OBITUARY Jim Thorn
JIM Thorn, Head Groundsman at The All England Lawn Tennis Club from 1982 to 1991 died peacefully at Halle, Germany on 1st. June 2005.
Game, set and match ...
A J Leisure.Com constructed a Natural Turf Tennis Court in Trafalgar Square complete with perimeter fence for the LTA and Ariel Tennis Ace Finals with Tim Henman and Boris Becker presenting the awards and playing a match against each other. The Court had to be constructed within eight hours and removed four hours after the finish for the one day event.
With such a difficult venue and time restraints A J Leisure put together a team of companies all specialists in their fields. GreenTech ITM provided the very
important Drain Core product which helped to provide a level base and acted as a drainage layer, Drain core reduces installation times, maintenance costs and drains faster then normal sub bases, Drain core has been used very successfully in North America for a number of years for all sports applications including football, golf and tennis. Lindum Turf provided the Turf using their very successful 40mm Lokturf turf. This was the most critical product of the whole event the organisers wanted to recreate a natural turf court, Lokturf was the only product that could stand up to a quick installation carried out very professionally by Talbots but would stand up to a lot of play during a
short time. It also had to provide a good standard of play for Tim and Boris to play a match on - and look good as well! Once the Turf was laid CSS (Championship Sports Surfacing Ltd) put the all important finishing touches to the court in Line Marking and Grooming. Fencing the court surrounds was handled by The Sports Fencing Company who provided a very stable fence in a very quick period as this could only be done once the court was completed. The finished product, on a hot
sunny day, looked fantastic. After eight hours with everyone working through the night the court was ready for play. The Event was shown on all the major news channels and featured in the national news press. Everyone agreed, including Tim, that all the companies involved had worked hard to produce a first class tennis court After a very successful day’s play the court was handed over for complete removal within four hours. The very next day Trafalgar Square
was back to normal with no signs of there ever being a court there. I am not sure what Lord Nelson thought of it all. Contact Andrew Lofting at
AJLeisure.com on 01622 738280.
Jim had over 40 years experience in the preparation of grass tennis courts. He worked for many years at St. George’s Hill LTC Weybridge and then moved to The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon in 1982 as Head Groundsman until 1991 when he retired. In 1990 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to tennis. In 1991 he won the annual award from the Tennis Sports Writers Association.
He wrote a book entitled “The Lawns of Wimbledon” which is a very practical and informative guide for any Groundsman interested in the construction and maintenance of grass tennis courts.
“The Lawns of Wimbledon” was published in 1991 and the Copyright belongs to The A.E.L.T.C.
Laurence of WOLVERHAMPTON needs YOU!
ONE of the main aims of Pitchcare is to publish interesting and technical articles relating to our industry. To date we have provided well over 2,400 on our website. As Editor, one of my objectives this year is to increase the number and variety of articles, and especially now that we have introduced our new hard copy magazine. At Pitchcare we want members to share information. Our Message Board is excellent for this and over the years has provided members with a valuable service. However, with membership moving towards
8
15,000 there is a great opportunity to secure and publish many more stimulating articles.
I am therefore very keen to encourage more of our members to actively promote our industry by writing and contributing to Pitchcare. Combined, our members hold a wealth of knowledge, skills and experiences. Information about mowing techniques, fertiliser
applications, pests and disease management will be of great interest to other members. I believe we all have
something to offer. There is no
single text book way of maintaining natural or synthetic turf. Every sports ground, estate and golf course is site specific requiring its own management regimes. It is important to raise the
profile of our industry at every opportunity. Everybody, at whatever level, has experiences to share. By providing an article it not only allows the sharing of information but it also helps stimulate debate and interest and, at the same time, raises the profile of individuals and their facilities. If you would like to
contribute to Pitchcare please email
Laurence@pitchcare.com or telephone 01902 824392 to discuss the details. This is your website and magazine, so if you have any suggestions on how we can improve the content please let us know. Together we have the
potential and the means to raise the profile and awareness of our profession and our industry.
Laurence Gale Editor, Pitchcare
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