Cowan Park tennis courts revamped
Improvement works to refurbish the tennis courts in Cowan Park are now complete, providing local residents and visitors with six full-size courts to use free-of-charge.
Published 16 July 2024
The project included the upgrading three of the courts from red blaes to tarmac, installing new fencing and gates and painting all six courts. This represented a £129,000 investment by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and the Council, and formed part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish 3,000 existing public tennis courts across Great Britain.
Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls.
£124,000 of the funding came from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, with £5,000 also invested by East Renfrewshire Council.
Already underway at the improved courts is East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Trust's 'Tennis For Free' programme, which occurs every Saturday from 10am-12pm. These sessions, run in partnership with Giffnock Tennis, Hockey and Squash Club, welcome all ages and abilities (children and adults). It's completely free of charge and all equipment is provided.
Following the successful introduction of an online booking system at Rouken Glen Park's courts, sessions at the upgraded courts in Cowan Park can be booked for free at: clubspark.lta.org.uk/BarrheadCowanPark
East Renfrewshire Council Environment Convener, Councillor Danny Devlin, said: 'I am delighted to see this project complete. This investment has been fantastic for Barrhead and the wider East Renfrewshire community. We're committed to maintaining and upgrading our public facilities and these improvements in Cowan Park provide local residents and visitors with six top quality tennis courts. Playing sport and keeping active has a real positive impact on physical and mental health, so I look forward to seeing lots of people enjoy the newly improved courts.'
Investment into parks is one way in which the LTA is working to open tennis up across Scotland, in partnership with Tennis Scotland. The LTA, Tennis Scotland and Sportscotland are also delivering the £15million Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis fund to provide more year-round community accessible tennis provision, including the development of new indoor facilities in Oriam and Moray which are currently underway.
Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said: 'After months of hard work, we're delighted to see park tennis courts in Barrhead's Cowan Park are back open to the public, and in better shape than ever. Public tennis courts are such vital facilities for getting active and we want as many people as possible, of all ages and abilities, to pick up a racket and enjoy playing tennis. Thanks to this investment the sport will be opened up to more players, for years to come.'
