New tennis facilities?

NEW and improved tennis facilities for Frome could be on the horizon thanks to funding made available by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Frome Selwood Tennis Club is in the early stages of exploring how money from the LTA could be used in the town if they are successful in their application.

The club is working in partnership with Frome Town Council and Frome College on the project and possible ideas being explored include new LED floodlights, the improvement of clubhouse facilities and the construction of covered tennis courts.

Speaking to the Frome Times, development & fundraising officer for the club, John Price said, “The LTA (our governing body) has announced a national capital investment programme for improving tennis facilities. The ‘Transforming British Tennis Together’ initiative will generate £250million to be invested into the British game over the next 10 years.

“The money is a one-off windfall that has arisen through the sale of the LTA’s land-holding at Wimbledon. The aim of the scheme is to double the number of children playing tennis and double the number of times infrequent adults play tennis.

“The club is working in partnership with Frome Town Council and Frome Community College to identify improvements that could be made to tennis facilities in Frome.  There are three main areas of interest; introduction of LED low energy floodlighting, improvement of existing clubhouse facilities, and identification of a site that could be suitable for covered tennis courts.

“The scheme welcomes partnerships, and the multi-use of a covered facility to include another sport could be feasible if funding was made available by that sport’s governing body.”

More information on the project is expected in the next 3-4 months.