What is the English Basketball Fellowship?
The English Basketball Fellowship was founded on September 13th, 1980, at the University of Nottingham with the intention of bringing together those who had given:
"Outstanding services to the Sport of Basketball over a period of many years"
The English Basket Ball Association brought together a small group of past and present national officers to set up the Fellowship and draw up suggestions for membership.
The Fellowship, as originally conceived, was concerned with those who had been involved at national level.
However, the scope has widened to encompass others who have served the game for many years.
Membership is by invitation.
The objectives of the Fellowship are: -
i) To encourage the general development of the game of basketball
ii) To recognise, as appropriate, the contribution made by individuals or organisations to the game.
iii) To provide a social focus for members.
Fellowship History
In 2006, Joan Himpson and Ian Jenkins completed work on a booklet outlining the history of the Fellowship which included biographies of members who responded to their requests for contributions.
Given that communication was not as easy then as now, one can only be in awe of the work they put in to create such a wonderful record.
The booklet was published in hard copy but only distributed a small number of Fellows who made the appropriate payment.
An original copy was available at the 2025 AGM with members showing considerable interest as it triggered so many memories of people and events.
Twenty years later, the Committee has decided that it is worthwhile updating the document which will ultimately be circulated electronically and included in the National Basketball Heritage Collection and Archive.
Even with improved communications, this will take some time as we seek to update biographies and gather information from members who joined since 2006, or were missing from the original publication.
We have not attempted to contact all current members at once as we want to be able to deal with a small number at a time to make the task manageable. If you have not heard from us yet, you soon will.
To date, we are progressing well with the update with only around a dozen or so Fellows missing from the collection up to the year 2000, with invitations out to those for whom we hold up to date contact details.
If we continue to get a positive response we may be able to complete the task earlier than previously anticipated!?
You will note from the photographs in our Gallery that some images are of better quality than others. A number are pre-digital and do make a great historical record.
If we do not have a photograph of a Fellow in the gallery that is either because we hold one in a currently unusable format or we do not possess one.
We would be very grateful to receive new photographs to fill in the blanks or to upgrade the quality of images.
Executive Officers Through the Years
CHAIR
Meetings were chaired by the President Ken Charles for the first 2 years.
Norman (Nibs) Ayres 1982 – 1984
Mark Matthews 1985
Peter Wardale 1986 – 1987
Ian Jenkins 1988 – 1997
Geoff Boulby 1998 – 2011
Mike Howarth 2011 – 2024
Andy Milbourne 2024 – present
SECRETARY
Ian Jenkins 1980 – 1985
Phillip Clarke 1985 – 1994
Dave Newman 1995 – 2000
Geoff Barr 2001 – 2011
Gordon Cole 2011 – 2016
Mary Brown 2016 – present
TREASURER
Wilf Gorman 1980 - 1985
Bill Taylor 1985 - 1986
Nibs Ayres 1986 – 1987
Kerry Mumford 1988 – 1991
Di Charles 1992 – 2024
Philip Ireson 2024 – present
Di made the decision to step down from the Committee in 2025. She had served for 32 years as Treasurer, been on the Committee since 1988, and at the heart of the Fellowship since 1983. Although she won't be attending all future committee meetings, she will provide wisdom and insight moving forward.
Di was installed as an Honorary Vice-President in recognition of her long and outstanding service to the Fellowship.
Fellowship Officers:
Chair: Andy Milbourne
Secretary: Mary Brown
Treasurer: Phil Ireson
Other Committee Members:
Tim Brown MBE, Jenny Collins, Patricia Fairclough OBE, Mike Howarth and Richard Stokes.
The Committee meets four or five times a year and organises an Annual General Meeting each June.
The venue for the AGM is changed each year to allow the spread of members a better opportunity to attend when it is closer to them and also to ensure that the social side of the gathering is located, where possible, near places of interest for those who wish to explore.
The Committee is responsible for communicating Fellowship news to its members and maintaining sound finances.
They are involved in work with the National Basketball Heritage Collection and Archive, liaison with Basketball England and the Regional Council (which assists them in the awarding of development grants). They make decisions about the awarding of the Fellowship and Jubilee Trophies, and have offered bursaries to students at the University of Worcester undertaking research into basketball through the Ken Charles Dissertation Prize.
This is just a brief overview of key elements of the committee's work. The website and newsletters demonstrate the full scope of the work they undertake on behalf of the Fellowship.