THE TEAM
Our Mission
We're on a mission to use the power of our sport to change young people's lives, to make a difference, from physical health and emotional wellbeing benefits, to supporting social and community cohesion. For together we can make a difference to squash and to the people that play it.
Mark Hill
Trustee, Chairman
As the chairman of the England Squash Foundation since 2016, Marks's role has always been to ensure that the foundation is able to reach parts of the community that our national body might not be able to.
Today Mark is based in London, but he started playing squash aged 6 and won all the various National Junior tournaments in Singapore in the 1980s. He became the National Junior Champion across U14s, u16s, and u19s. He also played in multiple Asian Junior Champs, as well as the World Junior Champs and then became an Asian Games Silver Medallist, which is quite the achievement and something he is proud of.
Around the 1990s, squash presented him with the opportunity to go further afield and play in the UK, allowing him to play in many satellite tournaments around the country.
Mark's career has spanned many roles, initially being trained as an Auditor, then onto IBM, before taking the role of Managing Director at a US West Coast software company around 2013. After a successful sale of the company a few years back, he now has the privileged of working for PwC, growing their Consulting business and advising their clients on how to extend their market share to grow their revenues.
His mission, now he states, is to ensure that squash benefits everyone, helping seed schemes to kick start and benefit the local community. He sees the potential England Squash Foundation has to help grow the sport and allow many communities to realise the benefits and fun it brings. It's about helping schools, education, and junior players that need assistance to participate. He's excited at the challeng of how we can support our own national players beyond their playing careers or investigating how best to implement outdoor squash courts across the country.
Having lived in the UK for over 30 years, I am always amazed that almost every town in the UK has a squash club (and a bar!), it's a sport that has roots in every community, and I hope as a foundation we are able to support them at different levels as best we can. 'Mark Hill'
Peter Marshall
Trustee
Peter has been a Trustee for the England Squash Foundation since 2015, having been introduced to the charity by Victor Dahdaleh, a family member who is a long-standing donor of the Foundation.
Peter has been involved in squash for over 40 years as a Junior, Professional and Master's player. He started playing at the age of seven at his Father's squash club in Leicestershire and won numerous British Junior titles. As a professional squash player, Peter reached World 2 and was European and British Number 1 for five years during the 1990s. Peter still actively competes in Masters events and has twice won British Championships in the Over 35 and 40's age groups. In 2015, Peter was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Professional Squash Association for his support and commitment to the game.
Since retiring from squash, Peter has worked in the healthcare sector and is currently a Director for a boutique healthcare consultancy in Central London. He is also a founding member of Independent Squash Minds, a think tank whose mission is to support a long-term positive change to the grassroots and professional game.
His mission is to encourage as many youngsters to take up the game and through the Foundation, support making a lasting impact on their education, health and social well-being.
'I've been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to play squash and be involved in the great squash community we have. I might be biased, but it's the best game in the world! I'm excited about the Foundation's future and the positive impact it will have on young people's lives. 'Peter Marshall'
Nigel Bacon
Trustee, Treasury
Nigel has been involved with the Foundation since 2011, when he developed a Mini Squash School Development Proposal and secured £15k of funding from a Canadian bank (TD Securities) and three other corporate members of the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce, a bilateral chamber he runs as CEO in London.
Without knowing it, after getting the programme’s finances to be rolled over for 3 academic years, he had raised more funds for the Foundation than anyone else before him and was invited to get more involved as a trustee! Since 2015 he has been Treasurer.
Nigel’s connection with squash goes back to school days when he caught the bug and played for his school and later ran his university team. Always a keen amateur player and sometimes coach, he played overseas for many years in Italy, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, as his international career in education with the British Council took him to many new countries. Playing squash was always a great way to make new friends and quickly gather a social circle when moving around internationally. As a veteran, he still makes appearances on the England Squash Master’s circuit, of which he is a keen supporter, and memorably appeared for England twice in the O55 team (successfully) in 2018.
‘Squash has been a source of great joy for me for over 50 years, and wherever I have lived - in the UK or abroad - I have found great friendships through the sport whilst also staying fit, and I truly believe younger generations should have the opportunity to take part in this wonderful racket sport.’ 'Nigel Bacon’.
Make a Donation Today
Help us make a difference to young lives in your community today by simply making a donation that will go towards the projects we are currently running. These projects will allow them to participate in squash while receiving further education and opportunities to go further.
