Sport England - Places and Spaces has provided £8,000 of match funding
Church Broughton Tennis Club Clubhouse Appeal
Derby, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Aim
Replace our small, dilapidated, wooden chalet and outdoor Portaloo with a heated, safe, secure clubhouse with toilet facilities
About our Club
CBTC is a not for profit community tennis club located in rural South Derbyshire. We are a friendly, inclusive, family sports club which started around 50 years ago using one court in the local village of Church Broughton. Having grown in members the Club moved to its current location, on land next to the local golf course, over 18 years ago. The club now has 4 floodlit hard tennis courts and a Padel court.
We now have over 320 members of which 161 are juniors , with many joining as a family group. The Club holds 14 junior and 3 adult group tennis sessions, as well as 4 Padel sessions, every week. Our coaches offer individual coaching and run holiday camps and competitions for young and old alike.
We take tennis coaching to local schools, allowing children who are unable to participate in activities at the club, an introduction to the sport of tennis, and in some cases just sport! Our partnership with John of Rolleston Primary School was recognised in the LTA Awards where the school was National Runner-Up in 2022, following on from them being named LTA School of the Year for Staffordshire and LTA School of the Year for the Midlands.
There is limited availability of outdoor recreational activities in our local community in South Derbyshire and CBTC offers local people, especially children and young people, the chance to be outside, exercise and socialise in a safe environment. There are no other public tennis courts in the immediate area.
Last year we introduced Padel tennis to Derbyshire with the opening of our Padel Court, as one stage of our community development plan. We were supported in this with a loan from our governing body, the LTA, and a grant from South Derbyshire District Council.
Padel Tennis is the fastest growing sport in Europe and the UK. It is not power dominant and because it is played on a smaller court it is ideal for less active people and suits the older members of our club who find tennis more challenging. It is fun, easy to play and therefore ideal for children and families.
Why are we now crowdfunding?
We have an urgent need to replace our dilapidated wooden clubhouse which has no hot water, no heating, and no toilet facilities. People using the club have to use a Portaloo which is becoming increasingly unsuitable, particularly for the junior and female members of our club.
The facilities we have at present do not allow us to support players with mobility issues. We are also aware that some of our young female members are put off by the Portaloo which is the only toilet facility available. We have no hot water to wash hands and this, following on from the Pandemic, is a concern for us.
Our social groups have nowhere to meet after their sessions, relying on the good weather to enjoy a cuppa. The new Clubhouse will allow them to have time to socialise in a warm clean space.
The existing chalet is 4 x 3.8m and too small to hold any groups. If it rains when we are holding coaching sessions or during holiday camps we have to cancel. The new clubhouse would enable these to go ahead with indoor activities in the dry.
The Club is a vibrant, welcoming community, which for some of our more vulnerable members, like James, is a safe, happy place. 15 year old James has a form of Vasculitis which during flare ups causes changes in his behaviour, moods and mobility, restricting his activity. Attendance at school and social interaction become difficult leading to feelings of isolation. The tennis club is his happy place where he feels accepted and his peers do not judge him. As his mum, Rachel, says 'the club embraces him'. During the winter months when James is not feeling great and unable to play, it would be good for him to be able to come to the club, which at the moment he can't because we don't have a suitable clubhouse.
We would like to have a clubhouse to allow James, and our other young people, to socialise in a safe, clean, warm environment.
We hope that Sport England will help boost our fundraising through their Places and Spaces crowdfunding initiative, which links to the United by Birmingham 2022 programme, a celebration of the Commonwealth Games.
How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022
The Commonwealth Games was a wonderful, fun social event that brought everyone together. Our Clubhouse Project hopes to do the same by offering a social space which will allow people to come together. In the cold, on dark nights, in drizzle - parents and non-playing visitors to the club have to sit in their cars. The Clubhouse would allow people to meet and socialise, reducing isolation and encouraging more inclusivity.
It is well- documented that participation in sport not only improves health but also increases well-being. We know that our lack of Clubhouse has discouraged people, especially young women and some of our older members, from taking part in the activities the club offers. The Clubhouse would help overcome this.
Church Broughton Tennis Club is committed to ensuring that people get active and promotes inclusivity with members of different backgrounds regardless of age, race, gender, ability, financial situation or religion.
The Clubhouse would benefit our local community as part of the Birmingham 2022 legacy.
Community impact
Church Broughton Tennis Club is passionately committed to the community in which it serves. In fact it won the Derbyshire LTA Connecting Communities Award in March 2023 for providing a great and fun playing environment: making tennis safe, welcoming, accessible and inclusive; for being successful in driving deeper and broader engagement within the community; for providing innovative ways for people in the community to engage with tennis, with a strong emphasis on those under-represented or under-served within the sport.
At Church Broughton we work with local young people offering first aid, sports leadership and coaching courses, and provide both volunteering and work experience opportunities. We have 16 young leaders and level 1 coaches, working with our junior groups plus a number of 6th formers working towards their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.
As a club we support young people from the age of 16 upwards to train as coaches, paying up to half of their fees. The Clubhouse will enable us to hold more training sessions on site and provide a warm, secure place for them to socialise with their peers.
At Church Broughton we welcome many different groups to the club. In October 2022 we played host to a local WI group to try Padel tennis with great success.
Fortunately the weather was kind on the day for tea and cakes afterwards! The Clubhouse will ensure that days like this can continue to go ahead.
The Clubhouse Project hopes to bring people in the local community even closer together by offering facilities for social interaction in a warm, secure and safe space. Within a 2 mile radius of the club there are over 400 new houses with limited access to a social space which our clubhouse could resolve. Many community centres and village halls in the area are closing, further reducing the opportunity available.
How we’ll spend the money raised
A planning application has been accepted for a larger clubhouse similar to the one in the photo below
The club has been saving up over a number of years and have a large amount of the finance for this clubhouse in place. Unfortunately with prices increasing so rapidly following the Pandemic we now need to raise a further £20,000 to complete the project this spring.
It has a social area to enable a range of activities which are currently not possible, a kitchen area and, very critically, 2 toilets, one of which has wheelchair access.
How you can play your part
The club is run by volunteers from the local community overseen by a committee of 13, headed by an elected Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Welfare Officer. We need help reaching our target!
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
And lastly ........... Thank You
This project successfully funded on 8th May 2023