Tennis Courts plan are just ace

TENNIS fans will love visiting St John's School in Marlborough when new courts costing £250,000 come into service.

Courts were included in original plans for the school, which moved to a new building on the Orchard Road site in December 2009, but had to be put on the back burner because money ran out.

Last Friday head teacher Patrick Hazlewood said work will start on Monday to construct six new courts, which are expected to be open for use in early June, just before the Wimbledon fortnight.

The courts will be on land between the school and the new housing development on the site of the old St John's Upper School.

They are costing the school £250,000, which has been raised through fundraising activities and donations from St John's Foundation Trust and the St John's Family and Friends Association.

Dr Hazlewood thanked parents at the school for their support.

He said: "The tennis courts will be an enormous benefit to students at St John's, and we will also be making them available for use by community groups during evenings, weekends and school holidays, giving a real boost to the provision of sports facilities in the town.

"My huge thanks to parents and friends of St John's who have donated money to help us achieve this project.

 "I am also very grateful to St John's Family and Friends Association who have raised £15,000 towards the project, including £10,000 for additional student lockers which will be installed over the coming weeks."

It was originally hoped the tennis courts would be completed at the same time as the new school, but this proved impossible.

The school's business director Barry Worth said: "Building the new St John's has been an expensive project, achieved without the backing of any central government funding.

"We paid for the new £26,500,000 building through a combination of land sale, fundraising, and a loan to cover the final cost of furniture and IT. The money we initially set aside for the Phase 2 project to complete the tennis and netball courts and artificial grass pitch was eroded when the new building came in 1.5 per cent (£500,000) over budget".

The courts are being built by McArdle Sport Tec of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, which aims to complete the project in two months.

The next phase of building includes an all-weather pitch.

Fundraising continues for the £300,000 still required.