Our Club is keen to be a good neighbour; we are situated in LB Wandsworth, within the Roehampton ward that has some of the highest levels of deprivation in London. We already give some support to the local community, both financial and help in kind.
The support we provide is because we wish to, but also it is an important factor for the Local Authority when considering granting planning permission for changes to Club facilities. However, this history of support has little to no visibility to Members.
Over the past few years, the Club has budgeted £20,000 a year to allocate support to our local community through a variety of ways. Currently the main activities we support are:
Racquets Cubed is a local charity delivering integrated STEM education, rackets sports and nutrition programmes to disadvantaged school age children.
Three days a week in term time, at quiet times, the Club hosts children from local schools, supervised by their teachers, to use our squash and tennis courts and the pupils receive a nutritional tea each as well.
Pupils are offered use of our swimming and sports hall once a week in term time at quiet times.
We provide a monthly financial contribution to the Social Community Supermarket in Roehampton for essential items. From time to time we ask Members to donate goods and foodstuffs to further support the work of the Community Box based in Roehampton Lane.
Based in Roehampton’s Alton estate. We provide monthly support, donating surplus foodstuffs, disposables and equipment to the Kitchen.
Our Roehampton is the community development trust for the Roehampton ward. We provide an annual grant for Our Roehampton Committee to use for community activities that need pump priming.
We have also provided horticultural support, providing seasonal flowers for boxes in the community gardens.
We have provided technical advice and support to the Trust on purchasing equipment and maintenance of their playing fields.
Marc Newey, Chief Executive has been an active participant on this Committee for 15 years which works with the local community to lobby London Borough of Wandsworth (LBW) to improve local provision for Roehampton.
The Club and Roehampton University provide administration support to the Partnership.
In addition, within the Club, there is a history of funds being allocated to support the Golf Captains’ charities, Salute the Services annual Member event, local school fundraising plus occasional Club donations to individual Members’ fundraising challenges.
Having audited all our current philanthropic activities and donations, the Board believes we need to take a number of steps to regularise giving. First, to raise the visibility of the support already being provided by the Club, be transparent in the use of Club funds, increase Members’ understanding and garner support for the ethos of our Club to actively engage and be a good neighbour to the local community.
While ultimately it might be appropriate to set up a separate Foundation, the Board is keen to begin by trialling a more transparent and regulated approach to allocating funding.
To professionalise our philanthropic giving we are putting in place a light touch process:
1 We will confirm the amount to be allocated to local community initiatives per annum, drawing from a total budget likely to be up to £25,000
2 We will develop criteria for allocating funding but essentially we will be prioritising local charities in Roehampton and the wider Wandsworth area.
3 We will invite applicants to fill out a simple form – there will be a proforma for external applicants and separate one for internal applicants (Club Members).
4 There will be quarterly disbursements decided by a small committee including Board members Anne Wilkinson and Penny Egan.
In order to expand our support we would also propose a couple of events each year to engage our Members in activities to fund raise and support the Club’s charitable activities.
If we find a groundswell of enthusiasm and support, in a couple of years we could look to set up a Roehampton Club Foundation supported by Members and administered separately by the Club.
We will operate this new approach to charitable giving from January 2026 with the first allocations in March. Watch this space for more information.
Penny Egan and Anne Wilkinson
Roehampton Club Directors
December 2025
Members engaged in sporting activity to raise funds for charity and wish the Club to consider a donation of 10% of the monies raised please fill out the form in advance of the event and if approved follow up with the final amount raised.
Click here for the application form for Members
Click here for the application form for external organisations
Please submit applications by Friday 27th February 2026 via email to Executive PA Carolyn Ward at carolyn.ward@roehamptonclub.co.uk, hand printed copies to the Reception Team for Carolyn’s attention or post to Roehampton Club, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5LR
