Wh
o are we?
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Northaw & Cuffley Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1937 and was originally based in someone's back garden before moving to The King George V Playing Fields on the outskirts of the village of Cuffley where we started with four clay courts and a small clubhouse.
Although the club has expanded and improved over the years and now has seven artificial grass courts and a larger clubhouse it has always remained very much at the heart of our community.
The club has had lots of success over the years in the various Herts leagues and tournaments but we are at heart a friendly community club where anyone, regardless of ability, is welcome to come and play tennis.
We have members of all ages including some in their 90's but are particularly keen to encourage more children to take up tennis. Children start from as young as two in our youth program and begin with smaller rackets, softer balls and lower nets. We also run a very popular Special Educational Needs group in partnership with Hands On Day Centre as well as various junior tournaments and holiday camps which are always well attended.
All our coaching sessions are available to non-members and we also provide a very well used public court.
We have ambitious plans to increase opportunities for more people to play our wonderful game and offer a number of incentives to encourage local people to try tennis.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are a forward thinking and inclusive club deeply committed to ensure that our sport is welcoming and accessible to all. In order to achieve this we are continually trying to expand and improve our facilities. In the last 10 years we have resurfaced three courts and replaced the floodlights on two courts and this investment has allowed us to increase playing opportunities.
Tennis is one of the few sporting activities in the local area which is played all year round. The benefits to people's health and wellbeing are well known but tennis can also help to improve mental health through exercising in the fresh air and social interactions in a safe and secure environment.
The majority of tennis at our club is played in the evenings and for most of the year floodlights are essential. Without working floodlights on all of our courts the amount of tennis that can be played will be drastically reduced especially during the winter months.
Sport England have recognized the value of our project and have awarded us a grant of £6,472 on the condition that we raise the other £6,472 needed to complete the project ourselves.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We will replace the old and dangerous halogen floodlights on two of our courts with modern LED lights. The existing lights are well past the end of their working life. Apart from being very expensive to run, they break down almost every time it rains and frequently trip the main fuse board often resulting in all of our floodlights being out of action for long periods of time.
Because of the age of the lights it is extremely difficult and expensive to source replacement parts especially bulbs which cost us nearly £500 each to replace!
We are unfortunately almost at the stage where we will have to stop using the lights on these two courts permanently.
The new LED lights are far cheaper to run, don't need a long time to warm up, give a better quality of light, last much longer and are obviously a lot better for the environment.
Community impact
Cuffley tennis club has been an important and much loved sporting venue in the heart of our village for nearly 90 years. In today's world of computer games and smartphones it is more important than ever to encourage people of all ages but especially children to take part in sport where they can have positive and safe social interactions and foster a sense of belonging and community.
With so much housing development currently taking place in our immediate surrounding area demand for our facilities will inevitably grow and the provision of a first class sporting venue will be even more important.
Replacing our floodlights will give the club the opportunity to encourage more people in the local community to be active and to enjoy sport, meet people and make friends. Your donation will help us to achieve this.
How you can play your part
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!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!