Lighting up Tennis in Redmarley

Redmarley Tennis Club, Gloucestershire 

is an active and dynamic grassroots sports facility located on the playing fields of the village. The Club is one of the few facilities in the local area that embraces all ages and abilities, is truly family inclusive and offers a sense of belonging and achievement affordable to as many as possible.

We have an active and rapidly growing membership representing all age groups, walks of life and tennis ability, including beginners, social players and league competitors. To fulfill the club’s ethos of delivering tennis, community and wellbeing we hold a number of club tournaments throughout the year, several social events and a coaching programme designed to encourage as many people as possible to give tennis a go. 

Covid 19 hit the club hard 

with very little play and few social events taking place in 2020. However, in 2021 membership has grown by 20% as people look to engage in new activities to combat the impact of lock-down on their well-being.
Recognising this, the club has refreshed its coaching offering and driven attendance at sessions to unprecedented numbers across all age groups from primary school to ‘silver servers’. We have also grouped players by ability and invited all to join regular social tennis sessions to encourage and grow participation. This is all proving to be extremely popular.

The Problem - It’s a daylight thing 

We are well represented in the local LTA leagues and in peak season nearly all weekday evenings are fully booked for home fixtures. 

These can only be played when there is enough daylight to ensure completion of the matches and as these take place most weekday evenings, it effectively excludes social players from play in the spring and much of the summer after work. This coupled with our growth in new members means that there is a clear and pressing need to increase available court time.  

Our Solution - LED floodlighting 

would significantly extend playing time for all by enabling league matches to commence earlier in the year and free up courts in the summer months for more evening informal play. Floodlights will also enable play to continue as the nights draw in and during the winter months. Winter home matches can also be played at home rather than at other venues.

In 2020 we acquired planning permission to install the much needed floodlights and now embark on the task of funding the expense of installation. As the club has no excess financial reserves and is strongly focused on providing sport for all, funds now need to be raised without impacting membership fees as any increase required would severely restrict accessibility. 

The Challenge - Raising £40,000

The cost of installing Floodlighting is significant and our target of £40,000 is to cover installation plus a small contingency to cover unexpected costs. Fundraising is targeting three different sources: 

• Crowdfunding
• Sport England support
• Grants from Gloucestershire County council and other local bodies

Crowdfunding will also enable us to reduce reliance on any loan/grant available from the LTA and enable us to keep membership fees and lighting costs to a minimum.

The Future - More tennis for all

Once we have achieved our target and monies have been received, we expect to install the floodlighting during the autumn of 2022 and the club will then be able to offer significantly more playing time to members during 2023 and beyond. 

Thank you for supporting our campaign