About
Founded in 1905, Tennis Shropshire became a registered charity in 2020. It is affiliated to the Lawn Tennis Association and its members are the LTA affiliated clubs in Shropshire. It is entirely volunteer run and is overseen by the Tennis Shropshire Trustees, each of whom are appointed by the members at the organisation's AGM.
The Trustees are dedicated to helping as many people as possible to play tennis irrespective of their circumstances, ensuring that they act at all times in accordance with the Constitution and Rules of Tennis Shropshire.
Specific Trustee responsibilities include strategic and financial planning and monitoring, and agreement of County Policies. The Trustees meet bi monthly and the minutes of these meetings are available.
In addition to the Trustees, there is an Operations Group appointed by the County Chair which has responsibility for more operational matters regarding the running of the County.
Current Trustees
Below are the profiles for our President and our current Tennis Shropshire trustee members, together with biographies for our County Safeguarding Officer, Teresa Thomas, and our Junior Lead, Carol Spraggett.
Merill has been a member of Shifnal Tennis Club since 1990 when her family moved to Shifnal. She has been the Chairman from 1996 and took on the role of Safeguarding officer in 2018.
She began volunteering to help Tennis Shropshire in various events, encouraged by Cathie Sabin, whom she met at her children's school during parents evening.
Merill recalls that when Chris Hinks took on the role of Chairman of Tennis Shropshire he encouraged a band of volunteers from local tennis clubs to join him in many activities held around various venues in Shropshire, including Open Days for children from local schools. Soon after, Bob Kerr joined the group and such was his enthusiasm that they soon found themselves very busy putting on events all over the County. Merill really enjoyed these activities and her roles in the Tennis Shropshire initiatives.
She now looks forward to beginning her next venture with Tennis Shropshire but, as she puts it 'has some very big shoes to fill' following on from Keith Smith's hard work and dedication over the past four years.
A last word from Merill: 'Thanks very much Keith and I hope I can maintain the standards which you have set'.
Having enjoyed a thirty year career in IT, leading technical and project teams all over the globe, Mark is now able to spend time and energy on his hobbies, including tennis and ballroom dancing.
He has been playing tennis for nearly 50 years and has been involved in club organisation and team participation since he was 14. After having enjoyed tennis for so many years Mark is keen to 'give something back'.
Mark took up the role of Chair of Tennis Shropshire in January 2025. He says: 'It's a great honour to be the Chair of a county that has achieved so much, both through its leadership team and also through the grassroots'.
He is looking forward to expanding tennis at all levels across Shropshire. He sees it as a great opportunity to meet the people who play at clubs across the whole of the county, and to get to know the volunteers running the Shropshire clubs and competitions.
Fiona is a keen club player and has been a member of Market Drayton Tennis Club for around 20 years. She has held the positions of chair, secretary, welfare officer, committee member and ladies team captain, a position which she still holds.
She is a passionate about encouraging people of all ages to play tennis whatever their ability, whether they have not played for many years or indeed not played at all.
Fiona has been involved in Tennis Shropshire for a number of years, has acted as a tournament referee for County competitions and was County vice chair before taking over as Chair in January 2022, the latter position being held through to January 2025.
She is particularly keen on supporting grass roots tennis at club and school level being convinced that there is a type of tennis to suit absolutely everyone. She also believes it is important that everyone associated with tennis in the County feels that they are part of the Tennis Shropshire family.
In her professional career Fiona worked for the NHS delivering major new hospital projects, the last of which was a cancer hospital in Liverpool.
Tim Rowbury - Treasurer
Tim joined Tennis Shropshire in 2022 and was confirmed as Treasurer at the AGM in January 2023.
Tim has a degree in History and qualified as an Accountant at Arthur Andersen. He has held progressively senior financial and corporate governance roles across a variety of industries, in the public as well as the private sector.
More than just a numbers man, Tim describes himself as a commercially focused Finance Director who enjoys bridging the gap between finance and other disciplines.
Jilly joined Lilleshall Village Tennis Club in 1987 having recently moved to Shropshire. She has served three times as Chair of her local club and is a member of three other clubs, including the National Over 45 club.
As a trustee, Jilly has been a member of the Tennis Shropshire Committee for ten years and also served as President for a three-year term.
Jeremy was appointed as a trustee in early 2023. He enjoys trying to improve his 'not very good' (his words) tennis. He is a member of two local clubs including Shrewsbury Lawn Tennis Club where he is the current Chair.
Jeremy has been an active fundraiser for Tennis Shropshire and in 2024 jointly led the development of Walking Tennis across the county.
Now retired from a career in international retail, Jeremy spent much of his working life in the Middle East. He retains an interest in business and is an investor in, and advisor to companies across a number of different industries.
Sarah Downes
Sarah is a lifelong tennis player and passionate about getting more people to play the sport she loves.
Sarah has been a member and committee member of several clubs in Shropshire over the years. She is currently a member at Wrekin and Telford Tennis Club where she plays in their teams.
Having held various roles over her 14 years at Tennis Shropshire including secretary, area coordinator, and Awards Lead, Sarah is currently Communications Lead as well as being a trustee.
In her professional life, Sarah works in Adult Social Care and enjoys her role in improving outcomes for people with care and support needs. She has a special interest in equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as supporting people to live a life free from abuse.
Lynda Richards
A lifelong tennis player and born and bred in Shropshire, Lynda joined the Tennis Shropshire board of Trustees in 2025.
Lynda represented Shropshire as a junior player and continues to do so through the senior ranks, after spending some time playing and coaching in Germany.
Lynda has two children who are also playing at county level and is keen to engage with tennis parents to help them navigate their child's journey.
Working as a qualified solicitor for a local law firm, having spent time at large international law firms, Lynda likes to spend her spare time at the Shrewsbury Lawn Tennis club where she is a member and plays for the ladies' first team.
She has also recently started playing padel and is looking forward to engaging with the padel community.
Teresa Thomas - County Safeguarding Officer
Teresa has been involved with tennis in Shropshire for over 30 years and is currently the deputy safeguarding officer for a local club.
Teresa began her professional career in banking, subsequently moving into education. During the the past 18 years she has developed significant safeguarding skills working in a local school.
Carol Spraggett - Junior Lead
Carol moved to Shropshire 12 years ago and has 30 years of tennis playing experience. She has been a member of several tennis clubs, playing in mixed and ladies doubles summer, autumn, winter and indoor leagues.
Carol is qualified as an LTA referee but also has experience as a court supervisor. She is currently serving as a committee member for Boughey Gardens Tennis Club as their tournament coordinator and is also ladies summer league teams manager overseeing the 3 ladies summer league teams.
Having court supervised at junior tournaments nationally, she has a passion for junior tennis and what it means for the county. Junior Lead for Tennis Shropshire is a brand new role for Carol and she looks forward forward to growing relations with local clubs, coaches, juniors and parents.