After a century of using clay courts that were originally created using clay from termite mounds, the club will launch two brand new synthetic grass courts tomorrow (Saturday). 

The resurfacing of the courts comes just in time for the club’s new competition which will start on Tuesday.

And to celebrate the new courts the club will host a grand opening tomorrow from 2pm. 

Club treasurer Di Bacon said she was ecstatic with the launch of the new courts after an extensive history on the clay. 

“There used to be three clay courts,” Bacon said. 

“The third is now car park!”

Bacon said the clay courts had been “fun to play on” and were exceptionally well-kept by volunteers, but she was also excited to see the new synthetic courts go in. 

Bacon said the courts had been maintained by Jeff Jamieson for a long time. 

“Jeff kept them well maintained for many years. Hopefully he’ll be well enough to come [tomorrow],” she said. 

Bacon said the biggest factor in the club’s push to get the new synthetic surface had been the weather. 

“The weather played havoc. 

“Sometimes after the rain the courts took a long time to dry off enough to play on them again. 

“[That’s why we] started applying for funding to resurface with synthetic grass - we were only able to use the courts for half the year the majority of the time,” she said. 

Bacon said a discussion between herself and ex-president of the club Patricia (Trish) McCredie had started the ball rolling on replacing the courts back in 2009. 

“Trish contacted council about funding to improve the courts.”

Bacon said there had been no positive result from the letter, so the club proceeded with funding applications in 2011. 

“[I] applied in 2011, filling out the proper funding forms ... finally approval was granted for the synthetic grass,” Bacon said. 

However, the club found out later, that to install the new courts it would need to upgrade lights and retaining walls. 

“I reapplied in September 2011 and to my surprise, they granted that too!”

Meanwhile, club secretary Cassy Dowd said the club had been very busy with the refurbishments and replacing the surface. 

Dowd said the club is now ready to open the new courts to the public and is very excited to host the grand opening tomorrow. 

“They are looking great and the club is inviting the local community to attend the courts official opening 

at 2pm.” 

Dowd said she was urging everyone to head along and join the club in celebrating the new upgrades. 

“We welcome people to come down to have a look at our great new facilities and enjoy a light afternoon tea,” she said. 

At the opening, there will be exhibition games old photos and slideshows of the upgrades.