15/07/2026
From Helen Crook, Co-Founder of WimX Tennis
It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my mum, Muriel Crook, who died peacefully on 9 July 2026, aged 91, after living with dementia for more than ten years.
In many ways, Muriel was the grandmother of WimX.
When four former tour players and I founded WimX in 2004, she immediately became part of the journey. Whether helping to organise fundraising quizzes or supporting events, she was always there, just as she had been throughout her life in tennis.
Her story in the sport began many years earlier.
After moving from Lancashire to Basildon with my late father, Cliff, they discovered a set of floodlit council-owned courts at Mopsies Park, where a men's-only tennis club operated. Together they persuaded the council to allow the club to use the courts free of charge and set about creating something very different. They established a junior coaching programme known as the Cadet Scheme, offering coaching for just a few pence per session, with every penny reinvested into equipment so more young people could take part.
Although Mum came to tennis later than many, she was determined to contribute. She took lessons with some of Essex's leading coaches, including June Pearce, to improve her own game before qualifying as an LTA coach at Lilleshall in 1983.
That decision changed the lives of hundreds of young people.
The Cadet Scheme introduced generations of children to tennis, creating friendships that still exist today. It was also where I first picked up a racket and where my own journey in tennis began.
When my father became chairman, Muriel played a huge role in transforming the club into one that welcomed women, juniors and families. What had once been a small local club grew into one that regularly competed—and often won—in the Essex, Chelmsford & District and Southend & District leagues, despite operating from public council courts rather than a private members' facility.
She was never just an organiser. If a junior team needed getting to an away match, Mum would somehow fit everyone into our tiny Fiat 126—or make two journeys if that was what it took. Nothing was ever too much trouble if it meant giving young people the chance to play.
She also worked alongside me to secure the refurbishment of the Mopsies Park courts, helping to produce the business case and working with Basildon Council and the LTA to improve the facilities for future generations. Away from the club, she served for 12 years as Secretary of the Essex Tennis Coaches Association and, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the club, both Mum and I were later made Honorary Members of Basildon Lawn Tennis Club.
Severe arthritis in her hands eventually forced Mum to stop playing but she remained closely connected to the club and the people within it for many years afterwards.
Looking back now, it is impossible not to recognise just how much of WimX's DNA came from her. The belief that tennis should be accessible to everyone, the importance of volunteering, reinvesting in young people, creating opportunities and building communities through sport—those values were all lived by Muriel long before WimX existed.
Without her drive, encouragement and example, I may never have played tennis. And without that, WimX may never have been born.
Thank you, Mum, for everything you gave to me, to tennis, and to so many other people whose lives you helped shape.
You will never be forgotten.
Helen ❤️
* Memorial planned on Aug 1st with details TBC
