Plumpton Tennis Club

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Plumpton Village Hall Committee Room on Thursday 13th November 2003, 8pm

15 members were present: Mike Warren, Paul Mitchell, Julia Pusey, Bryan Seel, Geoff Spinks, Geoff and Linda Thomas, Anita Spencer, Ann and Dennis Jones, Ian and Pam Streeter, Sue Brown, Pamela Lucy-Butler, Lesley Satchell,

1. Apologies for Absence: Received from Maria Roche, Marilyn Hanbury, Rob Collett, Eileen Lucy-Butler, John and Rob DeRidder, Graham Goodman, Brendan Carroll, Marian Tilford, Mike Punter, Mary Elliot, Alan Mates and Anthony Pusey.

2. Minutes of the last AGM

These were agreed. Dennis Jones proposed, Anne Jones seconded.

3. Chairman’s Report

Mike Warren addressed the meeting with:

Since the last AGM, things have moved at a fair pace during the year. Gladly, as hopefully all of our members have at least sampled, we completed the task of getting courts 1 & 2 rebuilt, as brand new courts and had court 3 re-coated so that it at least looks new, in time for the start of the main season.

I am glad to say that they play well and after having, what seemed an endless summer's play on them, have come through their first test relatively unscathed. However, we are still in contact with the contractors, as we seem to have a few cracks appearing around 3 of the edges.

Financially we managed to come through the project with still a few coppers in the bank, which Brian will come onto later, and fortunately didn't have to call upon the 12 guarantors to cover the possible LTA loan. Futuristically, its worth mentioning that over the next 10 years, we will need to put away somewhere in the region of £25,000 to get them recovered again.

Club sessions since have been oversubscribed, which is great to see, with some weeks having enough people wanting to play, to fill 5 or more courts.

The club tournament was a tremendous affair, with record breaking numbers participating. It was really good to see some new names coming forward to participate, in what culminated with a spectacular finals day in weather, spectators and levels of play.

Committee wise it has been, what seems, a year of endless activity, with our numbers stabilising at 5 for most of it.

Paul has performed miracles with his role as membership secretary, a report from him on that later, as well as taking on other 'opportunities' such as helping to organise the Club Tournament, taking on responsibility for the website, as well as the Men's summer league (another report to follow).

Julia has continued with the thankless task of being Club secretary, something I know she has being trying to wriggle out of for the last few years, but so far we haven't let her. Along with being the main contact with the LTA, doing the newsletters & minutes and even occasionally finding the time to pick her racket up!!

Bryan has performed his, dare I say now, expected wonders with the accounts. Along with something that is even more of a task, that of keeping the rest of the committee on the straight and narrow, by making sure that we don't wander off into areas that could cause us potential headaches within the rules etc.

Rob, who joined us at last years AGM, has assisted in many areas, including giving a better insight into the thoughts and minds of the younger members and helping to dramatically reduce the average age of the committee!!

On behalf of the club and the members, I would like to pass on our gratitude.

The club would also like to pass on its thanks to the following people, who have helped make this year one of our best ever;

• Pamela Lucey-Butler - for taking on the onerous task of junior development, as well as now being our permanent club coach.
• Nick & Lesley Satchell - for last years (and this years) quiz.
• Marilyn Hanbury and Ann Jones - for the wonderful barn dance.
• Marilyn Hanbury, Ann Jones and Marion Tilford (who even interrupted her Spanish exam) for this years’ ladies day
• Maria Roche - for the court bookings and Ladies team
• Alan Mates - for his continued efforts with the Horam League each year
• Everybody who turned up for the clean up day and Ian Streeter who has now fixed the culvert for us, once and for all so that it should never overflow again!!
• Rob de Ridder - for fitting the new kitchen units and sorting out the plumbing.
• Eileen Lucey-Butler - for all of the organising for the Irish Evening, even though it had to be cancelled at the last minute.
• Ann Jones for getting the cups and trophies engraved and organised for the tournament presentations later.

So, where do we go from here? A fourth court could be on the cards, perhaps floodlights on courts 3 & 4, Improved clubhouse facilities or even a training wall or Bubble for courts 1 & 2.

There are plenty of options for the future, it really only depends on what we want the club to become, and therefore how much of our own time we are willing to put in to succeed, and how much fund-raising we are prepared to organise and support.

What I do know, however, is that even now we have a need for some immediate support from the members in a few areas, such as;
- Helping to organise this years Quiz night.
- Taking on responsibility for the maintenance of our existing facilities.
- Taking on responsibility for future social events.


There were a number of expressions of appreciation for the enormous amount of work done by Mike during his negotiations with grant allocating institutions for funding the court rebuilding, and members present echoed this.

4. Team Captains / Junior Report.


Ladies Team:

The report for the first team was sent by Maria Roche. The ladies team was entered into the summer division, and finished 4th in the division. One win has been recorded in the winter divisions.

Sue Brown reported for the second team: "Doing fine and having fun!" Marian Tilford and Sue are organising the second team during the winter.

Pamela Lucy-Butler is entering a third team for the summer season to give her coaching groups some experience of competitive play.

Men’s team:

The report was given by Paul Mitchell.

Winter League 2002-2003

Captain: Garry Taylor

Division 12 Final Positions

	P	W	L	D	Pts
Grasshoppers 2	4	3	1	0	6
Wickwoods 4	4	1	1	2	4
Cooden Beach 2	3	1	0	2	4
The Green 6	4	1	2	1	3
Plumpton 1	3	0	2	1	1
E Grinstead 4	0	0	0	0	0

In Div 12 out of 13
Players taking part: Brendan Carroll, Paul Mitchell, Rob Collett, Rob Carroll, Garry Taylor.
Matches not completed.

Winter League 2002-2003

Captain: Paul Mitchell

Division 13E Final Positions

	P	W	L	D	Pts
Hampden Park 4	5	4	1	0	8
Lindfield 2	5	3	1	1	7
Preston 2	5	2	1	2	6
British Gypsum 1	5	1	2	2	4
Cooden Beach 2	5	2	3	0	4
Plumpton 1	5	0	4	1	1
Crawley 5	0	0	0	0	0

Promoted from previous year so now in Div 13 out of 14
Players taking part: Brendan Carroll, Martin Range, Mike Warren, Paul Mitchell, Dave Collett, Rob Collett, Rob DeRidder, Brad Sands, Andy Moyle, Steve White, Jon Wale.
Beat Crawley 4-0 in September, but result not counted as Crawley withdrew.

Junior Report

Pamela reported that junior coaching for the Winter season had begun. She was also arranging a senior/junior tournament to introduce the 2 sections of the club to each other and ease the transition of junior players into senior sessions.

She was also initiating a coffee morning for everyone, probably on a Tuesday morning at 10.30, where members would be able to turn up and play in an informal session for a small fee.

Lesley Satchell commented on how well Pamela related to the juniors.

5. To receive and accept the Annual Accounts.

Bryan Seel produced the accounts and explained the figures for the current year and then went through the projected list of income and expenditure for the 2003-2004 period.

There was a marked increase in subscription receipts thanks to Paul Mitchell's great efforts during this year's membership drive. General fundraising raised over £1000 gross, with the Quiz night, Ladies Day and Barn Dance. £17,900 was received in grants for the court rebuilding project. Expenditure on LTA subscription was reduced this year as at the time of year when the LTA ask for membership figures, numbers were lower than the previous year. Bryan drew attention to the higher insurance premium to be paid to the new insurers for next year. The previous insurers no longer cover this area of the insurance market. There is also a loaded premium linked with the postcode to cover flood risk.

Overall the current balance was healthy at over £10,000. Next years projected figures were much the same as this year, but took account of increased insurance premiums.

The annual accounts had been typed by Jane Seel and audited by Frank Botterill. Bryan had given Frank a bottle as a token of thanks. Heartfelt thanks were extended to Bryan for his continuing hard work as treasurer.

Acceptance of the treasurer’s report was proposed by Paul Mitchell, and seconded by Dennis Jones.

6. To Consider any Rule Changes

No proposals for rule changes had been received.

6. Subscription Rates

It was proposed that subscription rates should be raised by £5. This could contribute towards future projects such as a fourth court, floodlighting on court 3, a new clubhouse etc. Dennis Jones wondered whether the increase should be more as where there was a need to generate funds; the emphasis could be shifted from fundraising to membership subscriptions. The current membership rates were very competitive when compared with for example, Preston where adult subscriptions were £160. Mike reminded the meeting that the club ethos was to provide tennis at affordable rates and felt that £100 represented a psychological barrier.

Ian Streeter suggested that there was a case to be made for maintaining the momentum of annual increases, rather than periodic large changes.

On the subject of fundraising, there was some disappointment expressed in the support given by club members to the events arranged during the year. Lesley commented that in her experience of fund raising, events such as barn dances, quiz nights etc involved a great deal of work relative to the income they generated. A jumble sale represented less preparation time and resulted in a healthy profit. It was generally thought that as there appeared to be so little enthusiasm for the social side of these events, jumble sales would be a preferable form of fundraising. Marion Tilford had communicated via an intermediary that she would be prepared to liase with Karen Beard and arrange a suitable date.

Subscription rates: Proposed Geoff Spinks. Seconded Lesley Satchell.

Adult single	£95.00
Junior Single	£20.00
Student	£25.00
Family	£190.00

7. Membership Report

• Paul Mitchell presented the membership report:
• Membership numbers at the 2002 AGM were reported as 86.
• The club now has 113 members
• Of the 113, 68 are adults, 7 students, 35 juniors and 3 non-playing
• At the end of the last membership year (March 2003), 64 members renewed, 24 did not renew their membership and to date 49 new members have joined. Membership is therefore up 25 since 1 April.
• 30 of the new members resulted directly from the Easter Weekend promotional campaign.
• 77% of members are can now be contacted by e-mail.
• Positive response to membership cards and information packs
• Poor response to key returns from non-renewing members
• Need to encourage members to use their membership to avoid a repeat of the high turnover experienced last year.
• Part year discounts have rarely come into play and perhaps need further promotion.
• Recommend a repeat of the Easter Weekend promotion with extra emphasis on Chailey and Wivelsfield Green.

It was suggested that the problem of non-renewing members who had not returned their court keys could be combated by requesting a deposit for keys when first issued. New keys would be issued this coming season which should reduce the potential for unauthorised court use given the large number of keys in current circulation with some keys being held by former members.

Another challenge was to retain members year on year. A significant number do not rejoin because they do not make use of their membership. It was suggested that there could be a new members tournament where they could meet other members and become integrated into the club. This could be complemented by a buddy scheme, where a new member was introduced to the range of club activities by an established member. Schemes such as Pamela's coffee morning would also facilitate integration.

A suggestion had been received asking whether a fixed fee of say £30 could be levied on members who wished to have unrestricted access to the cupboard containing the ball machine. This raised the possibility of a membership class system to be instituted, with higher fees paid by those wanting unlimited access to floodlights, ball machine etc. After due consideration it was felt that at present this might be difficult to administer and regulate.

Club play on Wednesday evening is currently very well attended. Rob DeRidder will reinstate the peg system to ensure varied play and facilitate quick changes at the end of each match. Due to the high numbers attending, the possibility of having another club evening was discussed. In the past this has caused problems by splitting attendance between 2 sessions thereby resulting in too few players for either session. It was suggested that until the weather improved, individuals could ring each other to arrange games. Sunday afternoon sessions are currently not well attended, but thanks to the Jones and Streeter participation, there is always someone present.

8. Election of Officers/ Committee for 2004/05

The present committee agreed to continue.

Elections were as follows:

Post	Person Elected	Proposed By	Seconded By
Chairperson	Mike Warren	Bryan Seel	Sue Brown
Treasurer	Bryan Seel	Mike Warren	Dennis Jones
Secretary	Julia Pusey	Mike Warren	Ann Jones
Membership Sec	Paul Mitchell	Lesley Satchell	Pam Streeter
Youth liaison	Rob Collett	Bryan Seel	Ann Jones

These members were duly proposed and seconded to stand on the committee.

Other positions to be filled either by committee members or from outside the committee were identified in a list provided by Paul.

Ann Jones agreed to continue with cup engraving. There was a vacancy for social secretary to co-ordinate fundraising events. Linda Thomas kindly offered her expertise in this area. Sue Brown offered support in the production of leaflets, flyers etc for these functions.

One of the positions as yet vacant is that of facilities manager. This would involve supervision / delegation of tasks such as fencing repairs, moss killing etc. It would be principally a co-ordination role as a number of members present (Dennis Jones, Ian Streeter, Geoff Thomas) expressed willingness, time permitting, to undertake certain jobs as directed. As this is a vital role if the club is to maintain high quality playing surfaces and safe facilities, it was suggested that the club could employ a facilities manager, or that Lewes District Council could be approached to take over the running of the facilities.

9. Any Other Business

• The Quiz night organisation for 6th of December was in urgent need of finalisation. Lesley and Nick Satchell were kindly organising the academic side of the evening, but the catering arrangements were as yet embryonic. Geoff Spinks suggested that fish and chips were an option, and Linda Thomas agreed to obtain a quote from caterers known to her.
• Front gate lock. This wouldn’t be replaced as it was a constant target for vandalism and an open gate engendered a more welcoming atmosphere. They also didn’t provide an effective barrier to accessing club grounds, as there are other means of access.
• A date for the Rosebowl Tournament was to be set.
• Paul asked whether those members not on e-mail could be teamed up with a member with e-mail facilities. This would facilitate the dissemination of information.

Meeting closed at 10.00pm and was followed by refreshments and presentation of cups.