Tennis club threatened with closure is £3k away from fundraising target

A South London tennis club that is threatened with closure is less than £3,000 away from funding its own bid to buy the site. Norbury Park Lawn Tennis Club's (NPLTC's) future has been in doubt since Croydon Council announced its intention to dispose of the site.

Despite claiming it isn't selling the site in Norbury, the council does want to lease it out to save money as the authority faces crippling debts, and unless the tennis club can raise the funds to buy it themselves, it leaves it open to other offers from developers or groups who may not want to keep the club running.

After setting a fundraising target of £25,000, Norbury Park's members have been donating their own money and working hard to generate the funds, with the Gofundme now sitting at £22,482 as of Monday (March 10). In an update posted on March 5 on the fundraising page, at which point it was still £3,500 away from its target, a spokesperson for the club said: "We are thrilled to share that thanks to your incredible generosity, we are so close to reaching our fundraising goal!

"Your kind donations have brought us within touching distance of our target, and we now have just over £3,500 left to raise in the next 30 days! Your support has been nothing short of amazing, and we are deeply grateful for every contribution. Each pound donated brings us one step closer to buying the land and saving our precious club!"

Further fundraising event are planned in the form of a quiz night on Friday (March 14), a veterans' tennis tournament on April 2 and a Grand Fundraising Finale Party on Saturday, April 5.

You can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/securing-the-future-of-norbury-park-lawn-tennis-club

What happens if they hit the £25k target?

Croydon Council and the tennis club signed a Heads of Terms agreement in October 2024, and the two sides have been negotiating to finalise the lease since then. The £25,000 is the missing amount that will allow NPLTC to secure the site on a 999-year lease giving them long-term security, having already set some money aside and taken out small loans to fund the rest. NPLTC is the only tennis club in North Croydon and one of the oldest in the world, having been founded in 1890.

MyLondon is supporting NPLTC through its own campaign, Don't Cut the Heart Out of London, aimed at saving community venues from closure.

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