NE Regional Forum

England Squash & Racketball has been undergoing an overhaul of how it is managing the sport that we all play. This has been ongoing since losing funding of £355,000 (20% reduction) from Sport England in 2014. Sport England demanded improvements with ESR leadership and increased participation levels after a decline in the number of players participating in squash was highlighted.

With a new CEO in Keir Worth the changes are being made not least in how ESR are communicating these changes. This is the second video release by Keir Worth that highlights the creation of the Regional Forums.

ESR describe the Regional Forums as a major investment in the County Associations and a new way of communicating with its members. More information on the eight Regional Forums from ESR.

Enough background for now…

The first meeting of the North East Regional Forum (NERF) has now taken place with members from the Yorkshire, Durham & Cleveland and Northumbria County committees attending. This meeting was to elect the committee members of the NERF and to have ESR provide more details on how the forums will liaise with ESR. The minutes of the meeting are here for your perusal.

The main points to note are that the chairman of the NERF will attend all meeting of the County Squash Associations Network (CAN) more on this at a later date, funding available for the Regional Forums and the organising of the Junior Regional Championships to be held 14th/15th November at The Northumberland Club. A good event to have in the calendar as the Silver event was lost to Cumbria this year.

With regard to the funding available here is some more information directly from ESR.

All that is needed now is the right ideas to put forward for funding so if there is an idea percolating around your club then why not get in touch with a committee member to help explore whether it can be progressed further?