Tennis Committee report
From Tennis Committee Chair, Andrea Butland
The new tennis committee met on 26th July. Andrea Butland is the chair, Chris Nelson is the Board member, Thomas Steuken is the Men’s Captain and Liz Wilmot, and Esther Curtis are joint Ladies’ Captains. The other members are Lee Adams, Colin Frensham, Clare Orman and Lindsay Stewart.
We are all very happy to discuss any club tennis matters with members at any time and to bring a matter to the whole committee if needed. Please talk to us, or to Darren the club manager or Steve Worsley the tennis manager.
Our immediate priority is the development of additional all-weather floodlit courts, with the choice of surface being decided by members. It’s great that we have a thriving membership, but that does puts pressure on court availability. The Board has sent a provisional planning proposal to Cheltenham Borough Council.
In the meantime, as approved at the recent AGM, we will be re-surfacing courts 12 and 13 in the autumn. These are the least popular courts for bookings, so a new and better surface should increase their use.
Court 12 will be synthetic clay, the same as 8-11, and court 13 will be astroturf. A group of members who regularly play on astroturf visited clubs in Birmingham last week to test the latest types of surface. We selected a surface that will play very like 14-17 and should “settle” quickly. This will be used for court 13, and if members like it, it could be used for any additional courts in the future.
There is a general move towards LED lighting for new floodlit courts. Moreton Tennis Club has recently installed these, and we plan to have a test visit there in the autumn. If any member who regularly plays under lights would like to come, please let Andrea, Lindsay or Darren know.