New courts from old

If you haven't ventured towards along the path towards Orchard recently, it's definitely worth a look at the MUGA and the new version of the Astro on your next visit.

Like the Jack Rees Field, the tennis and netball courts were formed on a piece of the school site over many years. First built in 1968 on gardens at the back of Orchard Street, they replaced the courts that stood on what is now the landscaped Quad in the 1950s and 1960s. Later the three courts were extended to four and overlaid with two outdoor netball courts. After so many years of service, they were much in need of their 2021 revamp. 

In the summer of 2021, the old 'Orchard' courts were transformed into the MUGA - a Multi-Use Games Area. The new facility now boasts three netball courts with fixed posts and fixed hoops on a specialist surface marked for tennis, netball and basketball. Regularly used for outdoor fitness sessions and for the drill competition as well, the MUGA is certainly living up to its name.

Last summer the Martin Hazell Astro was resurfaced and upgraded and the work has similarly transformed what was already a well-loved facility. Alongside the Appeal for the Pavilion, the two projects are part of an ongoing £500,000 plan to extend and improve existing PE and Games facilities funded from school resources. Martin Allen, the Bursar, justifiably speaks with considerable pride of the new facilities.

“It’s not just about the impression it gives our visitors. It’s also about saying that Christ College takes seriously a whole range of sports – netball, tennis and basketball, as well as hockey and the historically traditional sports”.

Tim Trumper (Staff 2002-2020), former Alway House Parent and Master i/c of many things sporting, visited earlier this month and couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the changes to familiar spaces - from the spring and smoothness of the new surface on the Astro and the changing spaces in the old shelter to the expertly defined markings on the MUGA and the high quality fencing.

Next time you visit, take a walk past the Classroom Block and prepare to be impressed!

Amazingly, the only tennis photo we have from before the 1990s pre-dates even the 1968 courts. Dating from 1961, a time when matches took place in a netted area on what we now know as the Quad, and recently loaned for scanning by K D Owens (Orchard 1955-61), the photo is a rare addition to the Archive.

If you have a Tennis photo you’d be willing to donate or lend us for scanning, let Felicity or Huw know. We’d love to extend the Collection.