Local Tennis Club seeks to raise €50k shortfall for new facilities

Despite the fact that its new state-of-the-art tennis facilities are nearing completion at its new grounds beside the Regional Sports Centre, Athlone Tennis Club is still facing a shortfall in the region of €50,000 in order to complete the ambitious project.

A major midsummer raffle which was organised by the club to raise funds was due to hold its prizegiving night on July 10 last, but it has been postponed to a new date of September 22, according to club member Pat Conway.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Mr Conway said selling the raffle tickets has been “a hard slog” as the club has had to compete with “so many other very worthy causes” in the Athlone area, particularly in light of the fact that all fundraising was put on hold for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Club devised the fundraising raffle to have a broad appeal to members of the public, pitching ticket prices at a single ticket for €20 or three tickets for €50, and with a first prize of €5,000. “We printed hardcopy tickets and also made them available for sale through iDonate, but we found the hardcopy tickets have been selling better than the online forum,” points out Pat Conway.

In tandem with selling tickets for their midsummer raffle, Athlone Tennis Club has been engaging in an awareness campaign to try to encourage new membership and, to that end, it held an Information Event in the Golden Island shopping centre over the weekend of June 19/20 and is hoping to hold a second event locally later this summer.

“We had 440 members at the end of last year and the club is now open to new members and we would like to get the message across that not everyone who joins the club has to play tennis at a competitive level, we have members at every level, from those who just want to get a bit of exercise and have a bit of fun, to those who take part in competitions, everyone can find someone who is at their own particular level,” says Pat Conway.

In an effort to bridge the €50,000 gap that is needed to complete the brand new facilities at the Regional Sports Centre, Athlone Tennis Club is planning to approach local businesses seeking donations of €250, €500 and €1,000 for a one year period.

“In return we will give them publicity throughout the year,” explains Pat Conway, who adds that the Tennis Club believes it will be providing “an incredible asset to Athlone” with the new facilities. “What we will have is very unique and we feel we are leading the way in terms of sporting facilities in Athlone.”

Construction of the new tennis club, which is located on a site beside the Regional Sports Centre, began on February 23, and the first phase of the development consists of three floodlit tennis courts and a temporary clubhouse and will cost in the region of €450,000.

The tennis courts are completed “up to tarmac level” at the moment, according to Pat Conway, who expects to have them fully operational by “late Autumn” provided the club can “close the fundraising gap”

Immediately after the first phase is completed the club plans to submit a planning application to Westmeath County Council for the next phase of the development which will consist of three indoor tennis courts under a dome-like structure which will enable tennis fans to play all year round. The final phase of the hugely-ambitious project will see the construction of a permanent clubhouse.

As part of the fundraising drive, Athlone Tennis Club plans to revisit a bond scheme which was originally set up among the membership of the club and saw over €120,000 being raised when members took out ten-year bonds of €2,000 each. “If any member of the public or a local business would like to take out a bond we would be delighted to hear from them,” says Pat Conway, who points out that the bond scheme which members invested in “was absolutely crucial” to getting the project to build a brand-new Tennis Club underway.

As well as raising over €120,000 through the bond scheme, Athlone Tennis Club also received €150,000 from LEADER and €97,000 from the Sports Capital Grants Programme. The site on which the new facilities will be located was originally offered to the club by Westmeath County Council as far back as 1996, but Pat Conway says they were “not in a position” to take up the offer at that stage.

Anyone wishing to donate to the new club facilities for Athlone Tennis Club is asked to contact the website at www.athlonetennisclub.ie or any member of the committee. Raffle tickets can also be purchased via the iDonate page: https://www.idonate.ie/7203_athlone-tennis-club.html