Bohemian Tennis Club is among 324 local sports projects to secure a share of £17 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund.
Since 2011, Inspired Facilities has been helping breathe new life into tired community sports facilities and converting existing buildings into venues suitable for grassroots sport.
Bohemian Tennis Club will receive £50,000 of National Lottery funding to upgrade its facilities. The club located in Brunton Park has been a central part of the community for many years and has recently seen a revival of interest in tennis. The club have implemented a very successful coaching programme providing weekly lessons to well over 100 children and adults from the local community. This year the club entered 10 competitive teams into local tennis leagues, giving adults and juniors alike a chance to represent Bohemian's against other regional clubs. The improvements at the club will see 2 new sets of floodlights added to the courts to allow for year round play and includes some much needed improvements to the onsite clubhouse. This investment in the tennis facilities comes on top of Bohemian Football Club's redevelopment of their pitch on the same site, courtesy of an £87,000 grant from the Football Foundation, and forms part of an overall investment of over £160,000 in sporting facilities on the site - a fantastic investment for community sport!
To celebrate the award, local people are being invited to a free taster session from 10am -12 noon on Monday 5th May to try out the sport. Please contact bohemiantennis@hotmail.co.uk to register
Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston, said: “The Inspired Facilities Fund has had a huge impact on grassroots sport across the country. Since 2011, we’ve invested £88 million into more than 1,600 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non-sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs.
“It’s great to see Bohemian Tennis Club join the long list of successful clubs to benefit from this fund.”
Club Chairman, Aidan Mernin, said:
“We are delighted to have secured this investment, which means we can upgrade the facilities at the tennis club to allow for year round play and increase the number of people able to take part in our sport. The improvements to the clubhouse will encourage more people to make use of the building which will be a benefit not only to Bohemian Tennis Club, but also to Gosforth Bohemian Football club and Gosforth Harriers who use the clubhouse as their weekly training base. Improving the quality of our facilities to match the quality and enthusiasm of our members, community users and coaches is a key part of our long term plan to enable the club to thrive and grow for many years to come. It is the cornerstone of our strategy to have an outstanding club for the 2012 Olympics’ legacy.”
Local MP, Catherine McKinnell, said:
“I am delighted that Bohemian Tennis Club has been awarded £50,000 by Sport England to upgrade its facilities, add two new sets of floodlights and undertake much needed improvements to their clubhouse.
Bohemian Tennis Club is a thriving club, with a growing membership and fantastic links in the local community. These improvements will not only benefit them but also the other sports clubs who use the facilities and the community as a whole.
I was pleased to be able to support Bohemian Tennis Club in their application and look forward to continuing to support the fantastic work they are doing in the future.”
Many more communities are set to benefit from the hugely popular fund, with the latest round of the Inspired Facilities now open. Community and voluntary organisations, councils and schools can bid for a share of £20 million to help upgrade facilities that can be unattractive, expensive to run and difficult to maintain, and to convert existing non-sporting buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport.
Applying for funding has never been easier. Based on feedback from previous applicants, the Inspired Facilities Fund is now an open programme which means projects can submit applications as soon as they are ready rather than being restricted by a specific deadline. To find out more and bid, visit www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities.