Dear members & Wistow community,
As you may be aware, the SmartStart group are no longer using the tennis courts as an outside play area. We hope that the letter sheds some light on why this decision has come about.
To provide some background, Wistow Tennis Club is a non-profit club with over 100 current members, comprising over 20 families, with more than 50 children & students using the facilities as a place for exercise and social interaction. The club provides the facilities for the local community, supporting our younger members, families and disadvantaged members with services such as tots tennis, coaching and holiday tennis camps, with additional plans to encourage further involvement from the local primary school.
Alongside this, Wistow Tennis Club has supported SmartStart for well over a decade, allowing the tennis courts to be used as a playground on a daily basis. This has been provided completely free of charge through the goodwill of the club, reflecting the club’s sympathetic stance towards SmartStart’s desire for an outside play area.
However, over time this use has caused significant damage to the court surface (please see examples below) with the daily use of hard toys, wheeled trikes and bikes contributing towards the need for the current resurfacing / repainting work, despite the courts being freshly painted in 2020 at a cost of £5,000.
The club has been saving over the past 27 years to raise the £40,000 needed to resurface and repaint the tennis courts, with many members donating significant amounts to help reach the goal. This includes two individual donations totalling over £20,000 from personal / life savings.
The offer of £200 per year was suggested as a solution for continued usage, however this would unfortunately amount to a fraction of the cost of resurfacing and repainting the courts, whilst also raising potential issues regarding sub-letting.
Of most immediate concern (and why a decision had to be reached relatively quickly) is SmartStart’s usage of the newly laid surface, which in its current state is vulnerable to damage, as specifically outlined in the contractor’s guidelines: “It is essential to prohibit roller-skates, skateboards, bicycles, wheelbarrows full of sand and anything else that children may bring on the court and which could do damage to the surface.” – (highlighted, p2)
This newly laid surface may take up to 3 months to fully cure, with any damage or spills occurring during this period highly likely to void the contractor’s guarantee for the scheduled paintwork in the spring.
Additionally, SmartStart’s use of the courts has the potential to invalidate a claim made to the club’s insurance policy due to toys, magnets, chalk sticks and other potentially hazardous objects often being left out on the courts.
The committee believes that due to these issues, the significant costs involved, and in order to protect and preserve the courts for members and for future generations, as well as the availability of other options in the immediate area, it is no longer able to provide the tennis courts as a playground for the SmartStart group.
Whilst this has not been an easy choice to make, we hope that this letter sheds light on the club’s decision. The Tennis Club wishes to continue to be an open and inclusive part of the community, providing high quality tennis facilities for the village, with the wish that many SmartStart members will become future members of the club (with two former members currently on the WTC committee).
Yours Sincerely
Wistow Tennis Club Committee
