HARROGATE SPA TENNIS
ABOUT OUR CLUB
We are a charity run by a board of volunteers, and any surplus is reinvested in the Club.
We host weekly Padel Sessions for people with Parkinson's.
All our facilities are wheelchair accessible.
Our courts are all available for members of the public to book on a ‘pay and play’ basis.
Our Break Point café is open for use by the local community.
We are an LTA Registered Venue, which means that we meet the requirements of the LTA as a great place for everyone to play safely.
… and last but not least, we make every effort to be Harrogate’s most sociable tennis club.
Seventy six years and counting
Harrogate Spa Tennis Centre (‘HSTC’) started out as the ‘Spa Lawn Tennis Club’ in 1947, and was located in what is now the car park of the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.
Following a period on the Duchy Estate, in 2015 an ambition to revitalise the Club was realised by relocation to a greenfield site at Claro Park, with room for further expansion. Six new high quality tennis courts were built, with a small clubhouse. The move has proved a great success, bringing many more members and players into both the club and the sport.
No sooner was the move to Claro Road completed than new plans to build indoor tennis facilities were formulated. With the dramatic increase in the cost of steel, and the equally dramatic growth in the sport of padel, the trustees decided to adapt these plans, and the result is the new development which – with assistance of finance from the LTA – opened in May 2023.
The new facilities include a larger pavilion with café and bar, two new covered padel tennis courts, full LED floodlighting and improved parking and landscaping.
The ambition to open indoor tennis courts and to develop the facilities yet further continues, and the trustees will be considering various options over the coming years.
An LTA venue
HSTC is a registered venue with the LTA.
Registration is recognition by the LTA that a venue provides a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for the pursuit of tennis and padel tennis. As part of the registration process the centre is obliged to maintain a range of safeguarding and associated policies and guidelines. Hard copies of these policies are kept in the pavilion.
The LTA in Yorkshire
Please click here to read an introductory letter from Steve Jones, the new Chair of Yorkshire Tennis Limited. It outlines the priorities for YTL, which includes supporting clubs in the region.
Charitable objectives & club ethos
HSTC’s key objective is the promotion of community participation in physically and mentally healthy recreation, for the benefit of the inhabitants of Harrogate, Knaresborough and the surrounding areas, through the provision of tennis related facilities. We welcome everyone, regardless of youth, age, infirmity, or disablement.
Specifically, we aim to:
- Encourage both membership and ‘pay and play’ tennis and padel
- Develop attractive coaching programmes to introduce more participants to the sports of tennis and padel tennis
- Promote the facilities for use by disabled groups and local schools, including school coaching sessions
- Work closely with the LTA for the promotion of tennis and padel
The company
Harrogate Spa Tennis Centre Limited was established to facilitate the upgrade, modernisation and continuance of the Spa Tennis Club formed in 1947. In the process the legal entity of the club has changed from a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) to a private company limited by guarantee which is also a registered charity.
The centre has established a leasehold and ‘partnership’ arrangement with Harrogate High School whose pupils have managed access to the centre’s facilities for coaching in tennis.
HSTPC is managed by centre manager Yasmin Torry and a board with the following volunteer trustees: Nigel Bentley, Acting Chair; Sophie-Anne Sharples, Finance Director; Ian Charters, Director (H&S, Risk Assessment); Chris Dight, Director (Operations & Facilities).
The other trustees include John Hipkin, Tessa Leak, and Sandra Wiggins.
The board liaises regularly with Harrogate High School through the school’s governors.
Company Details: Harrogate Spa Tennis Centre Limited, a Company Limited By Guarantee, No 8561467 Registered in England and Wales; Registered Charity No 1154633. The company lodges its accounts at Companies House and at the Charity Commission. The company’s Articles of Association are available on request.
Safeguarding & Welfare Officers
HSTC has two Safeguarding and Welfare Officers, Carolyn Rothwell and Nigel Sykes, who have received LTA training and who should be contacted in the event of any safeguarding incident. All our safeguarding policies are available at the pavilion.
Club Policies
The club has a series of policy documents covering other issues such as diversity & inclusion, junior safety, privacy etc. These are currently under review. The existing policies are all available to view in the pavilion.
Click to view the Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct.
