Cllr Janet Turner, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture has declared the changes to our Park Tennis scheme as being “A brilliant success”.
The upgraded Park Tennis scheme was launched on the 1st April 2021 with the option to purchase a household pass costing £36 a year or pay & play charged at £5 per hour.
- 1st April 2021: 55 household passes sold = 127 members
- 1st May 2021: 568 household passes sold = 1390 members
- 1st June 2021: 745 household passes sold = 1834 members
In December 2018 when the original charges at the same price were stopped, we had sold 562 passes.
We also offer free household membership for people on low-income benefits and currently we have sold 10 free passes = 22 members. This is an area we will be looking to expand upon with the support of the other Council teams.
Pay and Play is running smoothly too.
Coaching Update
We now have three active professional tennis coaches operating their businesses across 6 of the Park Tennis sites; Churchfields, Cobham, Cricket Way, Oatlands, Elmgrove and Long Ditton.
The two new providers across 4 sites are on the upgraded coaching package. As part of their new agreement, they also have to provide a weekly term free group session for the community.
The Council’s low-cost coaching programme is run by our Tennis Development Officer at the Civic Centre and Molesey Hurst.
From the 1st June 2019 to 28th May 2021, a total of 173 individuals have taken part in the Council coaching scheme with our Tennis Development Officer, aged 5 to adult.