Flood Lights
After 3 years of winning over the village, gaining planning permission, choosing a contractor and finding the funding, last Thursday we agreed on the dates for the floodlight installation. We are now ready to go!
The following 3 paragraphs summarise the activities that are scheduled to take place:
- Trees - (Gareth Bray) Some pollarding of a single field maple where it encroaches upon the tennis courts. Resultant bark chips to be spread in the hedge rows. This will be noisy for a few hours. Timescale: by September.
- Civil works - (Sports Lighting) 3 days of trench and pillar base digging to facilitate electric ducting back to the sports pavilion and 1 metre cube foundations for the lighting columns. Concrete filling of holes and re-laying of the surfaces over the ducting trenches. No tennis will be playable during this work and there will be potentially minor disruption to dog walkers around the courts. All spoil to be skipped and taken away. Likely start date: 16 September.
- Column and lighting installation - (Sports Lighting) 1 day of work. We will need half of the car park closed to the public to manoeuvre the lighting columns. Again, no tennis played during that day and possible disruption for dog walkers immediately around the courts. Estimated installation date: week beginning 7 October.
The precise dates will be influenced by weather, but hopefully the work will take place in the weeks currently designated. We will not be able to use the courts for the 4 days on which work is being carried out, and whilst the contractors will do their best, we are going to have some mess to deal with until it all settles back down.
The Club has decided that the use of floodlighting by club members will be included in the membership fee you have already paid for this year. We will review the costs over the winter and communicate our thoughts on the future costings next year.
Further instructions on security and use of the lights will follow, but one clear rule will be that they go off automatically at 10pm.
This is a very exciting development for the club and a very nerve-racking few months until they are up and running! Your committee hope that you will all enjoy the experience of playing ‘under lights.’
Jeremy Hamer, Club Chairman