Upgrading our facilities

Whilst the club remains closed due to the national lockdown, we thought all members might like to hear that we are taking advantage of the closure time to press ahead with a number of investments in the club's facilities.

In recent weeks, courts 4 and 5 have had modern FCU (fan convector unit) heaters installed to replace the ageing heaters on these courts. These heaters are highly efficient and will deliver a significant increase in heat output on our glass back courts. For those interested, the units are Smith's Caspian 600 x 1500 UV150 units, which are capable of producing over 50,000 BTUs of heat per hour. The units were supplied by D&M Heating Supplies, Boston and installed by Adrian Worthington of Kamelion Services, Butterwick. We would like to thank John Payne in particular for his meticulous efforts ensuring we found a product capable of meeting the heat requirements of these courts. Photos of the newly installed units can be seen below:

Furthermore, following a committee meeting on Tuesday 9th February, we have now elected to proceed with further renovation works. Courts 4 and 5 will receive further investment with all walls professionally cleaned to remove marks etc, the floors sanded, the out of court areas painted, remedial work to the crack on court 4, and the installation of new extractor fans. This work will be completed by Melior Sports, who have an excellent reputation as squash court specialists, and is expected to take place during the w/c 8th March. We feel that once completed, this work alongside the new heaters will leave our showcourts in exceptional condition, and we look forward to all members and visitors to the club being able to enjoy them soon!

The gym will also receive further attention with a new rubberised floor installed to replace the existing carpeted area, as well as blinds to complement the 2020 redecoration and windows replaced in 2019.

Altogether, this work completed and forthcoming represents close to £12,000 of investment in the club.

Looking ahead: potential future work

We have also been considering further work required across the club. In particular, we are keen to upgrade the shower system to deliver better performance, as well as refurbish rainbow courts 1 and 3, and to also upgrade the heaters on courts 1-3. To this end, the club has recently submitted a grant application to the East Coast Communities Fund, which would allow us to progress with these projects. We expect to hear whether we have been successful or not by the end of April.

AGM and committee business

Regrettably, the current covid/lockdown situation continues to preclude us from practically holding an AGM as planned. We are aware that many of our members (and indeed one or two committee members!) are not in a position to use Zoom technology etc, and so our view is that holding this meeting virtually would be unfair to these individuals. However, if any members do wish to volunteer to come forward for the committee in the meantime, we would be delighted to hear from anyone as ever.

In particular, there is currently a vacancy for club secretary. This role simply involves taking and producing minutes of committee meetings, which take place approximately once every 6-8 weeks. If anyone would be interested in helping the club by taking on this role, please contact mark@mooret.co.uk or adam@bostonsquash.co.uk.

Kind regards

The Committee