This Saturday we are featuring the British and Irish Lions Test Match vs Australia at 11am, live on Sky Sports on the piazza summer screen and in the Members Bar.
Plus don’t miss the World Heavyweight Championship Boxing with Britain’s Daniel Dubois trying to beat the brilliant Olexander Usyk at 10pm on Saturday. We are featuring the fight on the big screen in the piazza and in the Club. The big screen has been very well received and will be taken down on 28th July but will return next summer.
Golf Club Champions
Congratulations to Issy Simpson and Scott Stanley becoming our 2025 Golf Club Champions. Both topped the field after 36 holes in tricky hot and windy conditions reflecting the high standard of golf we have in our respective scratch teams. I think we must also pay tribute to Lottie Woad from Farnham who has just turned professional after winning the Irish Open as an amateur and nearly won the Evian Masters Grand Slam the following week. Lottie has won the Roehampton Club Junior Masters title here and competed in our Gold Cup so we know her well. What a future professional career she potentially has …
Development Projects Update
Bar Terrace
With the Bar and Function Rooms completed we are pleased to have received many compliments from the Bridge Section on their newly refurbished room. The Garden Room Bar is finished too and will now be stocked up ready for use in tandem with the Garden Room for functions. There is naturally some snagging to complete across all the rooms. This just leaves the Bar Terrace to complete and that is on track to be ready for 8th August.
Indoor Golf Centre
As announced at the AGM on 30th June the Board has received five tenders back for the IGC at the end of June and the two lowest were considerably higher than the £4.3m budget including vat and contingency. The higher costs allowed for a 12-year waterproofing warranty, meeting the BREEAM ‘outstanding status’ requirements for a new building and increased costs for the latest Trackman technology.
The Board felt the costs for constructing a two tier IGC were too high and have asked the Golf Committee and Golf Practice Group to concentrate upon a one tier IGC with Short Game Practice Area and Putting Green. The project manager Sports Clubhouses is working on a revised design for the Golf Committee to review and approve so a revised tender can be produced for the lowest bidding contractors to submit a new bid. It is hoped that the new tender will be significantly cheaper than the previous one and the Board can give its approval for construction to start this autumn.
Padel and Pickleball Hub
The Working Group has now agreed on two potential sites to host five new padel tennis courts and four outdoor pickleball courts. These are courts 4-6 (with a cover) and courts 25-28 (without a cover but with floodlights). The latter option will also involve an extension for the outdoor pool sunbathing area and provision for a new play area for children. The next step is to apply for a pre-application planning meeting with Wandsworth Council and CGI drawings are being prepared to submit for that meeting. We can then be guided by Wandsworth Council on what full planning permission is likely to be granted.
Centenary of the MacRobertson Shield
It was an honour to be invited to the lunch to celebrate the centenary of the World Croquet team championship – The MacRobertson Shield – being played at Roehampton Club. Legends of the croquet world were there including our very own Nigel Aspinall and David Openshaw. We are proud to be hosting the 2026 matches for the Shield next year as part of our 125 year celebrations. Please click here for a full report
100 years ago
While speaking of centenaries it is interesting to see what was happening at our Club 100 years ago. Steve Riedlinger our Archivist has compiled some of the best memories for different sporting and social occasions featuring George Gadd, Suzanne Lenglen and others. Please click here to view
Enjoy our wonderful summer of sport.
Best wishes,
Marc
marc.newey@roehamptonclub.co.uk
