ON THE occasion of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced a series of contributions to support the local, national and international recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic following the cancellation of The Championships 2020.

In making these contributions, the AELTC has brought together the collective strength of the Club, The Championships and the Wimbledon Foundation, combining the use of the organisation’s facilities, resources and £1.2m of charitable giving to aid the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts across society.

“We have worked hard to develop a wide-ranging series of measures to provide the help that we can to those in our local and regional communities who are most affected.”

AELTC

Ian Hewitt, AELTC Chairman, said: “As we navigate a year without a Championships, our highest priority continues to be the health and wellbeing of all those who make Wimbledon happen and those for whom this pandemic has caused suffering and loss.

“We strongly believe that Wimbledon has the responsibility and the capacity to act as a force for good, using our resources to help those in need, particularly in a crisis such as this.

“We have worked hard to develop a wide-ranging series of measures to provide the help that we can to those in our local and regional communities who are most affected as we begin the period of recovery, which we recognise is going to continue to cause hardship for many for some time.

“We continue to be humbled by the passion shown for Wimbledon by fans all around the world since our cancellation announcement, and we look forward to a time when we will be able to come together again.”

Donation

Among the Club’s many initiatives, is a donation by the Wimbledon Foundation to NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Urgent Appeal. 

A donation by the Wimbledon Foundation to St George’s Hospital Charity to support its COVID-19 response. There will also be donations of toiletries and care bags to St George’s Hospital and Kingston Hospital, donations to the London Ambulance Service and Parkside Hospital in Wimbledon of equipment no longer needed for The Championships, including face masks, PPE and tensa barriers, and access to parking and toilet facilities as a rest stop for local crews.

The AELTC will continue to develop additional ways to provide support and to show our gratitude to those on the front line of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the course of 2020 and in the build-up to next year’s Championships. The 134th Championships will be staged from June 28 – July 11 2021.