Autumn 2025 - Newsletter

Greetings from our President Elaine Paige DBE

What a summer it’s been!

I was deeply honoured to receive a Damehood in the King’s Birthday Honours and so very grateful for all the wonderful messages of support. 

It’s been a busy season in my role as President of the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust - from the annual Golf Day and Wimbledon Dinner at the East India Club to  hosting special guests at The Championships. It’s always such a joy to support the Trust’s fundraising efforts and meet more of its incredible supporters and
beneficiaries. Little Lydia did a fantastic job with the Coin Toss — an experience I know she’ll never forget! I also loved watching the brilliant performances of the
British wheelchair players and seeing the crowd support grow each year.

We were deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend Lilas Davison, whose dedication to the Trust since its inception will always be remembered with gratitude and affection. She will be so missed.

And now as we head into crisp autumn days, I hope you’re still finding time to get out on court. Thank you, as always, for your wonderful support of the Trust. It means a lot to us all.

With love,

Elaine's website

Elaine the Dame!

We were delighted to hear the wonderful news that our President, Elaine Paige was listed in the King’s birthday honours list 2025. Elaine received a Damehood for services to Music and to Charity. Elaine has been our President since 2010 and has always made time in her busy schedule to support our work. We couldn’t be happier to have such a dedicated President. Elaine commented on her social media:

‘Music & the charities I support are the mainstays of my life. To receive this acknowledgment for doing what I love is the ultimate privilege. In the words of Rodgers & Hammerstein ‘There Is Nothin’ Like A Dame’ & this newly-minted one is absolutely over the moon & truly grateful’

What a Wimbledon 

Here at the DMTT we always look forward to The Championships at Wimbledon, but this year was even more exciting for us as for the second year running we were asked by the Wimbledon Foundation to nominate a young person to take part in the coin toss ceremony for one of the finals. We nominated Lydia Lowe who is a lovely 8 year old now playing Visually Impaired tennis after suffering a cardiac arrest last year. Lydia did a brilliant job representing the Trust and was such a great example of who our work supports – her positive attitude and passion for tennis have overcome the adjustments she has had to make in life after her medical condition. Lydia and her family travelled all the way from Goole to South West London 3 times – for a special filming day, for the launch of their ‘Foundation Champions’, meeting Katie Boulter and Jack Draper, and for the finals day where she even met Her Royal Highness Kate Middleton and offered her expert advice, telling Kate ‘don’t be nervous’. Lydia won over many hearts and also had a brilliant time. We are so honoured to have been asked by the Wimbledon Foundation to offer this opportunity to Lydia. You can watch her video here.

2025 Grants

2025 has been another busy year for us with jam packed grant applications in all three rounds so far. We have already awarded 116 grants totalling over £90,000. We have one final round of applications for which the closing date is 26 October 2025. If you know an individual or group who would like to apply for a grant with us, please remind them of the closing date and also ask them to carefully read our Grant Application Guidelines before applying. Now we are receiving so many grant applications we really appreciate when applications are filled out with all the information we need!

Tribute to Lilas Davison

It was with great sadness that we shared the news in May of the passing of Lilas Davison – one of Dan Maskell Tennis Trust’s founding Trustees, Vice-President and a most generous supporter of our work.

Before DMTT was formed, Lilas was a very active LTA Councillor representing Cambridgeshire and was on several Committees.   She was always interested in the development of tennis and served on various LTA Boards and Committees, including National Development, Coaching & Schools; National Tennis Development; Schools & Higher Education of which she served a term as Chairman; plus, the LTA Trust and the British Schools LTA. Following her retirement from the LTA Council, Lilas was made an Honorary Life Councillor.

Lilas was 93 when she died peacefully at home on May 25^th. Lilas has been an incredibly generous benefactor to DMTT, and her wonderful donations have helped many disabled people to play tennis. We will miss her enormously and send our heartfelt condolences to her family.

'The Wimbledon Dinner' at the East India Club

We wish to thank the East India Club for partnering with us to raise over £10,000 for our grant aid funding programme at a wonderful dinner held in late June. 80 guests were entertained by our President Dame Elaine Paige who came as a special guest, alongside Barry Cowan. One of the Trust’s Vice-Presidents Marcus Buckland was Master of Ceremonies and in addition to the fundraising part of the evening, Marcus chatted to Elaine about her 60 year career in showbiz and 15 years as DMTT President. Barry Cowan, former British player and now a tennis pundit and commentator gave his insight and views on the Wimbledon Championships before the night was concluded with a boisterous auction which contributed to most of the funds raised. We do hope that this could become a well-loved annual event on our fundraising calendar.

Golf Day Fundraiser

Sticking with fundraising events, this year marked the 25th Anniversary of the Golf Challenge which has been the main fundraising event for the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust during the past quarter of a century! Held at the RAC Club for the 3^rd year running, 21 teams took part – most of whom have been supporting the Trust for many years. Thanks to the amazing generosity of supporters, we raised £25,000 to celebrate the 25th year.

A touching legacy

In June we were gifted a generous legacy from the late Judy Maitland. Judy had always loved playing tennis and was even asked to play as a junior at Wimbledon but got ill!  Most of her life she played for Kemsing tennis club, sometimes against people 50 years her junior. She represented Kent Tennis regularly in their over 75, and then over 80s teams and also played at the Wimbledon seniors’ tournament in 2019 and 2021. She was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in 2019 so it slightly put a stop to her seniors’ career, however she carried on playing tennis right up until a few months before she died. Judy got into teaching disabled tennis locally in Kent and used to run the disabled tennis sessions in Sevenoaks which was based in Sundridge. We were honoured to receive a Legacy from Judy and encourage others to consider naming us in their Will; we put all funds raised to great use by adding to our grant aid funding pot.

A very special wedding

The Trust wishes to congratulate our wonderful Trustee Noel on his recent marriage to our friend Lynn, who has also been a big supporter and helper to the Trust for many years. Noel and Lynn celebrated a lovely day together with family and friends in August. We wish them all the happiness in the world and thank them for all they continue to do to support DMTT.