New London Polo Courts + Lights

Not many with lights in this Islington list: Archway Park, N19 - Anyone know it?

http://www.islington.gov.uk/leisure/sports/sportsareas/free.asp

edit I think that is in Whittington park, a nice area from memory - no idea what the facilities are like.

http://tinyurl.com/35rkcxj

anyone seen the MUGA (multi use game area) in haggerston park? Its listed on the hackney council website, might be worth checking out

There are also the newly built courts in Hackney Downs, I've not looked there in the last month or so, but they were almost done then.

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-downs-improvements.htm

Unless anyone has been there in the last few weeks I'll head up there after work today and have a look.

Good call John. I just went down; as a playing court it’s pretty sweet - new surface, no gaps, 3 gates for entry.

It's in the middle of a park, no residents to potentially disturb. There is a school and playground right beside it though, so that needs to be considered.

I spoke to the ranger [Carol] she said it’s permanently unlocked, but did not know about the lights yet, as it’s only been ready for a few weeks.

Piccies:
http://imgur.com/a/U4bf9/hackney_downs_court

edit

More info: The floodlights are currently inoperational, but should be working within 1-2 weeks after the control building is finished.

I spoke to a Hackney parks service rep/manager who was very personable and seemed open to us playing there; he said the lights will probably be on until 10-10:30 but this could possibly be influenced if we provided set days and times which we wanted to use the court for* as the hours have not been set yet, and need to be consulted upon. [Call him next week - I have deets if required]

*note: courts are first come first serve

nice!

Venn, good work with the Hackney parks service rep/manager. next time if you want, speak to her about Downham and the problem with the drains, they are block

Wow, nice work Venn.

I just went down there too, looks perfect for polo, good tarmac, fence, 4 lights, no poles (racist), recessed goals to keep bags safe, roughly the same size as newington.

If you say it's always unlocked that's good, and hopefully the lights will be working soon.

No residents to disturb, and the school is unlikely to be open in the evenings, so no chance of disturbing anyone.

Also next to it are two new basketball courts without fences, so for one if there are people playing in the fenced court we might be able to ask them to let us use it, and they can use another court. Also it's big enough to have 2 small courts, or 1 big court across it, if we put boards around it, so could be useful for tournaments?

wow, hackney downs looks DECENT!

:O

Awesome!

I like that light, well high so they can not fuck them

when can we 'brake' it in? #haha

I like that light, well high so they can not fuck them

Actually, the guy said that was a concern as other lights had been broken in other places; I told him that we took care of our courts and responded to residents’ complaints, tried not to over-use them etc - [BTW: he mentioned all the things that we are picking out as being in our favour too. No close residents, light pollution not a significant problem etc..]

I have just had a quick go on-court & the surface is quite slippy due to the paint. It very easily picks up skidmarks [Don't know if that's a problem for the managers]. Also the recessed goals are not fully attached, so balls can pass through occasionally, but a few bags should mitigate that pretty well.

I would wager that these will probably be well-used courts, and therefore we should "stake our claim" early and let the other users/kids get used to us showing up. Just to get the ball rolling, if we want to use the court and reply to this dude - how does Tue, Thurs & Sat until 11:30, sound to everyone?

;1627492'] I would wager that these will probably be well-used courts, and therefore we should "stake our claim" early and let the other users/kids get used to us showing up

this.

Also, Saturday may be overkill re: lights till 11:30 (I don't think we really play that late on weekends very often).

As 11:30 may be on weekdays. But I'm cool with it.

I want lights everyday all evening, but we may want to hold off an asking for the moon right away. It may be possible to ask for more later once we've shown ourselves to be decent folk.

Well maybe we should play there as soon as possible, what about Sunday (assuming no friday polo)

In fact we are going to test it now, will be down there from 6:15

Ha, excellent. If I ever get round to playing polo, I'll have a court two minutes from my house. :)

#runningoutofexcusesnotto

So, Venn and I went down, had a couple of hours of practice. It seems like a really good court, nice smooth surface.

There are also the newly built courts in Hackney Downs, I've not looked there in the last month or so, but they were almost done then.

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-downs-improvements.htm

Unless anyone has been there in the last few weeks I'll head up there after work today and have a look.

this court had already been marked as the cosmic/apples home court...Damn you!!

Be interesting to see how this shapes up with the local Mandem

#remainingoptimistic.

Be interesting to see how this shapes up with the local Mandem

#remainingoptimistic.

There were a few little kids, but the only yoots I could see were playing basketball on the next court.

this court had already been marked as the cosmic/apples home court...Damn you!!

I pissed all over it

I pissed on your piss, and my piss smells stronger.

what i was about to type was worse than that, so i win

You guys are going to ruin the court for us, stop pissing on it. Fuckers.

My piss has beer in it mark, you'll probably try and drink it.