Our New Courts
Our New Courts
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CLASSIC CLAY AT DUNFERMLINE“A Club cannot stand still”. So said a former secretary of our club fifty years ago succinctly expressing the club philosophy. In other words if a club does not move forward it inevitably slips backwards and may even disappear. Perhaps this philosophy is the reason why Dunfermline Tennis Club has survived so long. Following this principal Dunfermline Tennis and Bridge Club Ltd have just completed their latest major step in a progression from the original 2 grass courts in 1879 through the red blaes courts of 1924, the natural clay courts of 1949 and the more recent laying of 2 artificial grass courts. The three clay courts had served the club well but when the quarry which supplied the surface for topping up the courts closed and there became demand for more all year round play from members, possible new surfaces were explored. This project started in earnest in 2002 when a small development group took up the challenge to redevelop the courts and erect floodlights.
It has taken a long time to come to fruition. Four years on - the new courts, the first Classic Clay courts at a Club in Britain, have been laid and there are just a few minor items remaining to be done. It is a long saga. In 2002 the Club invited the Lawn Tennis Association technical advisers to visit the club and make recommendations for future development of the club facilities. Artificial clay seemed a good option for a club which had played on clay for many years and it is a recommended surface for club play, team play and for training youngsters. A group of club players visited Newark in January 2003 to try out two new Classic Clay courts which originated in Australian. These were the only two Classic Clay courts in Britain one a private court and the other a hotel court. Other surfaces were explored in Europe and Classic Clay courts tested out in Australia The group were impressed and it was put to the club that this would be the surface to replace the old clay courts. The application to sportscotland lottery for funding took a long time with the initial application not looked on favourably. However perhaps because we were able to demonstrate our involvement in the Community Tennis Partnership the full application was finally successful in December 2003 and £50,000 was awarded to the project. Then the next phase began to find the other funding for the project which would cost £140,000. Having been awarded the £50,000 grant from sportscotland Lottery funds were then obtained from many other sources namely the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, the Robertson Trust, the Dunfermline Carnegie Trust, Fife Council, West Fife Common Good Fund, East of Scotland L.T.A., a Loan from the Lawn Tennis Association and Club Funds. The Club held fund raising events, received donations from members and members volunteered to carry out some of the work. This took time but by autumn 2004 enough funds were available to enable the project to go ahead. However there was to be a problem in that the chosen contractor who was the sole agent for Classic Clay in Britain pulled out of their arrangement with Grassman, the Australian manufacturers at about that time. The Club were disappointed and contacted the Australian company who immediately agreed to supply the courts direct at the same price as the original quote and Dunfermline would become their showpiece in Britain for Classic Clay courts. This arrangement was acceptable to the funding partners and the Lottery and LTA gave the go ahead for the project to start in June 2005. It was all systems go then. A new project Management Team was formed with six club members with relevant skills volunteering to manage the actual work and co-ordination of the project. There were three separate contractors involved one for the floodlighting, one to lay baseworks and one to supply and lay the Classic Clay surface. Work on the lighting started in September 2005 followed by the removal of the old court surface and the laying of the porous tarmac. The carpet part of the Classic Clay arrived at Grangemouth in October and had to be cleared by customs in a complicated process which meant it did not arrive at the Club until 3rd November. The infill top surface arrived unexpectedly from France on 2nd November. The club was not equipped with a forklift to unload the container or the two lorries but the Project Co-ordinator managed to persuade local hauliers at short notice to come to their aid. The Australian company who had intended to send their installers over decided to send three men from their French contractors instead. They spent eight days in Dunfermline and managed to lay one court before returning to France. They did not like the Scottish climate, it was too damp and very cold unlike France. That one court was played on throughout the winter using the new extremely effective floodlights.
Eventually after a visit from the Managing Director of the Australian company it was decided that a local contractor should lay the other two courts on their behalf so that the Club would have all three Classic Clay courts ready by the start of the league match season in mid-April. This was achieved and the courts have been “played in” and are playing really well and a great asset to the club facilities. Most visiting teams have been impressed. The project has had a cosmopolitan flavour from the start with the lighting contractors, Luminance Pro Lighting Systems from the south of England, the Classic Clay carpet manufactured in and shipped from Australia by Grassman, the clay infill was sent from France from Sifraco, the contractors for the baseworks were ERDC from Edinburgh. The installation of the Classic Clay was carried out initially by a team from France and completed by ERDC. The unloading of materials from containers was carried out by Purvis Plant Hire of Lochgelly and the project management and site clearance by Dunfermline club members. The club welcomes visitors interested in trying the new Classic Clay surface.
Article written for
Scottish Tennis magazine by Pat Reid, | |||||||||
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