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Chief Executive’s Message

 

Wimbledon Success

It was great to see two of our prominent Members; Arthur Fery and Henry Patten do so well at Wimbledon last week. Both played in our 125 Exhibition Evening for Members in the ITC on 11th June as we predicted that they were ready to perform well at Queen’s and Wimbledon.

 

Arthur reached the quarter finals at Queen’s and the semi-final at Wimbledon as a wild card to now become British No 1 Singles player being world ranked at 36 and Henry cemented his World No 1 position by being runner up at Queen’s Club and winning his second Wimbledon men’s doubles title with Harri Heliovaara.

Wonderful achievements from both and great to see how well the Brits do in men’s doubles over the last few years with Joe Salisbury, Lloyd Glasspool and Henry all Members here.

 

Plus, it was lovely to see Arthur practising and lunching here at his Club all last week before his matches as a sanctuary to avoid the press attention.

125-Anniversary Celebrations

Centenary Tennis Clubs (CTC) Match 17-19 July

This weekend we will be hosting a four-club CTC match between Biarritz, Barcelona, Berlin and ourselves in different age groups as part of the 125-anniversary celebrations. Look out for the matches on the grass courts as they will all be very competitive and a high standard.

Croquet MacRobertson Shield 24-28 July

We are hosting the world team championship of croquet next week with England, Australia, New Zealand and the USA competing in the 100th match of this famous Shield. The first match was held at Roehampton Club between England and Australia, and we are now hosting the centenary match with two more teams trying to win the title of best team in the world.

125 Anniversary Painting of the Club

We were delighted to unveil the new painting of the Club by renowned artist Graeme Baxter to celebrate its 125th year. The painting is a panoramic view of the Club from the Clubhouse encompassing views of golf, croquet, tennis and the Health Club to reflect some of the premier multi sports we have offered since the Club’s inception in 1901.

Please watch the video of how Graeme put the painting together based on the photographs he took a few years ago in preparation for the commission. The painting sits in the Members’ Bar and initial feedback has been very positive. Members can purchase fine art prints of the painting for £125 each by contacting Reception.

Click here to see the video of Graeme working on the painting

Golf Course Improvements

Works are ongoing to improve the drainage to four of our greens on holes 8, 9, 11 and 12 and at the same time start the first year of a three-year programme to improve our bunkers. The bunkers on these holes have been re lined with a capillary concrete and topped up with china clay sand. This combination was chosen by the Golf Committee after using our trial bunkers and examples at other Clubs.

Early signs are the work has gone well, and the greens and the new bunkers will look to be in play in the autumn. We have 65 bunkers on our course, and the remaining bunkers will be refurbished over the next two summers and by having a concrete liner should not need refurbishing again within the next 20 years which will minimise further disruption. This is the final year of drainage required to our greens so can I thank all golfers for their patience while we have tackled this important aspect of maintenance and the future proofing of providing excellent playing surfaces.

Safety Fencing on 12th and 14th holes

Works have now started on the installation of safety fencing to the right of the 14th hole in liaison with Ibstock School. The wall next to the 14th tee will be repaired in the autumn as tenders are being finalised being a major project to repair. We are sharing the costs of this repair with Ibstock School. The fencing contractor will then work on installing a safety fence alongside the 12th hole bordering Priory Lane to help prevent balls escaping and causing damage to our neighbours’ cars and properties. All fencing works are due to be completed by the end of August.

Future Proofing and Farewell

As this is my final Recorder contribution as Chief Executive, I wanted to say thank you to all Members for their support in helping realise the task that was set me on joining in 2008 – ‘please take the Club up a level in terms of service to Members and improve the quality of the facilities we offer’.

I knew that I needed to make changes and it would take time to do so. Futureproofing all our sporting facilities was a good place to start, and the Masterplan 2035 was the embodiment of that strategy. Improving all the activity and social areas was important too to ensure we retained the culture of a members’ club and not become just a sports facility.

I planned a couple of years ago to deliver the 125-anniversary celebrations and then hand on the baton after 18 years to a new CEO with the Club in good shape. I am proud to have achieved that and having worked with Rhys Beecher for a few weeks now I am pleased to say that the Club and its staff will be in safe hands. Rhys takes over the reins from 31st July and I will be on hand in August if needed to support him.

Thank you for everything and it’s been a privilege to have been Chief Executive of Roehampton Club.

Best wishes,

Marc

marc.newey@roehamptonclub.co.uk