South Shields (Westoe) Tennis - Let's Smash COVID

Aim

We need your help to raise funds to repair our courts and floodlights, and help our club recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19.

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 area.

Why We Need Your Support!

In March 2020, we were forced to close due to the COVID-19 crisis. Since then, the pandemic had a huge impact on our club’s finances. In total, we have missed out on around £100,000 in revenue due to lost takings from the bar and our inability to host our ever-popular events. This has had a massive impact on the club when it comes to maintenance and repair.

What Will We Do With The Money?

The club is due to re-open soon, as the third lockdown ends. Our top priority will be the urgent repairs required to make our facilities safe and accessible to all of our members. Our court surfaces are in desperate need of repair. Over winter, 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.

Many of our floodlights need to be repaired and replaced. The majority of tennis takes part on an evening when our members are finished with their working day. None of our courts have a full set of working floodlights, and this means our members are playing in dark, dimly lit areas of the courts. These funds would allow us to replace our floodlights with new, bright LEDs which will not only make our courts safe again, but also save the club money in the long term.

We'd also love to launch a new coaching initiative with the funds, allowing us to deliver affordable, exciting coaching to children from the area. Right now, encouraging youth participation in sport is arguably more important than ever. Our coaching programme aims to give children of all abilities the opportunity to try tennis and get outdoors while staying fit! Free taster sessions for children will be offered to anyone who is interested, and the funds will help us to keep coaching fees as low as possible in the future.

How you can help

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.

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, it would mean a lot to every single member of our club!

This project successfully funded on 30th April 2021