Our old dugout on the bottom courts suffered severely in the storms of 2022 and was in dire need of replacement.  Tentative plans were made, but it wasn't until Jonny Rezai came up with a series of detailed plans that real progress was made.  Eventually, a design was agreed upon, and work began on Friday 28th July 2023.

Jonny, in consultation with the main building team of Trevor Herron and Colin Bentham, hired a mini digger and a mini dump truck to begin the task of removing tonnes of earth from the site once the old dugout structure had been removed and set aside for future refurbishment and reinstallation next to the top courts.  Work on the first weekend was arduous, involving numerous trips to the side of the court to dump the excavated soil and clay.

As the week progressed the foundations began to take shape, and posts were embedded in the base.  Many people helped during the week, including Albert and Helen Ball, Barry Chung, Bill Dunn, Graham Fewell and his son Jake, Elizabeth Dodds and Steve Watkins, as you might be able to detect in the accompanying photo collage.

The structure began to take shape, with paving meticulously laid, waterproof membrane installed, and the back wall of the dugout built up.  Jonny has spent long hours, sacrificing his holiday time and working well into the evenings, to keep things going and get to where we are now, with the skeleton of the structure now in place.

More help will be required to finish things off, especially on Saturday 19th August, the hope being that everything is completed by President's Day on Sunday 27th August.