Old Deer Park Sports Ground, (ODPSG) Summit Statement

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September 7th, 2026

Dear Members of ODPSG Clubs,

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As part of a new initiative, the Chairs of the four member clubs met at Old Deer Park on September 7th, 2026, for their first Summit Meeting. This statement explains what ODP is; why we felt the need to meet and the outcome of the meeting. The summit took place in addition to the usual committees that govern the grounds and activities that take place at Old Deer Park.

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What is Old Deer Park?

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Old Deer Park is the company that manages the operations of the sports ground, on land that is leased to us by the Crown Estate. It comprises 2 shareholders: London Welsh and Richmond Sports Club. Richmond Sports Club has 3 entities within it: Richmond Cricket Club, Richmond Archery Club and Richmond Lawn Tennis Club. We all own and are accountable to the business. Members of the committees are elected by you, to represent you.

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Why did the Chairs feel the need to meet?

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The Chairs agreed to meet at least annually to confirm strategic priorities. The trigger for these meetings is a shortfall of funds to refresh our facilities combined with heavy operating losses over recent years attributed to a number of factors, including.

• Broader economic uncertainty since 2020 characterised by post covid inflation shocks and interest rate volatility.

• Rising operating costs such as rent, energy, insurance and facilities maintenance. The Crown Estate has increased the rent at ODP from £285 prior to 2016 to £93,900 (exc VAT) in 2026.

• Cost of living crisis squeezing discretionary household spending

• Competition within the sports sector and the growth of privately funded leisure offers close by

The impact of these factors is evident in the condition of the ODP grounds and pavilion. Year on year for the last decade, the businesses has been making an operating loss in the order of £200,000 per year.

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Annually, these operating losses have been reduced by using a range of funds from each of the clubs, including subscription monies. In exchange, we enjoy the use of ODP facilities, and it is expected that we contribute to running costs. These contributions are known as ‘Service Charge Contributions’.

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Unfortunately, covering these significant losses has meant that there has been little or no funding available to reinvest into the facilities themselves, especially as is self-evident, the pavilion.

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To manage this locally, where there has been a need, each club has been successfully engaged in fund raising activities to refresh essential items. Current pressures of this kind are the replacement of cricket nets and the refurbishment of the tiger turf tennis courts, both of which will happen over the next 12 months.

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More significantly, rugby players will know that pitch 2 is considered not to be fit for purpose, especially in winter months and this is set to continue to cause difficulties as wetter weather increases. London Welsh have been exploring the possibility to convert pitch 2 to a 3G surface and the summit agreed that this work should continue with any final plans being subject to scrutiny and approval by both ODP shareholders.

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What can you do to drive forward our Strategic Priorities?

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Even with these important ‘on the ground’ initiatives, the conclusion of the summit is that the grounds and the pavilion must be benefit from much greater investment than in the past and a model that only closes the gap on the business is no longer sustainable. There is a need to build financial resilience into the Old Deer Park, and this is now urgent.

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In terms of strategic priorities, the club Chairs unanimously agreed the following:

• That Old Deer Park is a unique asset with some 2000 members that provides the setting for a wide-ranging sporting offer for the benefit of the community as a whole. Common to all our clubs is the encouragement of family-oriented sport and development of programmes for all ages, providing equal opportunities for community participation.

• A turnaround in financial performance must be the corner stone of success from which we can build and grow to address the absence of a ‘corporate grip’ on the business.

• That the heavy operating losses of recent years are avoidable. The practice of using Shareholder Service Charge monies, and in particular, members’ subscriptions, to cover operating losses must be reduced and eventually cease by 2030.

• That Shareholder Service Charge Contributions should be directed towards much needed repair and upgrade of the facilities.

• That everyone can be proud to be a member of a club at ODP and be prepared to support the business to make it the success that it should be.

• That there is a renewed commitment by all clubs to work together to address these challenges for the benefit of today’s members and for the benefit of those to come.

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What next?

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An overarching 3-point plan for growth needs to be put in place to deliver these priorities.

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• This statement is a call to action to individual members to support the resilience of their clubs and ODP in any way possible. This might include stepping up to volunteer; patronising the facilities especially the pavilion to drive income; organising fund raising events; directly donating to the clubs; and by joining the various committees that exist to manage and sustain ODP.

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• The development of a commercial strategy that the General Manager and the staff team will implement including radically improved social media presence; generating significantly more and new business from events and corporate activity; creating new opportunities and ideas for income generation, all year round; maximising the use of existing funds to improve the facilities; and attracting new long-term businesses that complement the activity of the clubs and that pay rental income to enjoy these relationships.

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• To drive growth there is a need to implement cost reduction measures wherever practicable to tackle operating losses such as restricting hours of opening.

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We all value our clubs and the special place that is ODP. Now we need to pull together to ensure our future and create opportunities to refresh and modernise our facilities so that once again we have a venue that that we can be proud of and that we deserve. Please support us in this mission.

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Kind regards,

The Chairs of the four member clubs.