It was 14 years ago when tennis was last played on the three grass courts at Croydon Recreation Ground in Beckenham and since then the ground has been left to waste. Adjacent to these three grass courts were 6 poorly maintained tarmac courts.
In the period from 2002 to now The Parklangley Club has completely refurbished the six courts by rebuilding two completely and resurfacing 4 others. These courts are now of club standard.
The six courts were so heavily used and the demand was so great through the Parklangley ‘Tennis for free’ scheme that it was clear we needed more courts at the site.
A feasibility study was carried out to convert the three old grass courts into hard courts. These grass courts were on three levels so retaining walls would also be necessary.
An application for funding was made to Mayor of London’s facility fund and also to the LTA facilities department. Both these applications were successful.
The tender was won by Trevor May and work began at the beginning of February 2012. Snow covered the ground the week before but after that there was perfect weather. The work was completed by the end of March but the weather turned so the painting could not be carried out until 21st May and the first day of use was 26th May 2012.
We decided to turn one of the new courts into mini tennis red courts - so now we have an additional 2 full size courts and 4 mini tennis red courts.
The vista from one end to another is fabulous and seeing tennis played on 8 tennis courts and 4 mini tennis red courts in a row is a wonderful and rewarding sight.
Tony Beddoe