Dear Members,

As you all know, attracting and retaining membership is a constant challenge for all tennis clubs and our club is no exception. We work very hard on our Open days and promoting ourselves in the local community but we must invest in new facilities to be a desirable club to join.

With our five outdoor hard courts approaching the end of their playing life, this is a perfect chance for us to take a new direction with our facilities and change our outdoor court surface. There are a variety of different resurfacing options available to us and a different type of court would not only provide a welcome variety in speed of play but also help us stand out from the crowd. We hope that a different court surface may be the key to getting new feet through the door and onto the court.

For the past 18 months myself and a sub-committee made up of: Brian Parker; Jane Warner; Simon Corbishley; Jon Guppy and Pamela Collins have been exploring all the new court surfaces available. We have spent many hours playing tennis at other clubs and meeting with various manufacturers to help us decide on the best surface for our club, members and coaching staff, one that would suit all ages and abilities.

We are pleased to announce that we will be resurfacing Courts 3 & 4 in Tiger Turf Clay Court Pro, contracted through Chiltern Sports Contractors. The surface is designed to replicate a clay court both in appearance and in playing characteristics with a consistent ball bounce.  As well as providing a variety of surface, Tiger Turf also has less impact on players’ joints and will be both less slippery than other surfaces when it rains and also playable when there is a frost. This court surface also has a longer life span than a traditional hard court and should last (if maintained correctly) for 15-20 years, as opposed to a hard court that has an eight year life span. This exciting change should happen within the next 8-10 weeks.

These new courts will need to be dragged after play in order to ensure the longevity of the courts. Sweeps and brushes will be provided and we will help everyone to get into the habit. It should only take five minutes after play.  The courts will also take a few months to settle down and for all the clay to imbed into the carpet. So please be patient through the first few months.

When the courts are finished we will have an official opening ceremony and will let you know the exact date as soon as possible!

We are also investing in our outdoor floodlights with an upgrade and service which will  take place on 18/19th October. This will brighten up the outdoor lights considerably; I’m sure you’ll notice the difference.

All this comes at a price and although we are lucky enough not to have to borrow any money to complete these works we will continue to fund raise as our goal is to upgrade all outdoor courts by 2020.

I hope you will enjoy this fantastic new enhancement to our club.

Many thanks on behalf of myself and the committee,

Sarah McCormick

Chair @ Pershore Tennis Centre