Refurbishing Gerrards Cross Squash Club

Aim

We love our local Squash Club but it’s looking tired and needs a refurb to bring it up to date. But we really need your help to do that !!!

Who are we - Gerrards Cross Squash Club?

Our friends just call us GXSC and we are a small Community Squash Club founded in 1971 and run on a not-for-profit basis. We welcome people of all backgrounds, age and ability to share this great sport and are proud of being able to offer top class squash facilities to our local community.

We currently have about 120 members; juniors, families, young adults and not-so-young adults from all sectors of the local community and schools. Our youngest player is under 5 and our oldest has reportedly already celebrated his 80th birthday!  Although our membership numbers held up well during the pandemic, we want more of our local community to play this great sport. The recent inclusion of squash as an Olympic sport will, we hope, bring some more visibility to the sport and our aim is to have over 200 members in the coming couple of years. However, to attract new members, we need to provide up-to-date, attractive facilities.  

In other words, we need to raise and spend money of refurbishment.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Although the pandemic made things very difficult for our club (and many others) we have managed to keep our membership and court fees at very competitive levels. We've done this despite the added pressures of rampant inflation and energy costs in particular. 

The price has been that now the club’s facilities are beginning to look very tired and we need to raise £10,000 to get them refurbished and looking up-to-date. Our club is really important to us and the community, so we want to get it back to its best!

How we’ll spend the money raised.

Various parts of the club, and clubhouse are in dire need of refurbishment.  We know we can't do everything at once; nor do we have the funds to do so.  We have therefore split our refurbishment project into phases which we'll implement depending upon how much money we raise.

Phase One - Redecorating and updating the reception area.

We have already used some £4,500 from existing funds to fit some new electrics and lighting to make our reception area safer and more welcoming. We hope you can see what difference that has already made. Thank you for all the compliments!

Phase Two - Updating & refurbishing both changing rooms.

You can see from the photos of the changing rooms that a refurb is long overdue! We want to do some general redecorating, lay new flooring in the changing rooms and replace the carpets throughout the lower floor.  We will partly fund this with £6,000 from existing funds, but we also need to raise an additional £5,000 to make it happen.

Phase Three - Refurbishment of the upper viewing gallery.

Moving onto the upper viewing floor, we want to do some general redecorating, lay new carpeting throughout and replace our tables and chairs that look like some 1970's throwback! This will cost some £8,000.  We will partly fund this with £5,000 from existing funds, but we also need to raise an additional £3,000 to make it happen.

Phase Four - Our "stretch goals"!

We are a squash club with no desire to stand still.  We have an active membership, enthusiastic volunteers and ambitious plans.  Should we raise an another £2,000, we will look to bring forward some of our future plans that include:

• a new junior programme to include more local schools,
• encourage beginner participation via coaching options,
• replace the showers themselves, and 
• investment in up-to-date gym and fitness equipment.

Community impact

We are really proud to have been an important part of the sporting facilities available around Gerrards Cross for many years.  Most of our members come from the local community and we have strong links with local schools and businesses. As a not-for-profit club, we have always strived to provide affordable membership rates and want to continue to ensure that our club is open to everyone, particularly juniors, under-25 and families who we are especially keen to have as members.

Our club plays a very important part in building community and we represent one of the very few locally affordable sporting facilities. In fact, our squash club is the only local place to play squash and rackets in Gerrards Cross and the nearby area!

Our fund raising programme for the refurbishment will help us to grow this important and unique facility for all the local community to benefit from, both as a way of keeping fit and having fun, as well as a being a great place to socialise and make new friends.

Everyone is welcome and its a great way of involving the whole family. 

How you can play your part

There are some simple ways that you can help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

• Help the club - make a pledge.  Please help.  Please make a pledge today!  Momentum is key to the success of our project to refurbish the club and attract new members.
• Tell the world we are raising funds. Share our project on your social media pages and tell anyone you know who might share a love of squash to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get. While you are at it please encourage any potential new members to join or come and have a free trial!
• Tell local businesses we are raising funds.  If you are a local business, please get involved. In return we would be very happy to discuss advertising and sponsorship opportunities as well as corporate memberships for your staff....
• Combine your fundraising with ours.  If you want to run your own fundraiser to help us also raise funds – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know..

This project successfully funded on 12th February 2024