THE WESTERN CAPE IC TEAM TENNIS DAY REPORT

An email was sent out to all the IC members in Cape Town informing them that the committee had decided on having our social tournament on Sunday 01 December 2019.  Within a day or two I had an email back from Wynand Wessels offering to negotiate with Fresnaye Tennis Club as a venue.

A day or two later I received a further mail from Wynand advising that Fresnaye would host the event.  Upon enquiry as to the cost of hiring the venue I was told that he, Wynand, was picking up the cost and that he had already paid the required amount.  Venue hiring is an expensive exercise these days and I was just over the moon with the news.

Rusty, Yvonne and I then got together and decided on the format.  Agreed that we would go with the team tennis format, but with ICWC rules.

VIP guests were top of our list.  I had been contact with Jeff Coetzee, Raven Klaasen and Lloyd Harris (through his mother Cecelia).  All three, including Cecelia were present on the day.  What a lovely vibe they added to our event.

Then as nothing actually gets done to get the older age groups together it was decided to invite those members to our luncheon.  They were all delighted and accepted the invite.  We ended up with 16 VIP’s who had a most enjoyable day meeting up with members that had not seen each other in years.

Some of the emails received –

“Dear Lorna and Yvonne

Thank you both so much for the truly wonderful day of tennis played at the Fresnaye Tennis Club - I am sure everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

The organisation was perfect, the eats delicious and the day made special by the presence of the pro tennis players and other dignitaries.

It was great to see Nigel Macdonald again as he and I studied together at Rhodes University.

Regards Rusty”

Hi Lorna & Yvonne - Big thanks for a special day. Was great seeing all the "old" faces again  Thanks Denley

“Hi girls    Thank you for the very special time we could spend together with our tennis family yesterday, and thank you once again for including both Milton and me.   It was so nice to see all the old faces and especially the two of you who did such a great job.  Wishing you a very special Christmas and a healthy and happy 2020.  See you in the New Year – can’t wait for the Rafa, Federer match.     LOL   Lorns “

“Dear Lorna and Yvonne,    Thank you Lorna for organizing the most successful IC event that I have ever attended.  Thank you Yvonne for the simple but superb lunch. The quiche and salad was great.  Kind regards  Michael  B Wolffe”

“Morning Lorna   Just want to thank you for putting together such an amazing day on Sunday.  The weather certainly helped, and Fresnaye offers views and atmosphere second to none, but most of all it was the people who contributed to a fun-filled day.  Thanks to you and Yvonne for going the extra mile to make it all happen.  

As to our chat at the end of the day, if I can help the GB team to fill their Sun City spots I’d be delighted!  Best wishes  Daphne”

Teams:

We had a good response and put together 6 teams of 4 (2 men and 2 women).  The decision was to play 6 groups and to pick the teams in strengths and age groups where necessary.  Our team names were –

• The Red Roosters captained by Archie Rudman
• The Blue Birds captained by John Gardiner
• The Purple People Easters captained by Alan Chiat
• The Green Mambas captained by Wynand Wentzel
• The Black Cats captained by Barbara Rose-Innes
• The Pink Panthers captained by Rusty Clement

The buzz around the courts when our Davis Cup players arrived was truly amazing.

With the tennis done and dusted the bar then made a good profit.  Prizes were handed out to the winners – each player receiving a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine.  Again we had Wynand to thank for sponsoring the 24 bottles.

Lunch was served followed by a “Question and Answers” session.  Jeff, Raven and Lloyd were truly superb in the way they handled themselves with good answers as well as good laughs.  Thank you guys much appreciated.

Other:

2020 is already in the planning stages with a weekend visit and tennis to Hermanus.

Rusty Clement is already busy with negotiations.

Still to come:

The Roger/Rafa invitational.   Our ICWC, together with family and friends, will be at this event in full force.  Following on a suggestion by Rusty Clement we got busy and sold 132 tickets to the event.  We will hopefully all be decked out in Pink and Grey and flying the ICSA banners.  Leonie did the same for PE and will be in our group.

All that now remains is for ICWC to wish you all a Happy and peaceful Christmas with a wonderful 70^th anniversary year and Legends tournament at Sun City in May.