Following last week's committee meeting your views are requested on what should be the priority for DLTC's court maintenance programme, as some significant works are going to be required on courts 1,2,4 and 5/6/7 in the near future.

At present DLTC has the two court surfaces for members to use, hard and astro, a possible future option is going to be claytex. This is a synthetic clay court surface, it is not a real clay surface. It is similar to astro in many respects so softer on the joints, it gives a softer bounce then a hard court, however, not as fast as an astro and because of these qualities this therefore induces longer rallies.

THE FACTS

Court 1 - Will require re-levelling when next replaced. So in effect, removal of the current carpet which would get dumped, as you cannot reuse it and then a new tarmac layer would go down to make it 100% level. Then either keep the court as a hard court, or then replace with another carpet (astro) or claytex carpet (artificial clay). This is in effect, a double court project. Of note: all of the tennis companies who have visited our site have said that although the venue of site 1 is idyllic, it is not the most conducive place to have a tennis carpet court due to the amount of moisture in the air due to the lake and the stream which encourages moss growth and the closeness of the trees.

Court 2 - Will require re-levelling with a new tarmac layer due to historic subsidence issues at the net, so in effect, a like for like hard court. This courts fencing is the only court left with its original fence and this also needs replacing. The court will then get re-painted with our green on green colours.

Court 3 - When Court 2 is re-painted, we would also look to re-paint Court 3. The surface of the court is fine, but with the UV, the outside weather conditions and general wear and tear, the paint doesn't last forever.

Court 4 - The carpet has rolled over and become flat, the play is fast and can be unsafe during hot periods, so we would like to replace this surface with a fresh one, all options are available, i.e. hard, carpet astro and claytex.

Courts 5/6/7 - We are told that these courts have around 18 months to 2 years left of use if their current usage rate isn't changed, hence why we place single league matches on courts 6/7 to reduce the wear and tear on court 5. Your committee and coaching team are in the process of looking at some radical plans to have them replaced with three claytex carpet courts and under a three court bubble for up to 6 months of the year. This work is in the early stages, we will be working closely with the LTA on how we can develop this further. This idea would bring some fundamental changes to the aspect of our club being a 'private members club', as we would for some periods of the week look to open our doors to the community to effectively be a 'pay-as-you-play' venue, in order to afford this project. Other tennis clubs have also implemented this in order to secure funding.

In summary, we cannot do everything now due to the cost £, our preferred option is to look at doing the work to Court 2 (which is the priority!) next year and then explore whether funds would also allow to replace Court 4 within the same membership year due to it being our show court, but with what surface?

HAVE YOUR SAY

We really do need to hear from you and gauge your feelings.
Please can you respond to the Clubs Hon. Secretary Margaret Green by email; margaretfgreen@yahoo.co.uk