Resurfacing two courts at Rudgwick Tennis Club

WHO ARE WE?

Rudgwick Tennis Club is a fantastic village tennis club with 4 courts on the King George V recreation field at Bucks Green, Rudgwick in West Sussex. Our current membership comprises over 100 adults and nearly 100 juniors.  Members cover all ages - from under 7s to over 75s and we have been going over 50 years. (Top photo below is Girls U16 team, champions of whole of Sussex in 2021).

In 2017 we found ourselves without a clubhouse – having previously shared premises with sports clubs using the same field - and so the club’s committee decided to build its own new clubhouse at a cost of around £60,000, opening in 2019. The club used 100% of its reserves, raising the balance with donations from members and a successful fundraising event. (Photo above, bottom right, of clubhouse opening with one of the founding members of the club in the middle). The club has thrived since, holding regular social events – both on court and off court in the clubhouse. We enter the Sussex leagues (with increasing success) and host matches, run  popular coaching sessions, especially amongst juniors, and were voted Tennis Club of the Year in 2022 at the Tennis Sussex Awards!

In 2022 we had to convert Courts 1 & 2 from an impermeable acrylic surface to all-weather tarmac (in photos above) as increasing heavy rain meant these courts were often unusable, leaving only two all-weather courts (3 & 4) available for play. With a significant membership & four teams in Sussex leagues this was unsustainable so we spent nearly £30,000 to ensure we had 4 courts playable in all but extreme conditions, leaving our reserves again below £10,000.

Unfortunately courts 3 & 4 are now at the end of their natural life, with one unplayable and the other only fit when dry. In addition, the conversion of courts 1 & 2, which sit at a higher level to courts 3 & 4, has created a drainage issue in heavy rain, which requires additional expenditure. To address the drainage problem and re-surface courts 3 & 4 with all-weather tarmac will cost over £30,000.

WHY ARE WE CROWDFUNDING?

We are crowdfunding to ask for the support of the wider and online community, not just our club members, to help raise crucial funds needed to resurface courts 3 & 4. We have tried to create sufficient funds from within the club but recent necessary expenditure has forced us to look further and wider. 

We will be increasing our annual membership subscriptions in the spring by an average of 8%. Any more would make us uncompetitive with other local clubs and may lead to a drop in members. We are determined to remain an accessible club to the local community, keeping membership costs low with adults heavily subsidising juniors up to 24yrs old. While subscriptions will contribute nearly £15,000 that still leaves us to find around £15,000 from other sources. Otherwise there will be decreased play and, either we will lose members or, we will be forced to ration use of our courts by reducing our popular junior coaching programme. We must resurface before our busiest period – May to September. 

We are also having to factor into our budget a massive increase in energy costs for our floodlights (around 30%) which helps maximise court use in the winter months.

(Photos below showing junior coaching and Supper Club in the clubhouse) 

Having recently held a fundraising event and appealed directly to members, both to finance our new clubhouse, we are now turning elsewhere - to crowdfunding. We have heard how successful crowdfunding can be for grassroots sports clubs like ourselves so feel this is a great opportunity to explore.

Not only will a successful crowdfunding campaign help develop the facilities of a welcoming and competitive grassroots tennis club but it will also help spread the word of our new facilities. We hope this will soon include not just 2, but 4 recently resurfaced courts as well as a new clubhouse. 

HOW WILL WE SPEND THE MONEY RAISED?

All the money raised will go directly towards the cost of resurfacing our tennis courts 3 & 4.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY?

The community will benefit by club members having increased access to safe, playable courts (currently there is reduced play, especially in the winter months as two courts become too slippery and dangerous for play). Also, more members of the community will hear about the club and its’ facilities through the crowdfunding campaign.  

The health benefits of playing tennis outside cannot be underestimated, as for many sports clubs; fresh air, exercise, teamwork, challenge and skill development, not to mention fun. Some of our members play 5 times a week with tennis at the club being a crucial part of their social life and wellbeing.

HOW CAN YOU PLAY YOUR PART? 

• Make a pledge by making a one-off donation and help keep the momentum going for our campaign!
• Share this page with your friends and family to ask if they might do the same - every penny helps. And could you share on your social media pages?
• Offer rewards. If you’re a local business you can pledge a reward that might encourage other supporters to get on board and give visibility to your business.. (food/drink voucher? Tennis-related voucher like racquet re-string, coaching session? Tour/experience/beauty treatment?). Just click 'Contact Project' on the project page and we will help you organise. 
• Fundraise for us. Feel free to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – just use the ‘contact project’ button at the top of our page to let us know. (You just set up your own page which takes a few mins and you won’t need any bank details).

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!