Open day at Greenfields

On June 29th, Greenfields opened it's doors to the public and attracted around 400 visitors for the day, who were encouraged to try a sport, listen to the Loughborough Brass band or watch demonstrations and dance routines. There was also a barbeque all day and various stalls in the neighbouring field.

Jayant Mistry gave a demonstration of wheelchair tennis and joined in a doubles game

Here are some photographs

COURTS NOW AVAILABLE!

This will be the last post to this blog as the project has now been completed and the courts are available to play after the recent painting. Please will all players ensure that they wear the correct tennis footwear and ask anyone who is making black scuff marks on the courts to stop playing until they have the correct shoes. If the weather becomes especially hot during this summer and the courts start to soften, then play must be stopped immediately top prevent damage to the courts.

Here are the first players James & Alexander receiving coaching from Dave on the new courts.

Painting to complete on time!

The courts have been painted and the lines are virtually complete. Although they may feel and look dry, no play is possible until instructed otherwise. With the warm weather, you have a drying effect, but also the current high temperatures may make the paint "sweat".

Do not use the courts until instructed.

Here are some photos.

Painting the courts

Here are some photos of work in progress, the two colours going on first before the lines are painted. To reiterate, play is not possible (however dry the courts might seem) until Tuesday evening 13th May and this assumes that there is no rain over the next couple of days. The weather remains fine, so we expect a good job to be completed on time.

COURT PAINTING HAS BEGUN TUES 6 MAY

PLEASE NOTE THAT FOSSE CONTRACTS HAVE COMMENCED WORK ON PAINTING THE COURTS TODAY TUESDAY 6 MAY. THE COURTS CANNOT NOW BE USED UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT 13TH MAY, AND THIS ASSUMES THAT THERE IS NO RAIN DURING THE PAINTING PROCESS.
PLEASE KEEP AN EYE ON THIS BLOG FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND THE ODD PHOTO.

Rain stops paint

Even though it is only raining lightly, this has prevented the start of painting, probably by 24 hours at least, so the courts should be free for tonight Wed 2nd April.
If the work starts and then it rains for a couple of days, this may prolong the period of time when the courts are unavailable for play.
Please keep referring to this blog for further information.

Courts to be painted this week!

Assuming that the weather stays as predicted, it is planned that Fosse Contracts will start painting the tennis courts and marking out lines on Wednesday 2nd April. If the weather is too cold or too wet, the work may be put back a day or two.
If the work does start, then it will take 3-4 days to complete and will require a further 3-4 days to dry before they can be used.
All of this is subject to the weather.
We will advise everyone about any postponed events as information becomes available and we will keep the information up to date on this Blog.

Floodlights completed & ready for use

The new floodlights are now ready for use. The courts will be painted sometime during the next 6 weeks as the weather improves, but until then the courts are playable using the temporary lines already painted.

The floodlit sessions will be as follows:

Mon Coaching - please see the e-mail from Steve on Adult coaching dated 11 Feb

Tues Ladies play 18.30 to 20.00, Mens 1st team 20.00 to 22.00.

Please note that this will be from end March when the indoor Mens 1st team play ceases. The ladies play times may change during Feb/Mar. Fran to confirm.

Wed Club Night

Thur Mens 2nd/3rd team play. Sean & Ian to confirm when this commences

Fri Club Night

Please note that the above are being organised by the current level of players and interest. If the profile of the interest changes, for instance as more juniors or ladies wish to play, it will be adjusted accordingly.

A set of rules for using the floodlights are posted in the club house and a copy will be circulated by e-mail. Tokens will cost £2 per half hour per court, which is the LTA recommendation. They are available from the bar or from Steve Nicolaidis. A red light comes on for the indivdual court where there is 5 mins before the time runs out. It is important that tokens are added if play is to continue on that court. If the lights extinguish, they take 10-15 mins to get back to power and the life of the bulbs will shorten as a result.

We urge all members to come down to the club and use this new facility

Some of the floodlights installed

Week two of the floodlight installation proved to be tricky with all the high winds.

However, over half of the lights have been installed and here are a couple of photos.

Work starts on floodlights

The materials were delivered on time on 21st January and work has commenced on installing the floodlight pylons and the necessary cables. These photographs show how the pylons and cables are being installed outside the fence perimeter. The only floodlight pylons that will be situated inside the fence will be those next to the club house and the two central lights. As said before, the work is expected to be completed by 8 February and the Tennis committee is meeting on 4 Feb to decide on how to manage the calendar, payments and booking procedures.

LTA Tennis Awards Night

On 10th January, the Awards function for Leicestershire Tennis took place in the Underwood Suite at Welford Road. As you know, we were successful in winning both the Mens Summer Leagues Divisions 3B and 5A as well as the Winter Doubles Div 3.

Here is a shot of Mark Cox making the presentation to team captains Mark Baker, Ian South and Steve Nicolaidis.

Update on timing for Floodlights

There has been a slight delay due to the contractors writing off their main delivery truck, luckily without injury! The plan is for the floodlights work to commence on 21 January with a completion date of 8th February. Once complete, we will let you know when the courts are available to start playing floodlit tennis.