NEW LEASE AGREED

We’re delighted to announce that the Trust now has a 10-year lease for the Playing Fields. We also have a funding agreement with Wandsworth Council (‘WBC’) for £160,000 to contribute to the improvement and development of the pavilion, and an operating agreement with Enable Leisure & Culture which will operate the site for the Trust.  So we’re now, finally (!), in a position to run the Playing Fields for and on behalf of the community and increasingly to work towards ensuring that the Fields become a sustainable and far better-used community facility. 

COMMUNITY FUN DAY 29th June

Please bring your friends and families to see, and try out, the facilities for yourself! Everyone is welcome to join us for the Community Fun Day and BBQ on Saturday 29 June, from 10am-3pm: There will be mini football, a netball taster session, access to the tennis courts, a drop in keep fit session and lots more!

Already the Trust, working with Enable and WBC, has been able to make great progress on improving the Fields and increasing usage by a wide range of community users:

·       TENNIS and NETBALL We’ve completed much-needed refurbishment of the tennis courts (and netball courts) with the help of £120,000 of funding from the Lawn Tennis Association together with funding from WBC for new court fencing and installation of the ClubSpark entry system, which you can book with the below link –

https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/RoehamptonPlayingFields

·       TENNIS COACHING The tennis coaching programme for all ages and abilities run by Emma Wells Tennis is already proving to be very popular, and is now expanding to provide free tennis coaching sessions for nearby primary schools; 

·       CRICKET The cricket square has been re-built to meet the required standards for cricket users, together with the installation of artificial pitches for use by school and junior players. It’s well used now by newer users (including Roehampton CC and Fulham CC) as well as our more established club users;

·       The three cricket nets and bowling machine are increasingly in use for cricket coaching and training: two of these have been funded by the English Cricket Board (‘ECB’) with the third kindly funded by Putney High School. 

·       PITCH IMPROVEMENTS We’re continuing to work, particularly with Dover House Lions FC, on improving the quality of the football pitches and maintenance thereof including, working with the Football Foundation, undertaking soil and irrigation analysis towards achieving better irrigation and improved sustainability of the pitches.

PAVILION IMPROVEMENTS

We’re now very actively engaged on work to secure funding to enable us to improve and develop the pavilion. Following completion of the recent consultation exercise, we expect to be able to secure ‘match funding’ from local and national sports funding bodies, to match the funding from our generous pledgers and supporters – and it’s this powerful combination which will enable us to secure the future of the pavilion at the improved Playing Fields for a wide range of users at the heart of our community. 

We will be in touch again as we launch our fundraising appeal for the much-needed development of the pavilion: all ideas, suggestions and help will be very gratefully received!

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We’ve got this far with a small group of trustees and supporters, but we now need your help to ensure the growth and success of the Playing Fields: so if you’d be able to help us (especially if you have an interest in communications, marketing, fundraising, biodiversity, planning/development, events etc!) please do contact us on info@roehamptonplayingfields.org