Irvine Tennis Club’s transformation has been hailed as a smash hit after being given approval to take over their run-down facilities 20 months ago.

The work of the group was underlined as a case study at a meeting of North Ayrshire Council's cabinet earlier this month.

Community representatives had a vision to revamp the tennis courts in Thornhouse Avenue and the Irvine Locality Partnership worked with the club to enable them to take on ownership through a community asset transfer of the courts in the summer of 2022.

They also provided help and support to access funding and to submit an expression of interest to their locality partnership.

Irvine Tennis Club were invited to progress to the next round by submitting a full application and delivering a presentation to the partnership of the proposals. 

Support to access funding was made available to the club and they were successful in achieving a range of funding.

This allowed for the resurfacing and development of additional tennis courts, fencing and floodlights to allow access and continued use in winter months.

Irvine Tennis Club still have intentions to build a new clubhouse, which will host a social area, toilets and a changing area with showers.

They have reinvigorated the tennis courts in Irvine to enable the community to come together to enjoy playing tennis and other games within the refurbished tennis courts.

All the progress made will enable the club to compete as well as enable their community to use a safe year-round facility.

The group opened the courts up for community use at the end of summer and already has over 70 members. The club have formed many partnerships with community groups who have all expressed an interest in a variety of activities on offer.