Rally for Renewal: South Shields Tennis Court Fund

Who are we?

South Shields (Westoe) Tennis club is a friendly, welcoming club and we pride ourselves on our inclusive attitude to members of any age, gender or ability. Our members currently have an age range from 4 to 89! We offer a mix of social and competitive tennis, and offer a wide variety of coaching courses, popular with all of our junior and adult members. We provide year-round tennis facilities with the only flood-lit all-weather courts in the local area.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our club suffered severe financial hardship during the COVID period, and this hardship was exasperated by storm damage sustained during Storm Arwen in November 2021, which forced our clubhouse to close for more than 2 years. Our facilities have only recently reopened.

We recently made a substantial investment in our club by replacing our floodlights, which were in need of urgent repair due to safety issues. 

However, our playing surface is now well past its expected life cycle. For a playing surface to meet safety standards, courts need to be resurfaced approximately every 10 - 15 years. Our courts are now more than 25 years old, so we urgently need to raise additional funds to be able to replace them. The lines have become detached from the surface, causing dangerous trip hazards. The sand from the all weather surface has gradually eroded away, making the courts incredibly slippery.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The base underneath our courts needs to be completely relaid, and then new courts laid on top.

The expected cost of this process is around £75,000. We have currently raised around £25,000 towards this, but need your support to get closer towards our goal.

Community impact

Our club is open from 8AM to 10PM, 365 days a year. Members can play for free at any time, or there is a small fee for the public to book a court through our online booking system. We run different coaching sessions, 3 days a week which are targeted at different demographics within the community.

We have a highly engaged membership base. We run social tennis on Mondays and Thursdays, and team training evenings on Wednesdays, meaning our courts are full most nights.

We run dedicated tennis camps for children, providing affordable childcare that encourages activity and future participation, and welcome other community groups who regularly use our courts during the day in the summer months.

Our facilities are not only used by our members, but also by other sports clubs in the area that we have partnerships with. We host joint sport summer camps with our partner rugby and cricket clubs. Last year more than 100 children took part, with a large percentage of these being from disadvantaged backgrounds. The camps were fully funded and provided free childcare and healthy lunches. As our courts were the only all weather surface available to these camps, sessions could not have gone ahead on rainy days.

It is vital that we now replace our courts to make them safe for everyone in our community.

How you can play your part

We now need the help of our members (past and present), supporters and friends to pledge funds and secure the future of our club, so we can continue to help the local community to improve both their physical health and their mental well-being. Here's how you can help:

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us. Momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media and encourage everyone to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

We've prepared an exciting package of rewards to show our appreciation for your support. Thank you for taking the time to read our story. We are incredibly grateful for any contribution that you can provide.