portfolio / Aston Park Tennis Club, Buckinghamshire

F1 Driver Mark Webber Opens Refurbished tennis courts constructed by ETC Sports

Special guest of honour, Formula One Driver Mark Webber recently opened the newly refurbished tennis court installation at Aston Park Lawn Tennis Club in Aston Clinton, his Buckinghamshire hometown. Webber showed off a few forehands on the tennis court surfacing in a knockabout with three club members, before taking welcome shelter from the pouring rain to sign autographs.

Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund underwrites tennis court repairs

The tennis court construction came after Aston Park Tennis Club secured Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund. The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million “Places People Play” legacy programme that works to bring the pride of the Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Games.

Aston Park Tennis Club received a generous £50,000 from the Inspired Facilities Fund and put the cash towards improving their facilities and attracting new members by refurbishing their tennis court installations, installing floodlights and also building a brand new netball court.

The three newly reconstructed floodlit tennis courts, together with a viewing area for spectators, will give the club a huge boost by allowing them to offer the village modern, attractive tennis courts and provide for a bigger demand by extending the hours of play. The new netball/tennis facility or Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) will also bring a new game to Aston Park Tennis Club, opening the doors to a host of new members.

The club’s chairman, Barbara Wilkinson said everyone was extremely grateful for the funding and was quoted in the Bucks Herald as saying, “With the upgrading of our facilities to include a floodlit netball court we will be introducing a new sport to the village as well as offering an expanded tennis programme.”

ETC Sports brought in as winning contractors to conduct the tennis court repairs

Aston Park Tennis Club put the job out to tender through consulting company Sports Facility Planning & Design, who were employed on behalf of the club to find the right contractor for this flagship project. After submitting a bid last September, tennis court contractors ETC Sports were only too pleased to win the tender to perform the tennis courts repairs by constructing porous asphalt tennis courts and delivering extended playing time through the installation of floodlights.

New tennis court surfaces for Aston Park

As experienced tennis court installers, ETC Sports completed the project to reconstruct three porous asphalt tennis courts, provide new fencing and create a viewing area for spectators in under three months. One of the three court surfaces was created as a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) to provide dual use as both a tennis, and a netball court for the members of the Tennis Club.

Just days before Christmas, the tennis court installers were ready for the tennis court surfaces to be sprayed – however this had to be scheduled for the springtime when the right spraying conditions were in place. So ETC Sports put temporary line markings on the tennis courts so that members of Aston Park Tennis Club could continue to play winter tennis whilst waiting for the courts to be colour sprayed.

Colour spraying adds the final touch on tennis court surface

The final touch was added to the tennis court surfaces when the colour sprayers completed the job this spring, so now the courts are resplendent in their proper colours.

Barbara Wilkinson, the clubs secretary, said ”Despite our project manager and ETC themselves being sceptical about our colour choice for the courts, everyone now agrees that the new facility looks stunning. We recently hosted the preliminary rounds of a junior Tennis Europe tournament and even the visitors from abroad were impressed. We have noted that the courts dry off quickly after rain and even when wet the surface feels secure.”

Boost your club membership with refurbished tennis courts

Refurbishing tennis courts may at first sound like a costly exercise, but the long term benefits are sure to boost membership numbers through providing extended playing hours and increased enjoyment of the game and facilities.

What’s more, the time to do it has never been better as the Inspired Facilities Fund has been set up specifically to make it easier for local community and volunteer groups to refurbish tennis courts as well as improving other sports facilities.

For more information on applying for funding from the Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund, visit www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities/

For more information on what we do, and how ETC Sports can help you update your tennis courts, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Client Details

Aston Park Lawn Tennis Club Aston Clinton Park London Road Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire HP22 5HL Website: www.astonparktennis.co.uk

Contract Details

Description: Refurbishment of Three All Weather Porous Asphalt Tennis Courts with Fencing Contract Value: £72,616.00 Duration of Works: 8weeks Year Completed: 2012