Greville Smyth Tennis Club recently received the news that Bristol City Council is considering terminating the long-standing arrangement which allows the club to manage their courts. The lease would be put up for public consultation. While council chiefs have tried to reassure the club that they are not about to take over their courts and hand them over to a private operator, many of the members are worried this could be the end of their club.
In similar cases courts have been taken over by local charities. The council owns eight sets of courts throughout the city and in the past few years five of them have been transferred to the West of England Sports Trust (Wesport). Through plans such as the Bristol Parks Tennis scheme, unused and dilapidated courts in places such as Eastville park and Canford park have been turned into easily accessible, community facilities. What they haven’t been turned into is clubs!
In places where courts have already been run by communities these transfers have been controversial, especially where the Wesport model has meant people have started having to pay and book courts to use them. Redcatch park in Knowle experienced a huge row between those who wanted the courts to remain open and be managed by local charities, and by those who believed they should be refurbished by Wesport.
This isn’t at all needed at Greville Smyth anyway. They are as far away from unused as possible, boasting almost 500 members, one of the largest clubs in the South of Bristol. Describing themselves as a ‘friendly, social tennis club, with low membership fees, for players of all ages and abilities’, they prioritise the community and team sides of tennis, running social sessions for members on and off the court most days of the week, including ladies-only and walking tennis sessions. They also enter teams into the Avon Tennis League. In the next few years they hope to continue to expand, with plans for floodlights, toilet facilities and even better Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) tennis sessions.
This is by no means a club which needs rebuilding.
Club chair James Mikkelson says ‘For years our club has shown what’s possible when local people come together. Hundreds of hours of volunteer time have gone into creating a welcoming, inclusive club and self-funded that offers free community sessions, supports people of all ages and abilities, and helps build genuine local connections. We work closely with the LTA and Avon Tennis to bring new ideas and opportunities into the club and are deeply concerned that this community-first approach could be replaced by a commercial operator, with decisions made further away from the people who use and care for these courts. We believe the future of Greville Smyth should continue to be shaped by the local community.’
This community focus is clear to see in reviews from members as well. They talk about how it has allowed them to ‘form valuable friendships and become part of a welcoming community with a wonderful spirit’ and claim it is ‘definitely the friendliest club in Bristol’. They emphasise how it is ‘so much more than just somewhere to play tennis’.
It is likely that under other ownership all the things the club offers will be ended. The club identity which has been carefully built since its opening in the 1990s, and even longer before that when the courts were built in the early 1900s, could be dissolved in a matter of months. This cannot be allowed to happen.
The members are fighting to prevent a takeover, and will do all they can to save their club.
Story By Nat Nadin
