Anybody who has visited the club in the last few weeks might have noticed a spot of work has been going on!

A significant amount of work has gone on to boost the electrical supply to enable the club to put floodlights on court 2. Firstly, the club’s interesting wiring had to be investigated and a fair bit of work done to bring it up to the standard needed before we were allowed to beef up the supply to 3-phase. A new fuse box had to installed along with a new meter and a significant amount of subterranean cabling – hence the big hole in the drive that some of you may have noticed! British Gas have so far been the only one of several contractors who didn’t complete on time. Happily the hole is now filled in and it did not  not affect the actual operation of the floodlights.

Returning the hall floor to its former glory.

Court 2 finally floodlit

The floodlight contractors have been back to install new heads on the pillars around court 2 and install new control boxes so that we can actually switch off the lights at the end of play with some confidence.

For anybody who doesn’t know, Gymboree has ended its association with the club and we wish them all the best in their new venue. The hall how now been returned, which are for the most part much easier on the eye. The hall now looks much cleaner, brighter and bigger. In addition, a team of club members have also painted all doors, window-frames and cupboards in the hall to match; emptied the “gents’ changing room” and put its contents into the original storage area; re-painted the gents’ changing room and boarded out and recovered the floor. Whilst all this activity has been going on, all male members of the club will be glad to know, the gents toilets has also been upgraded to a similar standard to the ladies, including extending the time the light will stay on without any movement so that anybody using the shower is not suddenly plunged into pitch darkness! Any ladies who have been surprised to find their facilities invaded by the opposite sex during the summer now know why.

The floors in the hall and bar have also been sanded and re-sealed. It’s some years now since this was last done and the hall floor particularly is showing signs of fatigue. A nice shiny new finish should really make the hall look lovely again in time for the club party at the end of September – put 24rd September in your diaries if you haven’t already.

It’s a real tribute to those who organised and completed all the works that they have been achieved with so little impact on the real business of the club – playing tennis. It may have looked calm on the surface, but the swan’s legs had nothing on this one!