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Update

COVID-19

The Government announced a new national lockdown for England between Thursday 5th November and Wednesday 2nd December. Despite the LTA and tennis community making a strong case to the Government, tennis activity in England is not permitted for the duration of the national lockdown, except tennis activity in schools, colleges and other educational establishments as part of education and elite tennis. This means our Club courts are currently closed.

We hope that tennis at our Club will resume as soon as possible after the 2 December but we will wait for LTA guidance to be issued before making any announcement to our members. The Management Committee is responsible for members’ safety when using our courts and must complete a risk assessment before play is allowed to resume.

Under tier 3 restrictions prior to the latest national lockdown, tennis on outside courts was permitted. Therefore, we remain hopeful that singles, doubles and coaching will resume after 2 December.

Please remember, if you are coming to our courts, you should carry out a pre-attendance self-assessment for any COVID19 symptoms using the information on the NHS website before leaving home. If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), get a test as soon as possible and stay at home until you get the result.

Our venue is displaying the official QR code poster for members to scan with the NHS app, please use it.

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NEW COURTS
During these difficult and challenging times, we are delighted to announce that work on our new courts will commence on 11th January 2021. The construction work will run for six weeks until 19th February, weather permitting. The court colouring will be undertaken during the warmer weather at the end of April or early May.
Our courts will be closed from 21st January until the temporary line markings are laid. We may have to be flexible on dates. To enable coaching and our open and practice sessions to continue over the period our own courts are not available, we are looking at options for temporary court hire.

Our lead court construction contractor is SportsCourts UK Limited and the floodlighting is being installed by Highlights Floodlighting Limited. We have been very impressed by both companies’ enthusiasm for our project. 
The work we have commissioned includes:

  • Two new courts, one with LED floodlights

  • Replacing all the existing metal halide lamps with LED lamps, including new, shorter masts

  • A new digital entrance gate 

  • New, improved access and ramp to the courts 

  • Cutting the veranda back in front of the Club House

  • Booking and floodlights controlled through ClubSpark

The budget is £176k and the Club is investing £53k of its own funds. We will always be grateful to our external funders:

  • Vale of White Horse District Council

  • FCC Communities Foundation

  • Sport England

  • Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor Parish Council

  • KBS News

The only real risk to our project timetable, excluding the weather, relates to the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on the supply chain, particularly the floodlight lamps which are manufactured in Spain. We are at contract stage and deposits will be paid this week.

CLUB HOUSEOur Clubhouse is having a bit of a makeover, thanks to Charlie Rogers, Doug Rivers and his team.The work started with Charlie replacing a few broken tiles and the roof now looks as good as new, having been pressure washed.Doug has been leading a team of willing volunteers, redecorating the outside of the Club House. Under Doug’s strict supervision, having replaced some of the rotten wood and applied a change of colour, the transformation is nearly complete.A big thank you to Doug, Charlie, Bob, Pete, Phil, and Peter. We apologise in advance if anyone has been left out.

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RE-ARRANGED LEAGUE FIXTURES
We are currently hoping that the league competition will resume in the new year. Changes to league fixtures will be communicated either on our website, via the ‘League Fixtures and Availability’ form, or by the relevant captains - please keep an eye out. Justine has been busy liaising with clubs to rearrange fixtures during the period our courts will be closed for construction work. We are assuming league competition will resume in the new year.

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2021 TENNIS ACTIVITIES
Four courts opens up options for a wide range of new tennis related activities across seven days. Rachael Moon, our secretary, is leading this exciting piece of work for the Committee and would love to hear any ideas you may have. Please feel free to email her at kbstennisclub@gmail.com.

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MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
We are always working to develop our tennis offering as well as growing our membership and making sure we communicate effectively. This is key to ensuring we have a vibrant and sustainable tennis club at the heart of our community. Not surprisingly, this work has stalled a bit over 2020 but will be developed further over the next couple of months by Alun Owen and Rachael Moon, and shared with you in the new year. We are hopeful that 2021 will be an exciting and successful year for the club!
 

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