Day 20 - Initial work complete!

The two photographs show the people from Fosse Contracts applying the finishing touches to the courts and about to replace the fencing from where the heavy vehicles accessed the courts. Temporary lines have been applied to the courts which means that they are available for social play (once the nets have been set up!). The committee need to consider whether the lines are good enough for match play.

The next stage is for the floodlights to be erected in January and then the courts to be painted and then permanent lines marked out when the days are drier and warmer in the spring.

Day 18 - Final surface

Work continues on the top surface layer and should be complete by the end of this week or at the beginning of next week. Temporary lines will then be painted for the winter period. Work will commence on installation of the pylons and floodlights early
in the new year.

Day 15 First top surface laid

Work has continued all week on the tarmac surface. It is estimated that well over 200 tons of tarmac will have been laid. The first top layer strip has been added in the Court 3 area and it is anticipated that the remaining work on the top surface will be completed next week.

Here are some pictures of the work in progress

Day 12 - Laying the tarmac

Here are a couple of photographs of the start of laying the coarse lower tarmac, which is delivered in 20 ton lots (2 loads will be spread today) at high temperatures. The job will take 2-3 days to complete. A decision will then be made whether to lay the finer top layer which has to be laid at a temperature of 170deg C and this depends upon the weather to ensure that it lays correctly.

Day 10 - Preparing for the tarmac

As more men & vehicles can be seen working on the courts, the new outer edging strips have been laid down and the foundations for the floodlight pylons. The courts will be brought up to the new level of the top of the edging strips. It is expected that the tarmac will be laid on Tuesday 13th November

Day 7 - Preparation for the heavy work

These two pictures show the preparation for the heavy machinery that will be used to lay firstly the bitument layer and then the tarmac.

The track is laid upon a sheeting that will allow the surface to breathe underneath, but will protect the cricket outfield as much as possible

Day 5 - Laying the Ducting

As you will see from the pictures, the next job is to channel the courts to insert the ducting that will carry the power to the floodlights that will be in the centre of the courts.

The ducting is plastic pipework, that can be seen in the last picture as it emerges on the cricket pitch side of the courts

Day 3

Our two workers have managed to drill 1000 holes in the surface of the existing surface and then have the unenviable task of filling each hole with some fine pebbles. These holes will act as a drain for water that flows through the tarmac.

Once this job has been completed, they intend to drill/dig trenches for the floodlight ducting.

After that, a layer of bitumen will be set down before the tarmac is placed above this. As the traditional green and red paint cannot be painted onto tarmac until the temperatures and moisture in the air are right, the courts will then be painted white on a temporary basis. The full painting will take place in March/April 2008.

Work starts

Following the final third team mens match against Lutterworth on Sunday, Fosse Contracts moved in on Monday 29th October to commence work. The initial work is to drill holes at 1 metre intervals over all the courts. As you can see, the nets and posts have been removed.

More photos as work progresses.

Background to Tennis Regeneration

A tennis club has been in existence at Holt Drive since the 1930's, originally as Fisons Sports & Social Club, but more recently as Loughborough Greenfields, a club owned by it's members after it was purchased from Fisons in 1999. As often happens with clubs that are run by volunteers, the success of the club and membership numbers has risen and fallen over the years, but more recently, driven by active members, notably Steve & Fran Nicolaidis but assisted by people such as John & Kath Sweet, Paul Warren, Danny Gillett and Linda Lucas, the club has gone from strength to strength. Membership numbers have increased, there is now rapidly-growing junior and "Mini" tennis and 2 of the 3 men's teams won their divisional titles in the 2007 summer Leicestershire LTA league.

In November 2007, the tennis AGM, chaired by Geoff Brookes, agreed that the club should create a business plan and apply for funds to re-surface the tennis courts and to install floodlights in order that the membership numbers could increase even further by extending the hours when tennis could be played. The tennis committee, with the help of the main club committee and with the backing of the LTA now have a £23,550 grant and an interest-free loan of £35,000 for the project which has a total cost of £78,000 (the balance from Charnwood Borough Council, the main club and tennis funds). The project started on 29 October after the application for funds was submitted in July 2007.