At last Pen-y-ffordd Tennis Club's clubhouse can be completed!  Our current clubhouse replaced the previous one some ten years ago, but after difficulties with the builder it has been left with an incomplete interior and an uneven floor ever since.  In more recent years club representatives have sought to raise funds to complete the project, including in 2013 when £500 was secured from Redrow, however the project was forced to take a back seat as it became apparent that the playing surfaces needed to take priority.

 

Having managed to completely resurface two courts last year (the third court having also been done early this year) a separate ring-fenced fund was set up to be used only for the completion of the clubhouse.  The fund target was set at £2000 after a quote was obtained for this amount, which includes levelling the floor area followed by the application of a hard-wearing low-maintenance floor covering.

 

There have been a number of extremely generous donations from individual members, including Dave Hughes, Steve Herd, Karen Glendenning, Sally Johnstone, and Laurie Dempsey, amounts that were boosted by 25% via the Gift Aid scheme.  In addition, Club Chairman Nigel Edwards has been able to benefit from the M&S Bank / HSBC Corporate Social Responsibility scheme, which pays employees £10 for each unpaid hour worked for a charity in a calendar year, up to a maximum of 50 hours.  This boosted the fund by £500 last August and it has just been boosted by a further £500 as Nige's 2016 application has been accepted.

 

Furthermore, the club is extremely grateful for a donation of £500 from Angels Care Wirral, a company owned by members Paul and Debbie Stanhope.

 

All of which means that we have now not only hit our £2000 but surpassed it by around £500!

 

Committee member and Child Protection Officer Sally Johnstone is now organising fresh quotes with a view to the work starting before too long.

 

 

Unfortunately, however, the fundraising cannot stop there!  With £6000 still to pay to the contractors for the court resurfacing work, the external fence is now starting to fail - the plastic coating is cracking to reveal the steel beneath, which is then rusting until breaks appear.  So a new fund has begun, this time with a £3000 target.  The new fund is at least off to a £500 head start due to the expected surplus from the clubhouse fund.

 

Can you help boost the fence replacement fund?  Any amount is useful, especially if you are a UK tax payer and can therefore boost your donation by an extra 25 pence for every £1 with some government assistance.  Full details of the latest fundraiser can be found here.