This report offers a summary of our achievements as a Club over the past year, along with an overview of potential plans for the next 12-18 months.
After reading this report (and our Treasurer’s Report), members are encouraged to vote on important motions and provide feedback via the online AGM survey, which will run from 16th October until 6pm on 6th November.
The online survey takes 5-10 minutes and includes a section on future plans, including a potential second padel court and a clubhouse extension.
Click on the button below to vote and complete the survey. Alternatively, members can provide their input in person at the AGM members’ meeting, at 7:30 pm on 6th November in the cricket club.
The past 12 months have been hugely successful for the Club, marking the culmination of four years of significant change and hard work. Since our last AGM, we have:
Looking to the future, and subject to membership support and permission from the Parish Council, the Club’s volunteer committee are considering plans to enlarge the current clubhouse, along with potential plans for a second padel court. More details are in the Facilities and Fees section of this report, or click see images of potential plans.
Please read the other sections of this report (using the tabs below or at the top of the page), and to get a feel of the progress that we have made over the last 12 months, enjoy the latest version of our Club video at the bottom of each page. And don’t forget to provide your feedback and submit your votes via the online AGM survey.
See you all on court soon!
Michael Simpson
Chair at Wargrave Tennis Club
16th October 2025
If approved by the members at the AGM, the following list of volunteers have agreed to serve on the committee. Although it is with huge regret, Wendy Mills (our excellent Membership Secretary) is likely to be standing down when she moves to Devon by the New Year. Wendy has been an excellent member of the committee, and she will be greatly missed. If anyone is interested in stepping into her shoes, please let us know.
Members can vote for their approval of these nominations (or otherwise) in an online AGM survey that will run from Thursday, 16th October until 6pm on Thursday.
We have a vacancy for Social Secretary, a volunteer who is needed to help plan, promote and run 4-5 fun social tournaments every year, together with 1-2 social events e.g. quiz nights, xmas social etc.
| Position | Nomination |
| Chair | Michael Simpson |
| Treasurer | Richard Vertigan |
| Secretary | Clare Belton |
| Membership | Wendy Mills |
| Match Secretary | Paul McDonald |
| Ladies Team Captain | Liz Tripp |
| Joint Men’s Team Captain | Kieran Martin-Davis |
| Joint Men’s Team Captain | Gary Westwood |
| Juniors Co-Ordinator | Katie Hodgkins |
| Club Tournaments + Box Leagues | Tom Lewis |
| Social Media + Promotion Support | Alex Bishop |
| Club Maintenance – Clubhouse | Rachel Hurlock |
| Club Maintenance – Courts and Grounds | Dale Williams |
| Welfare and Safeguarding | Sarah Thompson |
Our work as a committee continues to be guided by the objectives and goals shown below. These were initially agreed in July 2022, although as membership numbers have grown, our goals have been updated. In terms of “advancing the game of tennis”, we believe that this definition includes new and exciting formats such as padel and pickleball.
“To advance the game of tennis in Wargrave and the surrounding area, by encouraging and supporting more players, of all ages and abilities, to play better competitive or social tennis, in an environment that is fun, safe and inclusive.”
Along with the above objective, we have three main goals:
1) Grow and retain membership at the 440-480+ level (Adults to 270-290 / Juniors 170-190) in line with the potential of our facilities and catchment area (see more details on the Membership tab).
2) Keep our membership happy, with satisfaction levels at +80% measured via the AGM annual survey.
3) Manage Club finances over a 30+ year cycle to ensure we have adequate funds to maintain and improve our facilities, while holding reserves to always match 1 year of routine expenditure.
To achieve the three goals outlined above, we remain focused on six key “Action Areas” (with more details in the last 6 tabs of this report):
Our aim as a committee is to continually improve and maintain the best facilities we can afford, while keeping membership fees competitive for the courts and facilities we offer (see more details on fees at the bottom of this page).
Guided by the results of past membership surveys and EGM voting, we have made significant capital improvements to the Club over the past four years, amounting to more than £200,00. This included the introduction of advanced LED floodlighting on all eight courts in 2022, plus two artificial all-weather clay courts on courts 1 and 2 in 2024. This investment continued in 2025 with the addition of a further two artificial clay courts in April and the launch of our first padel court in May.
For the next 12-18 months, and subject to membership feedback and support from the Parish Council, we are considering two plans that we believe will help consolidate the growth in our current membership.
First, to explore the opportunity of introducing a second padel court, but in a way that keeps our existing 7 tennis courts. We believe that a second padel court will help facilitate social padel sessions and also allow us to host competitive matches against other padel clubs.
Second, to enlarge our existing clubhouse to provide more space for adult socialising together with more space to support the growth on junior tennis. For perspective, the adult membership of the Club has almost doubled since the current clubhouse was built, and the demands and safeguarding requirements for junior tennis have changed.
With a combination of our strong membership numbers, our reserves and potential loan support, we believe that it might be financially feasible to proceed with both options over the next 12-18 months.
However, we will wait to hear what members say in the current AGM survey, together with further input from the Parish Council. If both responses are positive, we would present more detailed proposals for an EGM early next year.
In addition to spending on capital improvements, we have continued to invest in routine maintenance items. This included the repainting of all our hard tennis courts in 2025, including the lines for pickleball tennis on courts 5, 6 and 9. For the coming 12 months, we have a budget of over £50,000 for a range of ongoing maintenance and routine expenditure items. This includes a new budget to help maintain the grounds (leaves and weeds) and a bigger budget for tennis balls for social sessions. For more details and healthy bedtime reading, please read our Treasurer’s Report.
Membership Fees 2026/27
For the upcoming membership season (April 2026 to March 2027), we propose increasing membership fees by approximately 2.5%, which is slightly below the current inflation rate of between 3% and 4% (depending on the timing and inflation figure used). For example, this would increase the fees for a new adult member (age 31+) from £262 to approximately £269 per year, and returning members would still receive a 10% discount if they renewed in March and before 1st April 2026.
With all the improvements made to the Club over the past four years, we firmly believe that our fees offer excellent value for money, at around £5 a week for a typical full tennis member. We also recognise that our fees compare well with other clubs that have a similar number of courts and facilities.
Our financial projections also assume that no additional fee increases, aside from ongoing inflation adjustments, will be necessary for the capital investment plans under consideration for 2026 and 2027.
Over the past 12 months, our membership numbers have shown significant growth, increasing by over 40% to a current total of 474 (as of 15th October 2025). This marks a record high for the Club, with our highest-ever levels of adult (296) and junior members (178). We are also getting younger as a Club, with the average age of the 170+ new members joining us in the last 12 months being 7 years younger than our existing membership. Our membership also lives close to the Club, with 85% living within 5 miles and nearly 70% of all new members living within 3 miles.
Based on feedback from new members, membership growth has been driven by our investment in improved facilities, including artificial clay courts, pickleball, and the growing popularity of padel. New members also mention other softer factors, such as “being a friendly and welcoming club that encourages tennis (and padel and pickleball) for all ages and abilities.”
Having a growing membership not only boosts the numbers for our teams and social sessions but also provides the vital income that enables us to continue improving our courts and facilities. I want to thank Wendy Mills (nee Franklin), our Membership Secretary, for her excellent work in handling all our new membership enquiries, and also to Paul McDonald for his ongoing support in managing the annual renewal process.
Our membership growth is now reaching a point where we are considering the need to introduce a waiting list. As a committee, we have not yet finalised what our maximum membership should be. However, we will continue to track court utilisation data, and compare our “members per court ratio” with other leading clubs. There is no official members per court figure from the LTA, as they (and rightly) encourage clubs to first optimise court usage via court booking systems and by spreading play across a week. We will provide more details on this question later in the year, but please add your own comments via the online AGM survey.
Creating a Club environment that is fun, safe and inclusive is fundamental to both retaining current members and attracting new members. To this end, I want to again thank the work of Sarah Thompson, our Welfare Officer, for helping the committee to update Club rules and policies that are in line with our constitution and guidance from the Lawn Tennis Association. The updated Club rules and policies can be found on the Club website under membership documents. It is assumed that members are happy to follow these rules when they join the Club or renew their membership subscriptions.
We are well aware that members come and go, with an average “leaving rate” of about 15% for most tennis clubs. It is therefore vital that we not only work hard to retain and keep our current members happy, but that we continue to promote the Club to new members.
To engage with members and to promote the Club more widely, we continue to use regular email newsletters and surveys with existing members, together with updates using our new club website that we launched at the end of last year. Internal communication has also been enhanced by the adoption this year of our own WhatsApp Community.
Externally, we have “raised our game” with better use of the Club’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, which included some advertising in March and April. This has been combined with regular monthly stories in the Wargrave Village News magazine and in local newspapers. We also held an Open Morning in April for new members, with a particular focus on our plans for padel.
Despite all these efforts, we know that the best way to attract new members is via referrals and recommendations from our current membership… so please keep spreading the word!
We aim to provide a positive environment that promotes competitive play for tennis and also for our two new formats, padel and pickleball. This is achieved by entering around 20 teams in the different LTA tennis leagues, and by running our annual Club Competition, together with our ongoing singles tennis box league and the recent introduction of two padel ladders.
Over the past 12 months, we have achieved tremendous success as a Club across various Berkshire leagues, with over 70 adult members competing for our teams. In the Winter Leagues (that ended in March), our Men’s 1st Team are now competing in Division 1 and came a close 3rd behind Caversham and Windsor. Our Ladies 1st team also had great success, by winning Division 2.
In the Summer Leagues, our Men’s 1st team came top of Division 2 with an unbeaten record, and our Men’s 2nd team came top of their league. The women’s results were equally impressive, with the top two ladies teams winning their leagues. Our mixed 1st team also had some great results to win Division 2.
These results are truly impressive, with Wargrave now “mixing it up” with much larger and more established clubs such as Caversham, Maidenhead and Windsor.
Congratulations to our Head Coach (Ollie Brown) for inspiring us, to our Club Captains (Liz Tripp, Kieran Martin-Davis and Gary Westwood), our individual team captains, and to all our team players. Huge thanks also to our Match Secretary (Paul McDonald) for all his work in organising our league fixtures. For a comprehensive list of results for all teams, please visit the results page on our website.
Thanks to a glorious summer, we enjoyed a very successful inter-club competition, with over 100 players participating in various events, including tennis, padel, and pickleball. The Club Finals Day was held on 21st September, drawing over 200 competitors and spectators. This included a thriving pickleball tournament and the finals of our first-ever inter-club padel competitions. The full list of winners is shown below, along with huge thanks to our tournament organisers, Tom Lewis (Tennis) and Mark Nockles (Padel).
The Club Box League continues to grow and is an integral part of the competitive tennis that we encourage at Wargrave. It is also a reason that many new members mention as a reason for joining the Club. We are currently running six leagues with over 30 players. Click on the following to see all the latest results on our website. If you want to join the league for the next round, please contact Tom Lewis via the committee page on the Club website.
Padel continues to grow in popularity with over 80 players entering our Cub competition and signing up to the Club Padel Group. In October, Mark Nockles (our Padel coordinator) launched our very first inter-club padel ladder. To date, 51 players are signed up, with results being posted to the Rankade App. The current top five players are Rich Robinson, Jim Ashford, Manny Smith, Jeff Carter and Tom Batting. For more details, please visit our padel page on the club website.
Encouraging social tennis is a core part of what our Club offers, with around 40% of adult members describing themselves as “mainly social players” in our last AGM survey. As a committee, we are committed to ensuring that we continue to provide excellent social tennis opportunities for players of all ages and abilities. We also believe that the “Social Play” offer has been enhanced with the introduction of pickleball and padel formats.
As a Club, we currently offer five weekly social tennis Club sessions that are promoted on our website and via our new WhatsApp Community. Attendance clearly varies from week to week, but based on feedback from our last AGM survey, 93% of our social players said that they enjoyed being a member of the Club. In the future, we will continue to look at how we can grow and energise these sessions e.g. occasional mid-week social tournaments; greater use of WhatsApp etc.
The introduction of pickleball continues to be a success, with over 40 members of the Club’s pickleball Whatsapp group and 15 “pickleball only members”. We now run three weekly pickleball social sessions – on Monday evenings, Thursday mornings, and Friday evenings (with post-match drinks in the cricket club).
Over the year, we offered pickleball coaching with Russell Trayling; we organised a successful pickleball competition as part of our padel court launch in May (see video below); and we held a fun tournament on Finals Day with 24 competitors.
Many thanks to Roger Whiteside, our pickleball coordinator, for encouraging so many players to try the game. The rules are simple and the game is easy for beginners, but it can develop into a fast-paced, competitive game for more advanced players.
As a committee, we see Padel as a positive way to expand our offer to our social players, although our ability to run traditional social sessions is limited by having only one court. But even with one court, we are looking at ways of encouraging more players to give the game a try. For example, we have recently established a Social Padel Ladder that is designed to help players organise social matches through a new Social Padel Ladder WhatsApp group and apps like Spond. It’s early days, but we hope that social Padel will become more popular, and we will certainly be able to offer more enjoyable social sessions once we have a second Padel court. We are also planning to run another social padel party similar to the one we ran in May.
Over the past 12 months, we have organised three social tournaments, including Bobble Hat Tennis in December, our padel launch party in May, and our social pickleball tournament as part of Finals Day in September.
In addition, a big thank you to Wendy Mills (nee Franklin) for organising our regular Christmas Social Party, and thanks to Ollie Maunsell for inviting over 50 tennis members to his “Rave on the Rec” in September.
Please use the AGM Survey to indicate if you would like more social events at the Club. However, please note that a vacancy still exists on the committee for someone willing to plan, promote, and manage these activities.
Over the past year, it has been wonderful to see our junior membership numbers increase by 25%, now standing at 178, our highest level in over 15 years. During the Summer, we regularly had over 60 children attending our Friday afternoon junior club sessions. Further to this, we have also launched a special coach-led session on Monday evening, a match practice session for our more experienced junior players, and we regularly have 16 players. We are delighted that this is a strong mix of girls and boys regularly playing and attending. We are also making progress with our junior teams, and we ran a very successful inter-club junior competition on our Finals Day. This positive progress is thanks to the continued dedication of Katie Hodgkins, our Juniors Coordinator, along with great support from Head Coach Ollie Brown and his team.
Our Friday night sessions continue to be incredibly popular, with over 60 participants during the summer months. These sessions are designed to encourage players of all abilities to pick up a racket and have fun. It is wonderful to see more and more children joining these sessions, even as young as 4, which we hope gives our junior members a taste of developing their skills further through coaching and potentially building the skills to participate in some friendly matches.
Over the past year, we entered three junior teams into the Berkshire Winter League and four teams into the Summer League. We have achieved some very good results, with our Boys Under 14 team winning the Winter Division 2 and our Under 16 Boys progressing to Division 1 due to their positive progress in Division 2.
Our Under 14 girls have also enjoyed some great tennis and matches against other clubs and we are delighted to see an increase in the number of girls joining our teams. The team practice sessions on Monday evenings are certainly helping to improve the quality of competitive play, and we also encourage our more experienced juniors to join adult social and team practice sessions.
Please give us your feedback on junior tennis at Wargrave in our annual AGM members survey. Parents of juniors are eligible to vote.
Our Head Coach, Ollie Brown, has been with the Club since February 2023, although he only became our sole Head Coach in April 2024. During this period, he has continued to develop his coaching services at Wargrave and has played a key role in our teams’ success in the Berkshire League.
In the last 12 months alone, his overall coaching activity at the Club has more than doubled, with his income contribution rising from £5,572 in 2024 to nearly £10,000 in 2025. He continues to grow in popularity, with coaching satisfaction scores increasing from 70% to 86% in our last AGM survey.
As a committee, he is a valued member of our team and a key part of the way the Club has been so successful this year. We certainly feel very fortunate to have him on board, although we recognise that coaching is very personal, and it is difficult for any one coach to meet the coaching needs of all our members.
Ollie continues to support the Club every week with our popular kids’ night sessions. He also provides regular assistance for our adult team practice sessions, along with his team’s support for our junior teams on Monday evenings. For the upcoming financial year, this support is expected to cost the Club approximately £7,000.
There has been a steady increase in the number of attendees at Ollie’s term-time coaching sessions. For juniors, the focus remains on the red ball age group. For adults, the Monday drills sessions are successfully run by Assistant Coach Michael Ilott, and Assistant Coach Alex Harris is now running a popular Rusty Racket session on the same night. The mid-week cardio session for lady members continues to be popular and reportedly, very tiring
Ollie had a very busy year with holiday camps, including five weeks in the summer attended by over 150 juniors, mostly members of the Club, with about 16 attending each day. Participants could choose between morning tennis sessions or a full-day camp that included tennis in the morning and multi-sports and other activities in the afternoon. Additionally, Ollie ran a very successful Padel and Pickleball morning camp aimed at older children.
As long as there is no conflict with Club matches or tournaments, our coaching agreement with Ollie permits him to organise LTA approved tournaments, with up to 16 participants. We believe this helps us to “advance the game of tennis” and is an important source of income for Ollie (and the Club also receives 10% of all entrance fees).
To support the growth of coaching and our junior membership, and to better meet child safeguarding requirements, we are exploring plans to include a dedicated coaching and kids zone as part of our proposed clubhouse extension. This space will be especially useful when Ollie runs his camps and hosts junior tournaments, easing congestion in the main clubhouse rooms. Click on this link to see more details and drawings.