Maurice Hammerton 1961-2025

British Para Table Tennis is mourning the loss of board member Maurice Hammerton, who has passed away at the age of 63.

“Maurice was a pillar within our sport and ever generous with his time and knowledge,” said BPTT Chairperson Adele Stach-Kevitz. “His sporting wisdom and supportive nature will be sorely missed from the BPTT board and across the Para Table Tennis community.”

A two-time Paralympian in Wheelchair Basketball, competing in the 1980 and 1984 Paralympic Games, Maurice represented Great Britain on more than 150 occasions and went on to achieve further sporting success as a coach and board member.

Maurice was a founder member of the Milton Keynes Aces Wheelchair Basketball Club in 1984 and went on to become a coach.  He was a member of the board of the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association (now British Wheelchair Basketball) from 1993 to 2008 where he was responsible for the instigation of a Coach Education Programme for Wheelchair Basketball, and he served as GB Assistant Coach from 2001 to 2004. From 1999 until 2019, he was the Development Officer for the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (Europe) and since 2015, he had been Chairman of the Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club. He also worked for Sheffield City Council for 25 years.

“For many years the board members of British Para Table Tennis had been looking for the right person to bring their experience and first-hand understanding of Paralympic sport,” said BPTT Senior Independent Executive and Chair of Governance Kim Laws. “In the spring of 2022 Maurice Hammerton joined the board as an Independent Non-Executive Director. He immediately joined the Governance committee, and he rapidly became an invaluable member of that committee and the main board with his wealth of knowledge and understanding of life as a wheelchair athlete.

“But Maurice brought so much more. He was a quiet, thoughtful, member of any discussion; he would often come up with innovative solutions and his smile and sunny personality were infectious. Most recently, as our Environmental and Sustainability Lead he helped produce a sustainability policy for the board and although he completely understood the limitations of operating a World Class Sports Programme, with its reliance on international travel, he managed to embrace that and add in mitigating factors whenever possible. Despite only being a member of the board for just two and half years Maurice very quickly became an invaluable director and someone who all board members regarded as a good friend. He will be greatly missed.”

BPTT Finance Director Martin Clark said: “Throughout his time on the BPTT Board, Maurice has been part of the backbone of the team with his commitment, knowledge and expertise that he brought, always with a smile, full of enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. He will be missed enormously.  RIP Maurice.”

The thoughts of everyone at British Para Table Tennis are with Maurice’s wife Jackie and his family at this very sad time.