The historic Queens' Squash Club boasts a distinguished record. We are now hoping to secure the future of Squash at the College through a permanently-established fund.
Squash has been played at the highest levels at Queens' for many years, so much so that squash courts were incorporated into the design of the Cripps Building in the 1970s. Notable squash alumni from this time include Tom Hendry (1964), triple Blue and CUSRC Captain 1965-66, and Philip Ayton (1965), triple Blue, CUSRC Captain 1966-67 and international squash player for England and Great Britain through the period 1969-80. Queens' has had over seventeen Blues squash players since the 1960s.
Queens' is very fortunate to have squash courts on the main site, which bring together Queens’ players of all standards. There is now a weekly club night, the Queens’ box leagues have restarted following COVID, and the Club entered two teams into the intercollegiate leagues this year. Since being promoted from Division Two in Michaelmas Term 2022, the stronger of these teams has had an incredibly successful season – they beat Christ’s to the Division 1 title, having won all of their matches! There are also now eight new squash rackets and balls which are kept in the Porters’ Lodge, available to all.
Ellie White (2020) is Captain of Queens’ Squash Club, President of Cambridge University Squash Rackets Club, a Squash Blue, and a Real Tennis Half-Blue. Ellie plays at the highest level within the University, competing for the men’s teams in Cambridgeshire League matches. She also led the Cambridge women’s team to an impressive victory over Oxford in the Varsity match back in February. Ella Jennings (2022) represented Cambridge at the Varsity match this year, too.
We hope to build on this momentum to make squash more accessible, and to help players enjoy and improve their game, by creating a Squash Fund at Queens’. Our initial aim is to endow an amount of £100,000 which would provide £3,000 a year for our Squash Club, in perpetuity. This would be used to:
- Provide professional coaching for Queens' players in a weekly training session
- Provide ongoing funds for new equipment when needed
This Fund, once created, will be overseen administered by Fellow Patron of the Squash Club.
You can support The Queens' Squash Fund via our online donation form, or our printable donation form. If you would like more information about supporting squash at Queens', please contact development@queens.cam.ac.uk or read the "Case for Support" document (linked at the bottom of this page).
- All donors will appear in the annual Gifts List. Please contact us if you would like your gift to be anonymous.
- Donors who give £10,000 or more will be invited to the Commemoration & Ceremony of Benefactors and Feast for two years following their gift.
- US taxpayers can donate tax-efficiently through Cambridge in America.
Former squash captains at Queens' include the below:
Michael Parsons | 1960-61 |
John Harris | 1961-62 |
James Ware | 1962-63 |
Alan Christie | 1963-64 |
John Vallat | 1964-66 |
Tom Hendry & Peter Fairbotham | 1966-67 |
Martin Lloyd | 1967-69 |
Tom Franks | 1969-70 |
John Seddon | 1970-71 |
Paul Hunter | 1971-72 |
Derek Chase | 1973-74 |
Phil Collinson | 1974-75 |
Tim O'Donoghue | 1975-76 |
David Palmer | 1976-77 |
Nick Prentice | 1977-78 |
Martin Hudson | 1978-79 |
Chris Arnold | 1979-80 |
Andrew Haigh | 1980-81 |
Adrian Lewis | 1981-82 |
Donald Weir & Rachel Arnold | 1982-83 |
David Tarsh & Clare Torrance | 1983-84 |
Oliver Burton | 1984-86 |
Natalie Fredericks | 1985-86 |
Philip Ward | 1986-87 |
Richard Haddow | 1987-88 |
James Borrett & Anja Harrison | 1988-89 |
Gavin Nicol & Rachel Richardson | 1989-90 |
Andrew Melton & Amanda Gourlay | 1990-91 |
Steve Roth & Kathy Garside | 1991-92 |
Stephen Mackenney | 1992-93 |
Simon Cooke & Helen Coomber | 1993-94 |
David Goodey & Susannah Richardson | 1994-95 |
Alan Yeoh & Jo Watts | 1995-96 |
Richard Chalcraft & Sarah Bowden | 1996-97 |
John Wakefield | 1997-98 |
Fahad Roumani | 1998-99 |
Colin Singleton & Susannah Gilbert | 1999-2000 |
Neil Brown & Tania Elias | 2000-01 |
Laurence Toime & Charlotte Acton | 2001-02 |
Alex Gezelius | 2002-03 |
Russell Haresign & Emma Owen | 2003-04 |
Edmund Crawley & Salma Tuqan | 2004-05 |
Michael Flower & Hilary Berlin-Taylor | 2005-06 |
Renwick Russell & Alison Messenger | 2006-07 |
Peter Butler | 2007-08 |
Michael Baker | 2008-09 |
Jamie Radford & Chantal Heppolette | 2009-10 |
David Pattinson | 2010-11 |
Tom Mitchell-Williams | 2011-12 |
Adam Blackstock | 2012-13 |
Max Cooper | 2013-14 |
Robert Davis | 2014-15 |
Lydia Prieg | 2015-16 |
Igor Yakunin | 2016-17 |
Harry Woods | 2017-18 |
Athan Siah | 2018-19 |
Varun Babbar | 2019-20 |
Vivek Palaniappan | 2020-22 |
Ellie White | Current |