Help Westoe squash recover from covid

Aim

With your support we are aiming to fix our leaky roof, repair our courts and ensure our club is ready for a return to playing when possible.

South Shields and Westoe Squash Club

Please help South Shields and Westoe Squash Club recover from the financial impact of COVID-19 and help restore our club so we can resume playing as soon as it is possible.

Your help will allow us to survive the COVID-19 financial impact, repair the clubs leaking roof due to the recent storm damage, upgrade and revitalise the clubs playing and changing facilities whilst planning a future that allows us to thrive in our community. 

Our Club

South Shields and Westoe Sports club or Westoe to our members and supporters is a small club with a massive heart and we are always welcoming new players and members regardless of age, background, sporting ability who would like to engage or participate in sport and physical activity. Based in the heart of South Shields, squash is one of the clubs four playing sections. Squash has its own building with two courts and is home to a family of members, friends and supporters. As a club we are passionate about providing opportunities and we want everyone regardless of their age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to take part in sport and physical activity.

The impact of Covid-19, recent weather issues and why we need your support

Almost a year ago, Covid-19 struck and for a large part of the year, we have been unable to return to the club we love. Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on many people's lives and unfortunately, the club is no different. We have suffered serious financial losses and continue to struggle because of the Covid-19. 

Our members have been extremely generous and have continued to pay their club memberships which has provided some much needed financial support to the club. However, it is not enough and due to the club closures loss in revenue has meant we are under intense pressures.

In February '21, we experienced some severe weather and the squash buildings flat roof developed a hole in the felt. As no one was on site or playing, this went unnoticed for some time causing the hole to increase and continually let water in to our courts. 

The effects the downpours of rain had were devastating, our courts closely resembled paddling pools and were far from playable!

The water damage to the outside roof, the inside tiles, electrics for the courts lighting system, clubs internal walls and floors meant it all needs repair works carried out.

We are usually fortunate enough to rely on our volunteers who have dedicated their time to ensure our club is well looked after but unfortunately, this is a little out of everyone's capabilities and we are unable to carry out these repairs without the support of our community.

With your support we would like to prioritise the following repairs:

• Repairs to the club's roof and courts - please see the short video below of the damage caused to our club and playing facilities by the recent bad weather.

• Replace water damaged internal ceiling tiles and insulation - as you can see from the picture below, internal ceiling tiles have disintegrated due to the amount of water, this in turn has left holes in our ceiling and gaps in our ceiling insulation which if not addressed will make our courts colder and unsuitable to pla.

• Replace water damaged court tube lights with bright LED lighting tubes. At the moment the courts are dark, lighting tubes vary in brightness and unfortunately now not all of them work. Replacing these tubes with long life, energy saving and brighter lights will not only improve the visibility on the the court and enhance the playing experience but will also benefit supporters and visitors watching our games.

• Repair water damaged walls by sanding and repainting 
• Sand the wooden squash court floors

These improvements would provide more opportunities for our local community to participate in our sport and become part of our squash family.

Our club and the local community

The squash club has a wide range of players starting from as little as aged 3 to players in their 70's, all from a wide range of backgrounds and playing abilities. People come in to try the game, develop the squash bug and never leave. It is a family club with a family feel. There are several families with many generations that play at the club. Everyone at the club is very welcoming and has time to show new people to the game.

The club has always promoted activities and sessions for juniors and currently has a fast growing junior membership. Saturday mornings are dedicated to junior sessions, where they can come and learn the sport, receive group coaching, improve their knowledge of the game but most importantly to be active, have fun and meet new friends. They have fun playing and many create friendships for life. They are an integral part of the club and the key to the clubs future. Many of our juniors continue playing beyond our junior sessions and go on to represent the club, playing for our adult teams and the local county. I myself joined the club as a junior 22 years ago and still to this day play alongside fellow juniors that joined at a similar time.

The club boasts four adult teams who compete across the Northumbria local squash leagues. The club has been very successful in recent years competing to be the best in the region but having massive amounts of fun along the way. These teams are spread out across the leagues and enable everyone to engage in some competitive matches against other local clubs.  

To follow the club's successes please see the Northumbria Squash website: https://www.northumbriasquash.co.uk/2018/08/northumbria-squash-league/ 

Away from the competitive external leagues, we run club nights four days of the weeks. Club nights are special and are a great way of playing with different people. The nights are very popular and consist of players playing one game of squash and then rotating around with others that are present on the night. Quite often members socialise in the club's bar after the games have finished and this adds to the club's togetherness and helps support the club financially.

Things we do within our community

We run an annual fireworks night that attracts over 1,000 people. The community gets the chance to appreciate a fantastic firework display, enjoy a range of fairground rides and activities and share some delicious street food and have a drink. This event is in its 7th year and is really popular with the community.

Our music events are well attended and provide a welcome place for the community to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. We were fortunate enough to turn our outdoor areas into a COVID safe concert area to provide a safe opportunity for our community to enjoy local music events.

Other fundraising events the club has run in the past to help support the club are Great North run weekends, Christmas quizzes, race nights, comedy nights, bands.

Westoe squash always tries to provide for the community in some way and we try to always give back. However, we find ourselves in an unusual situation where we need our communities support. We need everyone to pull together and support their local sports club, so we are able to survive, revive and thrive. We are therefore asking our local community, club members, players (past and present), supporters, residents, and businesses to all pull together and collectively help us through our most difficult time. With your help, we can continue to provide members of our community with the opportunity to engage in regular and meaningful activities.

Any donations received will be hugely appreciated and will be used to undertake the works highlighted above, so please donate if you can and 'pass it on' to a friend or colleague to help spread the word.

We would love to welcome you to our club so if you are new to the sport, looking to get back to the sport or just looking for a few hours out of the house please pop by. We are looking forward to seeing our club thriving once again. 

Thank you.

This project successfully funded on 28th April 2021