Improve community sporting facilities

The construction of an outdoor shelter and an improved patio space with seating will ensure lasting improvements to the facility thereby providing permanent amenities of benefit to club members, participants, administrators, coaches, local organisations and members of the community. These improvements will contribute to our long-term sustainability by providing a more welcoming environment.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The present concrete patio is uneven, presents a trip hazard, becomes flooded when it rains and as a result, is unappealing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                One of the first priorities in facilitating activity for juniors is to provide the optimal view of the tennis courts so that parents can watch their children play or take part in coaching.                                                  

This shortcoming was evident during a recent coaching camp when parents had nowhere to sit, wait or watch their children. The new raised viewing area would have appropriate furniture, discrete entry and exit points, and give direct access from the clubhouse to provide a good view of the courts.

During the winter and when the weather is hot or wet, children having lessons or taking part in coaching camps are unable to shelter whilst maintaining social distancing. An outdoor shelter would overcome these problems.

In addition, the outdoor shelter would accommodate drinks machines, a machine to dispense tubes of balls and our ball machine so that pay and play customers can access refreshments and equipment without having to access the clubhouse. The shelter will also house a sanitisation station.

We are an important part of the local community within the Cowbridge area. We offer numerous events throughout the year for the local community, and a number of local community groups such as schools, and pilates classes regularly use our facilities. We want to improve our club to better meet the needs of the local community and enable us to encourage more people to become active, helping to further embed Cowbridge Tennis within our local community. 

We have engaged the local community in discussions around how we can improve our facilities to make them more user and family friendly. We have requested evaluation and feedback from every Open Day and we engaged representations from other local community groups with regards to how we could improve. We undertake surveys with our members and in a consultation exercise carried out by Cowbridge Town Council recently, support for the development of facilities at Cowbridge Tennis appeared in the top 5 suggestions. All these sources have informed our project plans. We publish newsletters, social media campaigns, and advertised in local media. We have a website (www.cowbridgetennis.co.uk) and a committee representative of our community.