Minutes of Committee Meeting held on Tuesday 28th June 2005
at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green
Present: Mike Warren (Chair), Paul Mitchell, Christine Gannon, Marilyn Hanbury, Bryan Seel.
1. Apologies for Absence: Pamela Lucey-Butler
2. Approval of Previous Minutes (19th April)
These were agreed subject to changing the date of the financial balances given at the last meeting
from 10th April to 19th April.
3. Matters arising:
a) Club Shirts – shirt sales had been steady but unspectacular since the last meeting.
b) Wimbledon Tickets – Paul had discussed the process for allocating Wimbledon tickets with Alan Mates
who had kindly volunteered to take over this task from Julia Pusey. To ensure that it is clear as to how
the allocation is carried out a written process for next year’s distribution will be presented to the
committee for approval and circulated to members. Alan had reported that all the tickets had been sold
and that he would drop the cheques in to Brian.
c) Chris Chapman and Oliver Morgan had met and begun work on the new club website – Paul would ask for
a progress report for the next meeting.
d) A clubhouse cleaner has been recruited - Dominic Satchell who is doing a good job.
4. Treasurer's Report presented by Bryan Seel.
The Club bank balance had risen from £17880.97 at the last meeting to £20412.19.
The increase of £2531.22 reflects the increased level of membership subs and the proceeds from a
successful Ladies Day.
5. Junior Report
Pam had reported that coaching was going well with a lot of new interest from juniors. Mike had received
details of short tennis courses from Nick Turner who coaches at Plumpton Primary School. It was agreed
that it was important to link with Nick and the school and Mike would ask Pam to do this.
6. Membership
· Paul reported that membership was at its highest ever level at 135 members, up 24 on last year.
Retention of last year’s membership had improved with 84 members being retained from 114 with 51
new members joining. Paul circulated information on reasons for the 30 non-renewals, which showed
that the most common reason for non-renewal was not making sufficient use of the membership i.e.
not playing tennis! It was hoped that the introduction of the New Members Day and a growing range
of other events would encourage members to take part.
· Paul also reported that he had been allowing parents of junior members to have keys to the courts
and clubhouse if they join as non-playing members. This had allowed juniors easier access to the courts
but had only been allowed on the understanding that the non-playing member parent would ensure that
juniors had adult supervision at all times when using the facilities. The committee agreed that this
was fine in principle but that the ‘understanding’ with the non-playing parent should be confirmed
in a short statement that is signed by the non-playing parent. Paul would draft a statement to be
approved by Bryan and Mike and ask all current and future non-playing parent key holders to sign.
· Paul also asked for clarification as to how joining fees should be charged – should this be one
per member, one per family etc It was decided that as the joining fee is to cover the cost of key cutting,
the charging of the fee would relate to the number of sets of keys issued i.e. £5 joining fee per set of keys
issued.
· It was decided to abandon the suggestion that the match results should be sent for publication to the
Mid Sussex Times – until the club had become bigger and better!
· Paul suggested doing a club survey to ask members their opinions about the running of the club,
events, what could be improved, and club development. Paul would draft an example questionnaire;
send it to committee members for comment and approval with a view to issue in September.
Results could then be reported back to the members at the AGM in November.
7. Comments from the Membership
· John Dickie had expressed concerns about the weeds protruding from court 3. See ‘premises & equipment’ below.
8. Events
· The American Tournament was held on 22nd May – thanks were expressed to Mike, Paul and Marilyn for organising
this and congratulations to Chris Gannon and Dave Collett who were the winners. 12 members took part in a
successful morning – thanks were expressed to all those who took part.
· Ladies Day was held on Thursday 26th May and was a great success. Thanks to Ann Jones and Marilyn Hanbury
for organising this. £399 was raised for club funds. 15 couples took part from various local clubs. Marilyn
(on behalf of herself and Ann) expressed her thanks to all the members that took part and helped on the day.
· Safari Supper – Paul reported that Ann and Lesley had said that bookings are going well and that many club
members are among those that are taking part.
· A decision was to be made on the date of the frostbite tournament at the next meeting.
· Club Tournament – this has started. There had been a question about the rules if a player or players did not
turn up for prearranged matches – could a walkover be claimed? It was decided that individual cases should be
resolved between the players concerned wherever possible, as the circumstances of every case could be very different.
If agreement could not be reached then reference should be made to Tournament Referee, Mike Warren whose decision
would be final.
· New Members Afternoon – had been a success with about 30 people taking part throughout the afternoon including a
number of new members. Thanks to Sue and Paul for organising this and all those that brought cake! Thanks also to
Pamela Lucey-Butler who carried out an excellent coaching session for about 10 juniors. It was agreed that this
event would be held every year in the middle Sunday of Wimbledon.
9. Premises & Equipment
· Graham Goodman has taken over responsibility for overseeing premises and equipment for the club.
· A maintenance morning had taken place on 4th June. Good progress had been made including the painting
of the clubhouse, clearing out of the clubhouse cupboard and much hedge trimming. Thanks to Ann & Denis
Jones, Bruce Cumner, Sue Brown, Judy Holmes, Paul Mitchell and Graham Goodman for their efforts.
· Mike would prepare a maintenance diary for future use.
· Mike had organised regular grass cutting.
· Marilyn would organise a local gardener to clear ‘court 4’ and weeds round court 3 and any further hedge
cutting. Agreed budget £200 maximum.
· Paul would ask Graham Goodman if he would treat the weeds on court 3.
· Thanks were expressed to Graham Goodman for servicing the ball machine, which is now in good working order.
· Tables & chairs – Sue Brown had purchased the table and chairs for the clubhouse. Marilyn Hanbury had
disposed of the old furniture. There had been many comments that the new furniture, together with the
regular cleaning has dramatically improved the facilities. Thanks to Sue, Marilyn and Dominic.
· There were concerns about the wiring of the floodlights – Pat Neill had submitted evidence of
the problems to the committee. Mike would take this up urgently with the company that installed the
lights. In the meantime no member should attempt to get involved with anything to do with the electrics
relating to the floodlights or security lights e.g. changing bulbs.
· Nets – Mike would replace the net on court 1 and the court strap on court 2 as well as new net posts
to be installed on courts 1 and 3.
10. Any Other Business
· It was agreed that the cooker in the clubhouse could be loaned out for a month to a villager who
is having their kitchen renovated. It was not anticipated that this would cause any problems for
members but if members needed the cooker they should contact Mike.
11. Next Meetings
Tuesday 20th September 2005 - 7.30pm at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green
Tuesday 18th October 2005 - 7.30pm at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green (pre-AGM meeting