Southdown Tennis - Court Resurfacing

Who are we?

We are a sports club in the heart of Lewes. We have Tennis, Hockey, Squash, a gym and a multi-sport area, providing sporting facilities and a welcoming café,  to our members and the local community. Southdown Tennis is a friendly Club and we welcome everyone, whatever their age and ability. 

Community impact

As well as providing sporting and social facilities for our members, we are a community focussed club offering everyone the opportunity to play Tennis as well as the Club's other sports of Hockey and Squash. We work with schools and other organisations to give as many people as possible the opportunity to be active and learn new skills and the Tennis section is committed to promoting Tennis, encouraging new players and providing a safe and welcoming place for everyone to enjoy the game. 

We have a brilliant coaching team who run a full and varied coaching programme which includes kids mini tennis, junior advanced sessions, adults beginners, social sessions, adult competitive play and cardio tennis - the classes are open to all.  We are also proud to host  the Sussex County Championships which sees players from all ages from across the County compete in a week long tournament. We are especially proud that our member Amelia Devlin is the current reigning Women's AND U18 Singles AND Doubles Sussex champion and she has now won a place at a Division 1 university in Florida, US - an important step in her Tennis career. 

Over the years the Club has been able to nurture many young players and see them go on to achieve great things in Tennis - offering them a safe place to thrive in a sport they love. 

We are also very proud to be an inclusive Club and work with the LTA to offer tennis for the disabled. 

Why are we Crowdfunding? 

After 20 years of use, our 3 astroturf courts are now beyond repair. These courts have seen thousands of hours of play - but they are now bald in places, retain water after it has rained and need to be refurbished as soon as possible. In addition, in the middle of lockdown, the floodlights on those courts broke down. Unfortunately, at the time, the Club wasn’t able to afford replacements of a similar standard and now we need to upgrade the lighting as they don't provide full coverage across the 3 courts. 

We therefore need to embark on a scheme of improvements - resurfacing the courts and upgrading the floodlights - to ensure that we can continue to provide our local community with safe facilities for everyone to play Tennis, exercise, feel good and socialise. However, Covid-19 and the rising cost of living are having a big impact on community clubs and we are no exception.  Despite this however, we have already raised nearly £15,000 and the Club has worked hard to ensure that there are significant Club funds available -  but we are still short and need your help. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

We are planning to resurface the courts with artificial clay. This is a modern surface that looks and plays brilliantly and is one of the best “all weather” surfaces as it drains well. It is great for all ages and standards. It is gentle on joints but also a fantastic surface to attract and develop our juniors. Having artificial clay courts will not only ensure we are providing our existing players with the standard of courts they should expect, but will also be key in helping us to attract new members and encouraging people to take up Tennis - which is linked to a longer life!  

We believe that the floodlight upgrade is also vital to ensure that we are able to offer a consistent year-round offering. For the majority of the year the evenings are long and to provide enough courts for our members and guests,  we believe that we need at least 7 (9 in the winter) good quality floodlit courts. Upgrading the lights on courts 3-5, to a ensure they meet the LTA minimum standard across all 3 courts,  is key to achieving this.  

The project is going to cost approximately £130,000 in total. £83,000-90,000 (depending on if re-cabling work is required for the lights) for the resurfacing and £35,000-45,000 for the upgrade of lights. To ensure we are successful in completing the improvements, we have decided to split the project into two phases, the resurfacing to be done first, hopefully in the Autumn of 2023, followed by the floodlight upgrade as soon as we can raise the further money for that phase. 

In spite of COVID and the cost of living crisis and rising bills, the Club has managed to allocate approximately £60,000 to this project. We have also already raised nearly £15k.  For the first phase, the resurfacing, that leaves a shortfall of around £15k which we need to raise through fundraising - but we also then need to raise more for the floodlights. 

How you can help

We appreciate that with the cost of living crisis, money may be tight for many of our members and supporters, but every amount, however small, really helps. By pledging to donate you will be helping to make these improvements a reality and achieve our goal of providing excellent tennis facilities for our local community and creating opportunities for everyone to play tennis, be active and have fun with others.  If all our members and supporters donate just a small amount, we can and will hit our target. 

YOUR SUPPORT WILL HELP US TO:

- Continue to offer everyone a great place to come and be active and have fun with friends

- Ensure that players feel safe whilst playing without the fear of slipping

- Encourage those who haven't played Tennis before to give it a go!

- Continue to offer great quality coaching for all ages including kids holiday camps

So please join us in being part of this exciting project.

There is also a possibility that Sport England may match the funds raised if we reach of our target. This would obviously be a huge boost to our efforts, and make the second phase of the project (floodlights) a reality - so please do help if you can!

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project happen.

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

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world 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!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Thank you so much for your support.  

Thank you to the local businesses who have offered Rewards

All rewards will be redeemable after 19th June 2023 (when the Crowdfunder closes) and we will be in touch with more details nearer the time.