St Joseph’s are ace in inter-schools festival

St Joseph’s are ace in inter-schools festival

8 July 2015

THE sun shone, the strawberries and cream went down a treat and the crowds turned out for Newcastle’s own version of Wimbledon, Saturday’s Open Day.

With professional tennis coaches Sam Clegg and Jane McIlwrath offering lessons on court and seasoned players available to guide prospective new members, large numbers of junior and senior players were soon taking advantage of the opportunity to try out the sport for free.

In total, around 100 people assembled in glorious weather conditions over the course of the afternoon to sample the game for themselves during Wimbledon fortnight. 

Lots of new members, of all ages, joined the Tennis Club on the day, taking advantage of a special introductory membership offer which is available until the end of this week. Telephone Rachel on 07591 762061 for details.

Many thanks to all the junior and senior members who volunteered to help out on the day and to Tesco Newcastle for their generous donation of seasonal strawberries and cream.

Meanwhile, on a balmy evening at the end of June, the U-14 Newcastle girls headed off to CIYMS Belfast for an important match. 

The team of Molly Crawford, Katie Lowry, Sinead Flanigan and Ellen Gorman were the runners up in Division 2 and so were to play the winners of Division 1 for a place for the trophy. 

It was always going to be a tough match, but the girls were fired up and ready to play their best.

At CIYMS, the task proved too much. Play was hard and the girls were kept on their toes. They played some excellent shots and took many games to deuce, but the CIYMS team showed why they were the winners of Division 1.  

Newcastle had one great win by Katie Lowry, who excelled herself in winning her match, defeating an opponent who was much older and bigger.  

Well done to Katie and hard luck to the other girls who have all played in this tournament with great enthusiasm and have improved considerably as a team.  

A big thank you to John Lowry for taking the girls to the match, for putting up with the singing and chat and treating them to burgers on the way home.  

Congratulations to local primary schools, All Children’s Integrated, Newcastle, St Mary’s, 

Newcastle, St Joseph’s, Carnacaville, St Macartan’s, Loughinisland and Sacred Heart, Dundrum who took part in the recent the annual inter-primary schools’ tournament, hosted by Newcastle Tennis Club and supported by teachers’ union, NASUWT. 

Well done to St. Joseph’s who took home the competition trophy after a closely-contested final against All Children’s.