Joppa Tennis

[Bob Jefferson]

Joppa Tennis held their annual open day yesterday. The club is in fine shape this year with an increased number of members. The courts were completely resurfaced a couple of years ago, with the aid of a Lottery grant, and are available for play 7 days a week.

More details in the Local Groups entry.

Pictured below, Maureen Child and Robert Gatliff, chair of Portobello Community Council:

[Dadaist]

...and if you squint hard enough you can just make out the resurfaced tennis courts and what looks like a nice clubhouse.

Bob, I have no doubt that you mean well, but in two posts about very worthwhile things (community centre and tennis court) you have subjected us to yet another picture of La Childs and some audio of Larry and Mo.

In my humble opinion, and with all due respect, would it not have been better to perhaps picture the newly refurbished courts / clubhouse instead of (or as well as) the unrefurbished Childs?

And in the case of the community centre, whilst I'm sure that Lazza and Mazza gave you good copy, should we not be hearing from people who can now play pool, punch, bbq, internet and prune?

Historians are always wary of anecdotal and third-party reports of events and much prefer things to be first hand. By supplying us with the beef (that is, a record of someone potting, hitting, grilling, surfing or weeding) instead of one of our esteemed local representatives standing in front of said participant(s), are you not providing a better record for future generations?

I do not attempt to denigrate the pivotal position in our community of Lawrence or Maureen. If a 26 ran over Mo's morning Guardian I would expect you to post a picture of it and her, and carry a quote. But if a 26 ran over my foot, I would question the value of wheeling out Maureen for a picture and quote while I hopped to Little France.

Respectfully.

[ecm]

[Maria]

I went along to the tennis courts too (later and separately from Bob lest anyone think we're joined at the hip!) and on the point about the lack of a photo of the new courts etc. I can vouch for the fact that Bob was trying very hard to get folk to agree to posing for a photo. He couldn't take shots of the courts as there were lots of kids using them (they were on the steps/environs of the pavilion too) and he would need to get permission from all parents concerned, which was impossible as not all kids were accompanied.
He did ask my son and heir if he could take his pic but he was not for co-operating

[Dadaist]

Fair point, I apologise. I did wonder why he took his camera and all we got was La Childs.

Here is a photo with their identities hidden, in case there are any dangerous predatory officialophiles who might gratify themselves using these kinds of seemily innocent snap :

[Bob Jefferson]

Thanks Marya. In fact, on this occasion Maureen was a second choice photographic subject. You might also have noticed that there are pics that have been removed from the online version of the Portobello Reporter, because not all the parents of all of the children could be contacted to give their express permission. All complete nonsense in this parent's opinion but these are the times we live in. I often end up using pics of my own kids at this kind of event because at least then I don't have this problem.

Re the community garden audio clips, I did also make recordings of Brian Greatorex and a couple of the kids but they didn't come out very well. However, I'm keen to do some vox pop stuff on Portobello High Street and I'm looking for at least one other volunteer to help me out with it.

Being able to add audio and video to the site has added a whole new dimension and it's an area I would like to expand but these files use up a lot of memory, so we need to find a more generous web host.

[Porty]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Dadaist]

[arachnid]