The construction of the indoor courts will mean that we will be operating with 5 courts fewer than normal over the busy summer months. This has implications both for members being able to get a court at peak times and also for accommodating our coaching programme.

Following discussion at tennis and management committees it was agreed that an advance court booking procedure should be introduced. This will help members by ensuring that they know they have a court booked for play when they come to the club and avoid the frustration of turning up and not being able to get a court. The squash court bookings have been operating successfully in this way for some time.

We have also adapted our group coaching programme so that any necessary coaching use of artificial grass courts will have minimal impact on members. Note that between 3:30 and 6:30pm many of the artificial grass courts will be used for group coaching leaving only two or three available for members (none on Thursdays). However, this should not have much impact on members as there is little adult use at these times anyway.

We will need to accommodate some coaching on Saturday mornings on the artificial grass courts (we will also be using three courts at Peter Symonds College for the coaching programme and for junior team matches) and members cooperation is appreciated.

Outside of these times there may be odd occasions where coaching will need to take place on artificial grass courts. This will be managed as carefully as possible and members' cooperation and understanding will be appreciated.

The advance booking procedure will start from 8:30 AM Friday 23 April when we will be taking bookings for the following Friday.

How to Book

Tennis Court Booking Rules are available below for reference, but here are some quick key points on court bookings

Tennis Court Booking Rules april 2010

and here are some quick key points on court bookings

• You can book up to 7 days ahead either in person or by phone - bookings open at 8:30am each day

• 90 minute slots are bookable in the mornings, at all other times bookings are for one hour

• If you are not going to use a booking, please call to cancel; at least 24 hours notice is required.

• No shows and late cancellations will be monitored

• It is not allowed to advance book consecutive hours under different names so that the same group of players can play longer

• You can remain on court after your booking time has ended if no-one is using the court after you

• Alternatively, within 5 minutes of the booking about to finish, players can rebook the court to ensure that they have a full further hour if no one is waiting to use it. (for 1 hour bookings only - 90 min bookings are not rebookable)

• If no-one has turned up for a pre-booked court by 10 minutes after it was due to start, the court may be allocated to someone else. (the original booking will be recorded as a no show)

We hope members will understand the need for advance bookings and will be willing to adapt their playing times accordingly.

Thank You

Billy Kerr