Plumpton Tennis Club

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Plumpton Village Hall Committee Room on Monday 15th November 2004 at 8pm

15 members were present: Mike Warren, Paul Mitchell, Bryan Seel, Christine Gannon, Geoff Spinks, Ann and Dennis Jones, Ian and Pam Streeter, Sue and Greg Brown, Lesley Satchell, Maria Roche, Marilyn Hanbury.

1. Apologies for Absence: Eileen and Pamela Lucy-Butler, Judy Holmes, Alan Mates, Marion Tilford.

2. Minutes of the last AGM

These were agreed and signed.

3. Chairman’s Report

Mike Warren addressed the meeting:

Compared to the last few years, the last 12 months seem to have been much quieter. The new courts, after being in use for 18 months, have settled down fairly well, and it has been good to see the use of them increase over the year, although we are still in contact with the contractors, to sort out the cracks that are still apparent around three of the edges.

In this period we have seen our membership steadily rise to a record high. Dare I say it, but at last we managed to introduce a second club evening, on Fridays, which seems to be establishing itself well, which is great to see considering all of the previous attempts that have been made over the years.

In contrast to last year, this year’s club tournament was somewhat of a disaster by comparison, as we ended up with only three finals on finals day. Disappointingly, although we had enough entrants into the Men’s doubles, they found it extremely difficult to get themselves organized in time to play any of the first round matches. This seems to be becoming somewhat of a trend, as we have had to pull out both Men’s teams that have been entered into the summer & winter leagues as well due to a lack of a team captain and a lack of players!!?

Committee wise it has also been somewhat of a trying year, as we have struggled to keep our numbers up to the regulatory five that are needed, due to personal commitments of one kind or another.

Paul has continued to perform miracles with his role as membership secretary, and has turned the clubs website into something useful both as a marketing tool and information point for the club.

Julia has continued with the task of being club secretary, but due to changes in her personal circumstances she has finally been successful in resigning from the post! Bryan has performed his expect 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 & narrow, and operating within the club rules!

In more recent times, Chris Gannon has joined the committee and will hopefully be taking on something of a more permanent feature in the coming year.

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

• Pamela Lucey-Butler – for continuing the onerous task of junior development, as well as now being permanent club coach
• Nick & Lesley Satchell – for last year's (and this year's) quiz.
• Marilyn Hanbury, Ann Jones, Sue Brown, Pam Streeter, Lesley Satchell & Marion Tilford for this year’s ladies day, which I believe was one of the best ever.
• Marion Tilford, Sue Brown & Lesley Satchell for organizing the up and coming jumble sale this Saturday.
• Sue Brown for her excellent efforts in raising a multitude of prizes, from the local community, which can be used at various events.
• Maria Roche – for the court bookings and Ladies teams (report to follow)
• Alan Mates – for his continued efforts with the Horam League each year
• Ann Jones for getting the cups and trophies engraved and organized for the tournament presentations later.
• Marilyn for getting the new water heater installed & Chris Gannon for the new club house heater.
• Geoff Spinks for carrying out ‘paper’ deliveries to non e-mail members

So what does the next year bring?

• We have investigated the possibility of getting floodlights on court 3, however the costs are disproportionate by comparison, at somewhere in the region of £12k. So we will not be going ahead.
• We are introducing club Tee & polo shirts, in the not too distant future, which we hope will both increase the revenue generated and interest in the club.
• We have gained approval from the Parish Council to put a sign up at the entrance of the track, which should make it easier for both visiting teams and new members to locate the club.
• We would like more of the same on the increase in membership front but we also need to see additional people coming forward to join the committee, as, as of this moment we are operating outside of the clubs rules and constitution by only being 4 in number.

We also need of some immediate support from the members in a few areas, such as;

• Helping with this year’s Quiz night, which is on the 4th of December.
• Taking on responsibility, for the maintenance of our existing facilities.

For me personally, this will be my last year as chairman, as my work commitments grow both at the office and at home, I find that I am unable to devote as much time as I needed to do this role properly, unless of course we have anyone who would like to take the challenge on now?

4. Team Captains’/ Junior Reports.

• Maria reported that the Ladies 1st team was top of Division 4 in the Winter divisions and 3rd in the Summer divisions. She reported that the Ladies 2nd team ended the Winter division in the middle of the division they were playing in, and 5th in the Summer Divisions. All the matches were enjoyed. The losses were accepted with dignity, and the team had a glow when they won.
• There was no men’s team this year since there was not enough response from members willing to play regularly.
• Alan Mates sent a report on the Horam League team. He is happy to continue as the captain next year. The team won 4 matches, drew 1 match, and lost 8 matches. There was good team spirit. Well done to those who took part.

Pamela sent the following report on the Junior section of the tennis club:

We have had another successful year at the tennis club. The Juniors have been exceptional to work with and have all been working very hard in the past year. There are 3 groups of Junior coaching, ranging from 5-11 years on Monday and the older boys group on Tuesday evening. They have played in several tournaments and competitions over the last year.

She also offered a big thank you to the ladies who attend the Wednesday lunchtime group. They have given fantastic support and are improving all the time. She asked that anyone who would like to arrange group or individual coaching should contact her on 01273-890124.

Lesley Satchell asked if it might be possible to organize junior matches against other clubs - Mike agreed to discuss the matter with Pamela at the next committee meeting.

5. To receive and accept the Annual Accounts.

Bryan Seel produced his 18th Annual report, and explained the figures for the current year. The subscription receipts have remained high, thanks to Paul’s efforts. The fundraising this year, including the Quiz and the very successful Ladies Day, has contributed over £1000.00. Unfortunately the LTA membership fee increased this year (also due to increased membership). £726.00 was spent on new posts and nets. There was a change in the insurance premium this year as we have a new insurer. There was a dramatic reduction in the stationary expenditure, due to the fact that we purchased headed notepaper last year.

Bryan made a projection for next year’s expenditure and noted that the actual expenditure and the projected expenditure this year differed by only £200.00.

Thanks were expressed to Frank Botterill for once again auditing the annual accounts.

6. To Consider any Rule Changes

No proposals for rule changes were received.

7. Subscription Rates

It was agreed that subscription rates would remain the same as last year:

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

It was proposed that the fees for the Hire of the Tennis courts for non-members would be increased this year. It will cost £3.00 per hour per person for adults and £1.50 per hour per person for Juniors. Proposed: Mike Warren. Seconded: Ann Jones.

8. Membership Report & Club Questionnaire

Membership

• Last AGM there were 113 members – now there are 114.
• Of these 114 - 66 are adults, 9 students, 35 juniors and 4 non-playing. About the same split as last year.
• At the end of March, 81 members renewed, 32 did not rejoin and 33 new members were recruited. This compares with last years figures when 64 renewed, 24 did not rejoin and 49 new members were signed up. In other words we still have an issue with retaining members with about 28% of all members not renewing at the end of the membership year. This puts pressure on the recruiting new members to keep membership numbers stable. The challenge remains in getting members to make use of their membership so that they rejoin.
• Less than 10 new members joined as a result of the Easter promotion with the bulk of new members joining in August with the part year discounts that start 1st August proving popular.

A discussion followed on how to maintain the membership numbers from year to year. It was suggested that it might be an idea to offer a free lesson with each new membership. The committee and Pamela will discuss this.

9. Election of Officers/ Committee for 2004/05

The Chairman, Treasurer, and Membership Secretary agreed to continue.

Elections were as follows:

Post	Person Elected	Proposed By	Seconded By
Chairman	Mike Warren	Bryan Seel	Maria Roche
Treasurer	Bryan Seel	Mike Warren	Dennis Jones
Membership Sec	Paul Mitchell	Bryan Seel	M. Hanbury
Secretary	Chris Gannon	Mike Warren	Ann Jones

In order to make sure that we have a quorum for Committee meetings, volunteers to join the committee were requested. Marilyn Hanbury, Ann Jones and Maria Roche agreed to attend at least one committee meeting.

10. Any Other Business

• It was agreed that the usual Tournaments would be held next year i.e. Frost Bite, Mad Hatters, Rosebowl. However no dates have yet been set for these.
• The Quiz night will take place on Saturday 4th December. Lesley and Nick Satchell will organize the questions. Eileen Lucey –Butler will organize the food again this year. The quiz will start at 7.30 for 8.00. Lesley already has some raffle prizes, but more are welcome.
• The Jumble sale will take place on Saturday 20th November. Prizes are needed for the Tombola. Volunteers are needed to help set up the hall at 9 am, and to help in the afternoon. Sue Brown agreed to take names for the quiz at the Tea Stall. Christine will print the poster advertising the Quiz in time for the Jumble Sale. Lesley will count the money at the end and give it to Bryan.

The trophies for the Club Tournaments were presented. The winners were:



Dennis Jones proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman for all his hard work throughout the year. This was fully endorsed by the members.

The meeting closed at 9.20 and was followed by refreshments