Covered padel courts coming to Chichester club – paid for by members
Exciting changes are coming to the Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club in the form of four competition-standard, covered padel courts.
Offering year-round padel facilities with protection from the elements, the new padel pavilion will bring fantastic opportunities for members, as well as putting the club on the map for graded events and competitions up to grade one.
The most impressive and notable point about the new facilities is not just the courts themselves, but the fact that the whole expansion operation is being funded solely by members at the club.
A concept created by John Love, former club director and finance officer, enabled existing members to purchase debentures and long-term memberships to secure funding of £772,000 without the need for external borrowing.
“We have been blown away by the support from our members,” said Terri Wheeler, Club Manager..
"As an independent racquets club, we are led by our members and appreciate that we cannot operate as a club without them.
"We are so grateful to all of those who invested in this exciting next chapter for the club and for everyone’s patience at the club while we navigate the final stages of building works on site.
"For us as a club, this is huge. Not only will our members have state-of-the-art padel courts to enjoy all year round, but we will be able to open our doors to graded competition events to grow our padel following alongside our other racquet sports on site.”
The courts have been supplied by Spanish padel court specialists Manza Sport. Works have been carefully planned and executed by Fordingbridge contractors and Trevor May court surface specialists, with guidance from Genesis Town Planning and Randell Design Group.
Work has gone ahead under the careful direction of board members at the club, steered by Mike Harris, former board director and chair of the strategy sub-committee.
“Investing in our club means new opportunities and facilities for our members,” said club chairman James Humphrys.
"We invested together, and now we can all benefit together. While padel is a big part of our offering at the club, it reinforces our commitment to providing quality sports facilities to our community, whether it’s tennis, padel, racketball, squash, fitness classes, a workout in the gym or a post-match pint and bite to eat in the members’ bar.”
The new facilities are set to open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, November 7 and a community open day on Saturday 14.
Follow CRAFC on Facebook and Instagram @crafc64 or visit crafc.co.uk for more information on opening events and planned completion of works on site.