Hove Park Delivers - The Community now run the Tennis Courts !

There seems to have been months of rain and cold and whilst hibernation has been the best option for many there have been a few working hard to secure the future of tennis in our city. Following Queens Park successfully setting up a community tennis club the council promised that other sites would have the opportunity to develop similar models. It is great to hear that the many tennis playing groups in Hove Park have managed to collaborate over the winter months and have now taken on the running of the courts from the council. As always these things don’t happen without significant effort by a few people to: -Bring together the various groups based on common benefits -Establish a working constitution of rules and beliefs -Engagement with coaches and other user groups for the promotion of the sport and to increase participation To achieve the above regular players are Hove Park have set up the Hove Park Tennis Alliance.(HPTA) Their efforts provide the best chance to secure the long term financial viability of this tennis location by ensuring that all players contribute fairly to the upkeep and long term capital investment required. HPTA have now set up a booking system where groups, coaches and casual players can book courts and pay online. This can be found at the link below. At the park you can see a number of signs informing players of the new process and how to book and pay for the courts. Regular Players are encouraged to make use of the £70/year membership demonstrating excellent value for a year of tennis. Casual players can book individual court hours at the standard council rate of £7.90/hr. Adoption of the courts by the community still requires full council approval and we ask everyone to support the efforts that have gone on during the winter to make this successful. The alternative was potential closure of courts and we hope that other sites will develop similar models and achieve long-term sustainability through community support and participation. Hove park is a complex site with many user groups and coaches and HPTA have done an excellent job making this happen in a short period of time. Well done to everyone involved.