Summer 2026 Newsletter
Introduction from the Hon. Secretary
I hope you enjoyed a pleasant May Bank Holiday. It is fantastic to see grass courts now opening up, and with our early fixtures already underway, the season is off to a great start.
This is the first of our 'new style' newsletters, which have been designed with the specific aim of keeping you more updated than ever before. My goal is to ensure that as the summer progresses, every member is better kept in the loop regarding everything happening within the Association, from match results to our expanding social calendar.
Best regards,
Chris Jenkins, Hon. Secretary
Our New Members’ Evening in February was a fantastic success, bringing together some of the 25 members who joined us in 2025 for an introduction to the Association. The evening was a relaxed mix of tennis and socialising, allowing new joiners to meet committee members before the season began. We look forward to seeing them represent the iPubs for years to come.
We were delighted to welcome 72 members and their guests to the Association AGM and Annual Dinner, hosted at AELTC in March. Our guest speaker was former British Number 1, Kyle Edmund, who provided fascinating insights during an interview conducted by our President, Conor Boden. It was a fantastic evening and a great way to kick off the season.
Please read more about the evening and view the photos here.
Fixtures Update
It is great to see the season officially underway with some early fixtures completed and many more to look forward to on the grass over the summer.
Our upcoming fixtures for the remainder of May are:
Thu 14 May (16:30): Eton College (Match Manager: Brad Keenes)
Sat 16 May (10:00): St George's College (Match Manager: Jamie Boden)
Sat 16 May (10:30): The Leys School (Match Manager: Tom Green)
Fri 22 May (18:00): Magdalen Park LTC (Match Manager: Jamie Boden)
Sat 23 May (10:30): Cambridge Blues (Match Manager: Jamie Muirhead)
Sat 30 May (14:30): The Roehampton Club (Match Manager: Johnny Barr)
To sign up for these matches or to view the full 2026 schedule, please visit our fixtures page here.
Meet our new President…
A warm welcome to our new President, Conor Boden, who was elected as such at our recent AGM, succeeding Bruce Weatherill who had performed the role with such distinction since 2016.
While Conor is new to the role of President, he has been a member of the Association since 1980 serving on the Committee for over 40 years since 1985 including as Hon. Secretary (1991-99) and Chairman (2002-13).
An Old Georgian, Conor was a member of the St George’s Weybridge team that won the Glanvill Cup (National All Schools’ Championships) for the only time in the school’s history in 1979. He was also a member of the St George’s team that were Youll Cup (Independent Schools’ Championships) runners-up in 1979 and 1980, losing on each occasion to close rivals St Paul’s. He has since served as the Old Georgians’ tennis captain for several decades, recently handing over to younger son Jamie.
The victorious 1979 Glanvill Cup team; Conor (bottom left) alongside his St George's teammates.
A former Surrey and South-East Region junior team member, Conor has also represented Surrey Men’s ‘A’ and Surrey O45s at senior level and is a former joint holder of the Surrey Men’s singles title.
Though less active on court these days, Conor is a Full Member of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and serves on the Club Operations Committee under the Chairmanship of fellow IPSOBLTA Committee member, Ashley Tatum. He is also a long-standing member of The Queen’s Club and served on the Board including as Vice-Chair in the mid 2000s.
Conor very much looks forward to his Presidential role as the Association approaches its centenary. He hopes to follow the outstanding example set by other recent Presidents including Peter Jackson and Geoff Brown as well as, of course, Bruce.
Website Updates & Members’ Area
Since our transition from the PSOBLTA to the IPSOBLTA and the launch of our new website, we have been working hard to improve our digital content while carefully preserving the Association’s rich history. To support this, we have created a dedicated Members’ Area, which can be accessed using the password "iPubs".
This space is designed to keep you organised and informed, offering easy access to:
Key Documents: Including AGM Minutes, Association Accounts, Annual Reports, and previous Newsletters.
Match Manager Resources: Access to the player database for contact details and helping with player recruitment.
Community Updates: Information on our WhatsApp Community for real-time announcements and fixture news.
You can explore the Members’ Area here.
Staying Connected
We hope the transition to our new mailing platform, Kit, has been well received. This change allows us to create more professional and visually engaging messages, while also providing us with tools to better monitor successful delivery and engagement with our members.
We are now also introducing an IPSOBLTA WhatsApp Community to aid our communications; all members will be added to the main Community, while those on the player list will be added to a dedicated Fixtures Group.
To ensure updates remain clear and easy to follow, messaging within the community is currently restricted to admins only.
To join the groups directly, please login to the Members’ Area using the password above and navigate to the WhatsApp Section.