Fall 2019
Parties This Autumn
The Racquet Club on Park Hill in Yonkers is well into its busy fall social schedule, with enjoyable Friday- evening parties for the whole family. The Social Committee has already organized a bonfire evening on September 27th, with smores; a Chinese take-out supper on October 4th; and a pizza-and-bowling party on October 11th.
Ahead are the Kids’ Halloween movie night on Friday, October 18th, featuring the film “Beetlejuice”, and organized by Matt and Chrissy Gervais; the Saturday, October 19th Salsa Night, featuring dancing and food, and hosted by Zerena Zeron; and the Friday, October 25th, Game Night, a pot-luck affair. On Thursday, October 31st, there will be a Trick or Treat evening, with kids and their parents (a) enjoying pizza at the club first, (b) then going out trick-or-treating, and later (c) returning to the club for the candy swap.
On Thursday, October 24th, the PHRC Book Club holds its monthly meeting at 7 pm in the lounge.
On Sunday, October 27th, the Tennis Committee will host the annual Tennis Awards Brunch at 10 am. Come cheer your friends who get prizes for winning the various intraclub tennis tournaments and for coming in as runners-up.
On Friday, November 1st, the club will hold a Friday night take-out, with the cuisine as yet to be determined. Friday, November 8th, will be another pizza-and-bowling party. Saturday, November 16th, will feature the next Karaoke Night, organized by Tom Westmoreland and Patty Gamba.
On Friday, December 6th, the First-Friday meal will feature German food and the cult film “Krampus.” Saturday, December 14th, is the date for this year’s Holiday Cocktail Party. The next morning, Sunday, December 15th, will be the club’s traditional Breakfast with Santa. And on Wednesday, January 1st, the club will organize its annual New Year’s Day pot-luck brunch.
Other Activities and Events
Yoga. Monday night yoga continues again this fall with Berto. Classes run between 7:30 and 8:45 pm. The cost is $20 per session. All levels welcome. Participants bring their own mats.
Launch of the Winter Bowling League.
The Winter Bowling League got under way on Tuesday, October 15th, with practice games and with the formation of the five teams from among the 20 league participants. The teams were chosen by the same five captains as last year’s: this year’s defending champion, Jose Alvarado; Bill Dennison; Robert Klein; last year’s champion, Paul Meissner; and League President Jon Wallen. Team names and members are as follow: Brown: Jon Wallen, Paul Cecere, Ed Schmid and Bill Coffey; Commodores: Bill Dennison, Cathy Mulhern, John Maggiotto and Vic Mason;
Mason Jars: Robert Klein, Susie Moscou, Annemarie Ennis and Jennifer Ringstad; Hurricanes: Jose Alvarado, Karen Lorence, Patty Gamba and John Twomey; and SPDs: Paul Meissner, Steve Savard, Pat O’Hanlon and Deane Prouty.
Holiday Tree-Lighting of the Park Hill Residents’ Association. The Park Hill Residents’ Association will stage its annual tree-lighting ceremony on Wednesday, December 4th. This is not an official PHRC function, but club members are always invited to participate each year, and many do enjoy taking part with their neighbors.
The Summer’s Friday-Night Barbecue Parties
The club enjoyed an unbroken string of Friday-evening barbecues between July and September. Members who hosted the BBQs, for the first time this year, had the help of professional grillers and a cleaner who were recruited by Patty Gamba and Tom Westmoreland, allowing members to enjoy their own parties.
Sincere thanks to the many club members who volunteered their time and effort organizing those summer parties since our last newsletter on July 12th:
on July 12th, Kate Waters and Lynette Phillips, who provided wonderful shrimp, steak and veggie kabobs for about 70 guests at their annual, delectable “Kabob Night;
on July 19th, Matt Krawiec and Karin White, who ran their matchless beef-and-chicken Fajita Night, with all the usual excellent trimmings, also for about 70 guests;
on July 26th, Bob Gopalan and Vic Mason, featuring Bob’s world-famous marinated chicken and ribs (with grateful grilling help from Tami Vu, Patty Gamba and Jim Buckley), for 52 guests;
on August 2nd, Gaby and Sal Cinquemani, with the many tasty selections on the menu for their
new Gourmet Assorted Burger Night;
on August 9th, the Twomey and Liberatore families, who hosted the delicious Pulled Pork Night;
on August 16th, Justine Henry and Renee O’Hanlon, who saved the Board’s perfect record of
summer Friday barbecues, by volunteering at the last moment, with their fine feast of pulled
pork, hamburgers and hot dogs;
on August 23rd, Diana and Steve Spiegler, who hosted their always popular Brat Night for 87
guests: 60 adults and 27 kids; and
on Labor Day week end, Todd Geremia and Tami Vu, who hosted the well-attended September
1st feast of barbecued chicken, hamburger and hot dogs.
As ever, all the BBQs were complemented by excellent side dishes, salads and desserts brought by members.
As ever, all the BBQs were complemented by excellent side dishes, salads and desserts brought by members.
The Board expresses special thanks to Tami Vu and Todd Geremia (1) for introducing the usage this year of the Evite system for organizing parties online, and (2) for preparing the invitations for each of the club’s social events requiring RSVPs. The system has been a huge help, especially to BBQ organizers, in making party preparations and record-keeping easy and efficient, and to Treasurer Matt Krawiec for his bookkeeping.
Other Summer Social Activities
Tiki Thursdays. Thanks to the Bar Committee for organizing the annual summer evening “Tiki Thursdays” with “island-inspired cocktail specials,” and for encouraging members to come in “tropical attire” to complement the ambience. Tiki Thursdays continued through the end of August.
Summer Karaoke Party. Thanks to Westy and Patty for organizing the summer karaoke party on Saturday, July 20th, with around 40 participants in the lounge, either singing on-stage or singing along lustily from “the audience.” Westy reported later that, when technical issues unfortunately shortened the evening, members responded with inspired and unprecedented “a cappella” improvisations!
Screening of “Jaws”. Thanks to Chrissy and Matt Gervais for hosting the screening of the movie “Jaws” in the pool area on Saturday, August 3rd.
Andrea Velasquez’s AVAquatics Class. Andrea held her popular summer exercises in the pool again this summer on week-end mornings. She calls the class “her hydro-revolution aquatic fitness class.” The charge is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.
Thanks to Bar and Pool Committees. As usual, the Bar Committee of Patty Gamba and Patty Schumann worked tirelessly this long summer to keep the bar running smoothly and to find new bartenders. Sincere thanks to them for all their unstinting efforts.
Similarly, the Pool Committee of Robert Moment, Diana Cassidy and Karin White handled the demanding duties of running the Pool Committee with skill and conscientiousness. They recruited the lifeguards, in a competitive “lifeguard market,” and the Board approved a pay raise for the lifeguards to keep them at Park Hill.
Summer Tennis
Nothing is bigger at the club every summer than its intense tennis program, both inter-club and intra-club. Thanks to the many members of the Tennis Committee, led by Patty Gamba, for all their hard work in caring for the beautiful red-clay courts between spring and fall; for organizing the holiday fun tournaments and refreshments, as well as the weekly Sunday round-robin events; and for organizing the more serious summer singles and doubles tournaments and the refreshments.
Everyone sends special thanks to Steve Spiegler for again this year taking on the scheduling, during the five summer months, of Monday-to-Friday morning competition for members with the flexibility to play at those times. Appreciation goes to MITL Co-Captains Patty Gamba and Cheryl Silvera for all the work involved in scheduling and running the competitions during summer weeks between the Park Hill ladies and their counterparts at other Westchester County social clubs.
Cheryl informed the newsletter: “The Park Hill women’s team continued to hold its own for the MITL season, maintaining its mid-tier ranking. But no one hosts better than we do with our spread and our warm welcome. Park Hill’s red-clay courts are always admired. It’s a long season, three months to be exact, so we earned our celebratory Round Robin and dinner hosted by Susie Moscou.”
Similarly, all the men on the WCTL team express special appreciation to Tom Westmoreland for all his hard work for the men who play on the team. Westy took a poll this summer asking whether the club’s participation next season should again be at two levels or revert to the one-team format of previous years. The overwhelming wish of the men’s team was to keep the two-level arrangement, in order to maximize participation of club members in the WCTL.
About the club’s WCTL Senior Circuit (over 50) results, Westy told the newsletter: “We finished in the middle of the pack in our division. All matches were very close and a few breaks here or there could have resulted in a challenge for the league championship. Many thanks to all that participated on all of the teams this season.”
Intraclub Tennis Tournament Results. The Men’s Singles Competitive Tournament began on Saturday, July 20th. In the hard-fought final, on Saturday, August 24th, Todd Geremia defended his crown against Tom Westmoreland, winning in three thrilling sets: 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
The Men’s and Women’s Doubles Competitive Tournaments began on Saturday, August 3rd. The round- robin format of the women’s doubles competition involved all the women’s teams playing all the other teams that day. The team of Wendy Bodner and Claire Miko successfully defended their title, defeating the runners-up, Lyrica Leon and Jennifer Ringstad.
In the men’s doubles, 20 players were organized into ten teams in a single-elimination format. The winners in the final, which was held on August 24th, were the club’s new men’s-doubles champions of Ron and Cameron Weiss, defeating the team of Robert Klein and Frank Petrilli.
The Mixed-Doubles Competitive Tournament, run by Patty and Westy, started on Saturday, September 7th, with 24 players on 12 teams. On Sunday, October 6th, Westy and Patty again defended their crown, this time against Meredith and Cameron Weiss, who hung in gallantly in two long, well-played sets.
Patty Cecere and Robyne Liberatore organized the Labor Day Fun Tournament for seven doubles teams, with Pat O’Hanlon and Vic Mason winning in the final over Jennifer Ringstad and Kevin Klein.
Cardio Tennis. Tennis pro Ola introduced cardio tennis this year on Saturdays as “a high-energy fitness activity” for players of all levels. The activity “combines the best features of tennis with cardiovascular exercise, delivering the ultimate, full body, calorie burning aerobic workout,” says Ola.
The Park Hill Players
The next production of the Park Hill Players will be “Rumors,” a farce by playwright Neil Simon. As always, the group urges all club members to become involved, whether as director, in the cast, or in a supporting role. Rehearsals are ongoing this fall. The group is especially interested in recruiting “understudies,” members of the cast who can step in if the regulars are indisposed or unavailable to appear in a performance, for any reason. Performances are scheduled to take place early in the new year -- by early to mid-January 2020.
Member News
The Seventh Yonkers Film Festival (YoFiFest), organized again by PHRC members Dave Steck and Patty Schumann, will run this year from November 1st through November 11th and screen over 200 films from around the United States and around the world. The YoFiFest schedule can be seen at its website address: www.yofifest.com.
The busy schedule of the Hudson River Museum, where PHRC member Masha Turchinsky is Director, offers art galleries; musical concerts; plays; historical presentations and tours; exhibitions; nature walks; enjoyable parties; and many educational events tailored for adults, for kids and for families. It’s difficult to capture in a few words everything the museum does, but its attractive website regularly updates members and visitors on its terrific program.
