Community Tennis Club
Please use the following links to view:
Our Safeguarding Policy
The British Tennis Diversity and Inclusion Policy
How to join
If you want to join or rejoin the Community Tennis Club for the 2020 season, the fee will continue to be £25 per family for the person from 1st April to the end of October. You can pay online.
If you want to join the club you can do so at:
https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/spencerpark or please email friendsofspencerpark@gmail.com for an application form.
You will then be issued with a membership card with the access code for the courts. Court bookings will be made online.
There is an online booking system available to members. You must have applied for membership before you can use the booking system. You should always use this system if you plan to play tennis at Spencer Park, even if you think that there will be courts available. The system is easy to use and mobile-friendly. To access the system, click on this link:
https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/SpencerPark
If this is your first visit to this website, you will need to register and choose a password.
On subsequent visits, when you wish to book a court, enter your email address followed by your password which you will have chosen when you first register.
You will see a day by day calendar with one-hour time slots. There are four courts available for each one-hour slot. The courts are numbered 1 – 4. Court 4 is adjacent to Dalton Road, court 1 is nearest the pavilion.
You book a slot be clicking on your choice of day/hour/court number. You may only book one hour per day. You will receive a confirmation email and also a reminder shortly before your booking. If you are more than 15 minutes late for your booked slot, you may forfeit the booking.
Please do not make bookings more than one week in advance – these will be removed from the system. Note that the courts are booked in advance at certain times for tennis matches by King Henry VIII students under an existing agreement with the school.
Non-members wishing to play tennis
To play tennis at Spencer Park you must be accompanied by a member. The member who has invited you must book a court in their name via the online booking system. You can do this by following the instructions above (which also works on a smart phone).
Children’s playgrounds
A children’s playground has been installed on the grass in the north east corner of the park. The playground is not fenced off from the rest of the park, giving children easy access to the play equipment from the surrounding grassed areas. Dog owners are kindly requested to make sure that their dogs do not enter the play equipment area.
The old tennis courts area at the Broadway entrance to the park couldn’t be use for the site of the play equipment due to the expense of removing asbestos from underneath the old tennis court surface. However, this area has been sealed off with a new layer of tarmac and Friends of Spencer Park have raised funds for a range of playground markings. This latest play area is proving very popular amongst children of all ages.
The pavilion
Plans for the pavilion are progressing well, with discussions now taking place between the Council (as the owners of the pavilion) and the Friends of Spencer Park to acquire a lease on the building. The aim is to refurbish the pavilion to provide a community-run café on the ground floor and an art gallery/community space on the first floor. In preparation for this major development, two surveys of park users have been conducted. A report based upon the information collected in these surveys is available here.
Together with the necessary fund-raising this will all take time. Meanwhile, this summer the Friends of Spencer Park will open a takeaway café in the pavilion, operating at weekends and serving hot and cold drinks, packaged snacks and ice creams.
Pavilion for hire!
We have decorated one of the rooms in the pavilion so that we can host children’s parties when Covid restrictions permit. If you’re interested in hiring our party room, please get in touch. We can even help you arrange your catering!
Bowls
If you are interesting in playing bowls on the flat green, please email Friends of Spencer Park for more information. Groups are especially welcome.
If you would like to join the Albany Bowls Club who play on the crown green, please visit the club’s website for more information.
www.albanyclubbowls.co.uk
Keep fit
The perimeter path of Spencer Park is almost exactly a quarter of a mile. So … four times around the park and you’ve done a mile! That’s equivalent to around 2000 steps.
If you fancy something a bit more challenging, check out the new 1km marker posts around the recreation ground. They are 100m apart and mark out a full 1km lap. More details are posted in the new notice board on Spencer Road.
Friends of Spencer Park – Registered Charity No.1176323