At the AGM in September 2017 the committee outlined a plan to replace two grass courts and two adjacent hard courts with four new all weather courts.
The most recent information the committee have given the club members in writing was an email newsletter sent on 4 Jan 2018 which is given below.
However on 27 April some members were given a further update at the Wimbledon Ballot and Social when we learnt for the first time that the latest plan involves taking up 4 grass courts and replacing them with 4 all weather courts. This was a surprise, as prevously we had been told that the plan was to replace two grass courts and two adjacent hard courts with four new all weather courts.
Email newsletter 4 Jan 2018
“Firstly, thank you to those who came to the Club’s Strategy meeting in March and the AGM in September. The discussions we had as a Club were most constructive and have helped to shape our future strategic direction. We have been working on the ideas we discussed and developing them into feasible plans over the last few months.
We are fortunate that Oxford has been an LTA priority area for increasing the growth of Tennis, and over the last 2 /3 years the LTA have made considerable investments in Parks and Schools. Some of you may be aware, that the LTA has recently launched a “Legacy” fund which is available for “Community” projects. We are actively participating in this initiative in the hope that we can secure some funding (part loan, part grant) for our longer-term plans. The definition of Community in the context of the LTA grant funding, means that the relevant Stakeholders in Tennis such as Brookes, Oxford University, Oxford City Council and potentially other tennis Clubs should work together to offer the Tennis players in the City more opportunities to play our sport.
The overall objective is to increase tennis participation in Oxford, whether that is getting new people into the sport, or increasing frequency of people who are already playing!
Our current situation of 9 hardcourts and 10 grass courts is not sustainable, those of you who were at the AGM will know that Oxford City Council (who maintain our grass courts) want to put a 45% increase in charges over the next 5 years. We also have a few “pinch” points on certain days/evenings when 9 hardcourts are not enough. Our Clubhouse is in need of modernisation, and some TLC.
Based on a review of this and members feedback, the Committee have determined that our long term (major capital expenditure) priorities moving forward to achieve these goals are as follows:-
1) Change of Court Surface – converting some of our grass courts to another all weather surface (not Macadam/tarmac), with floodlights. LED / solar are preferable
2) Introducing Pay and Play facilities on 3 courts (for off-peak times)
3) To obtain/seek funding partners for our long-term initiatives
4) To upgrade the Clubhouse (only after 1 and 2 are done)
All of the above are subject to access to significant funding, and any loan/grant from the LTA is on the proviso of “matched” funding.
Some short-term initiatives we will also be undertaking are:
1) Increase the number of Social events and develop a stronger Club identity and environment. Ensure new members feel welcomed and integrated within the Club from the moment they join.
2) Clubhouse upgrade – we are working with the Hockey club to ensure some short term/immediate repairs/upgrades are done in early 2018
3) Launching ClubSpark (a new Membership online system) – this will ensure that all the relevant information on members is up to date, and will enable us to link (with significantly less manual intervention) court bookings, emails etc. This is free software that is provided by the LTA as part of the Club’s registration package. It is widely used by other Clubs and has greatly improved their communication and administration. More information to follow on this – please do look out for the emails/notices on the notice boards
4) Launching of the Club’s Development Fund – this is replacing the lottery that we used to have, more details to follow in January.
There are always small one-off tasks as a Club we need help with and would welcome support from as many people as possible to pitch in during 2018.
If one of your New Year Resolutions is to get more involved please do email me at noltc.chair@gmail.com.
Your Club needs you…..
Best Wishes for 2018.
Sarah (on behalf of NOLTC Committee)
Chair NOLTC