterday at home against the Twyford C team with a resounding 7-1 win.
Lifted from the WhatAgroup are Sissa’s perfect as ever words:

“We battled against high winds, sun blindness and some extremely long and close matches! Everyone played with very good humour considering the elements and the tea was super welcome and enjoyed by all!”