Member Article

TENNIS CLUB NETS HOUSEBUILDER’S SUPPORT

A UK leading housebuilder has helped transform Barnsley Tennis Club by building three new floodlit courts.

Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire played an integral role in the redevelopment of the tennis club, which was officially opened by Barnsley’s Mayor, Councillor Jeff Ennis.

As part of the 100-year-old club’s expansion and renovation programme, Barnsley Tennis Club upgraded its existing four tarmac courts to artificial grass as well as adding the three new courts, with the aim of attracting new members.

Chris Day, Barnsley Tennis Club chairman, said: “We are delighted to make our future vision of the club a reality.

“Our focus is on introducing more people to the game ultimately increasing our membership and strengthening our junior coaching programme, but to do this we needed to expand and upgrade our facilities.

“We can now offer members the choice of tarmac and artificial grass court surfaces, with five of them being floodlit, and feel we have some of the best tennis playing facilities in the region.

“This has been an ambitious project and could not have been achieved without Barnsley Council which we are grateful for their generous support. We would also like to thank Persimmon Homes for building our fantastic new courts and The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Yorkshire Tennis for their support also.”

The construction of the new three courts was a planning requirement of the adjacent Persimmon Homes Oakland Gardens development which, over the coming years, will create 326 new homes.

Karen Follows, technical director at Persimmon Homes, added: “We were delighted to be part of the official opening of the refurbished tennis club and new courts.

“We are almost halfway through building our Oakland Gardens development and believe the new club’s facilities are a wonderful asset that will benefit not only our customers but the community as a whole.”

Chris Day, added: “With our fantastic facilities we believe the future of tennis in Barnsley is very positive, and maybe this project will lay the foundation for a future Barnsley tennis champion.”

To mark the official opening, Barnsley’s Mayor unveiled a commemorative plaque. He was joined by MP and Mayor of Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, councillors Sharon Howard and Alice Cave, Karen Follows from Persimmon Homes, Paul Bennet and Paul Sheard from the LTA as well as Chris Day and club members.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Persimmon Homes .