This committee report, together with our treasurer’s report, provides an overview of the Club’s achievements over the past 12 months and our plans for the coming year. After reading both, members are encouraged to take 5 minutes to vote on important motions and to provide feedback via our online AGM survey (red button below). The deadline for AGM voting is Thursday 19th November at 6pm, with a members’ meeting starting at 7.30pm at the cricket club.
Highlights of the Year
We have had another hugely successful year for the Club, marking the culmination of five years of significant change and hard work. Since our last AGM, we have achieved the following:
- winners of Berkshire Tennis Club of the Year
- nominated as one of the five LTA Clubs of the Year
- gained planning permission and installed our second padel court
- gained planning permission to extend and improve our existing clubhouse
- continued to update our Club website, which was relaunched in 2024
- run another excellent Club Championship with a successful finals day for tennis, padel and pickleball
- achieved great success for our Ladies and Men’s teams in the winter and summer leagues
- watched our membership grow by 32%, to a year-end record high of 601 (414 adults and 187 juniors).
Your Committee Team
If approved by the AGM, the following people have agreed to serve on the committee for the next 12 months. A huge thanks for all their work over the past 12 months, with a special mention to Wendy Mills and Kieran Martin-Davis. They both stood down this year after four years of great service to the Club.
| Position | Name |
| Club Chair | Michael Simpson |
| Club Treasurer | Richard Vertigan |
| Club Secretary | Clare Belton |
| Membership Secretary | Nicola Chand |
| Membership Secretary | Paul McDonald |
| Ladies Team Captain | Liz Tripp |
| Joint Men’s Team Captain | Jon McCarthy |
| Joint Men’s Team Captain | Gary Westwood |
| Juniors Coordinator | Katie Hodgkins |
| Tennis Tournament Organiser | Tom Lewis |
| Padel Tournament Organiser | Mark Nockles |
| WhatsApp Communication and Club Padel Organiser | Alex Bhisop |
| Welfare Officer and Club Padel Organiser | Sarah Thompson |
| Clubhouse Maintenance | Rachel Hurlock |
| Courts and Grounds Maintenance | Rich Hodgkins |
| Head Coach | Ollie Brown |
Club Objectives and Goals
Our work as a committee is guided by the Club objectives and goals outlined below. We initially agreed on these in July 2022, but as membership has grown, we have recently updated our goals to reflect this success.
“To advance the game of tennis (including padel and pickleball) 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.”
Goal 1 – Promote and retain membership at 550-600+ (Adults 415+ / Juniors 185+) in line with current membership levels and the potential of our facilities and catchment area.
Goal 2 – Keep our membership happy by running the club well and achieving a satisfaction levels of +85% as measured in the AGM annual survey.
Goal 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.
Committee Action Areas
To achieve our overall objective and goals, as a committee, we remain focused on six key “Action Areas”:
Action Area 1 – Facilities and Fees
Our aim as a Committee is to provide the best facilities we can afford while keeping membership fees competitive. Over the past four years, we have invested nearly £250,000 in improvements, including LED floodlights, artificial clay courts, two new padel courts, security gates and lower fencing for improved viewing (as shown in the drone photo below).
Subject to approval at the AGM, our next major investment is the proposed clubhouse extension, providing much-needed space for a membership that has more than doubled since the current clubhouse was built. Before voting on this important motion, please click here to see more details of our plans..
Action Area 2 – Membership and Community
Over the past 12 months, our membership numbers have continued to grow by 32%, reaching a record high of 601 at the end of September (414 adults and 187 juniors), with around 70% of all members living within 3 miles of the Club. And since 2024, our membership has actually grown by an amazing 79%, driven by the success of padel and other improvements we have made to the Club, together with consistent feedback that we are “a friendly and welcoming club that encourages tennis (and padel and pickleball) for all ages and abilities.”
This growth in our membership has transformed the financial strength of the Club and the level of facilities that we can afford. However, with membership approaching capacity, we are now considering a waiting list. The Committee has recently agreed to undertake a full review if we reach 630 members, including court utilisation, members-per-court comparisons with other local clubs, plus feedback from the AGM survey. However, with members continually coming and going, we will continue to promote the Club through our website, social media, and local press, whether or not we introduce a waiting list.
Action Area 3 – Adult Competitive Play
Our aim is to provide a positive environment at the Club to promote competitive play. Over the last 12 months, more than 80 members have represented Wargrave in the summer and winter tennis leagues, with some outstanding results. Our Men’s Second Team won their Berkshire Division 2 title with five straight victories, while our Men’s First Team continue to compete in Division 1. Our Ladies’ teams also enjoyed some excellent results, including notable victories for the Third Team against Maidenhead and Wokingham. In addition, our biggest-ever Club Championships attracted over 100 competitors, culminating in a memorable Finals Day.
Padel continues to grow, with five Club Championship finals and the launch of our new Americano Box League in October, offering competitive play for members of all abilities. We also hope to establish padel teams to compete against other clubs in the coming year. Special congratulations to Mem Aldridge, who represented England and won the Over-70s title at the Four Nations Padel Tournament. Many thanks to Head Coach Ollie Brown, our Club Captains, Match Secretary Paul McDonald and all the players and volunteers who make competitive play at Wargrave such a success.
Action Area 4 – Adult Social Play
Encouraging social tennis remains a core part of our Club, with around 40% of adult members describing themselves as “mainly social players” in our last AGM survey. We currently offer five weekly social tennis sessions, promoted through our website and WhatsApp Community, providing opportunities for members of all ages and abilities to play and meet others. With over 90% of social players saying they enjoy being members of the Club, we remain committed to developing these sessions, including occasional social tournaments and greater use of WhatsApp to encourage participation.
Introducing padel and pickleball has further strengthened our social play offering, encouraging members to try new sports and meet other players. We currently run two weekly club padel sessions and the new padel competition is also aimed at helping social players play more matches. Pickleball is also an important part of our “social play offer”, with over 40 members in its WhatsApp group and three weekly social sessions. We are committed to running more social tournaments, including our Boxing Day Competition, the padel party in June, and the successful padel and pickleball competition on Finals Day in September.
Action Area 5 – Junior Tennis
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.
Action Area 6 – Club Coaching
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.