New Lease for Roehampton Playing Fields
Trust secures park's future for the next decade
Yoga in Roehampton Playing Fields. Picture: Enable
June 21, 2024
The Roehampton Playing Fields Community Trust (RPFCT) has announced that it now has a 10-year lease for the site near Dover House Road.
In addition, it has also secured a funding agreement with Wandsworth Council 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.
The trust says, “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.”
To celebrate a community fun day is being held on Saturday 29 June and you are encouraged to bring your friends and families to see, and try out, the facilities. Everyone is welcome and there will also be barbeque as well mini
football, a netball taster session, access to the tennis courts, a drop in keep fit session and lots more. The event runs from 10am – 3pm.
The RPFCT has also completed the 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 money from the council for new court fencing and installation of the ClubSpark entry system, which you can book on this link.
The tennis coaching programme for all ages and abilities run by Emma Wells Tennis is now expanding to provide free tennis coaching sessions for nearby primary schools.
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 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 funded by Putney High School.
The Trust is 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.
It is now trying to secure funding to enable us to improve and develop the pavilion. Following completion of the recent consultation exercise, the RPFCT expect to be able to secure ‘match funding’ from local and national sports funding bodies, to match the funding from its supporters. More details of the fundraising appeal will be released in due course.
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