Tuesday, 9th May, 2006
at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green
Present: Paul Mitchell (Chair), Christine Gannon, Marilyn Hanbury, Jennie Holland.
1. Apologies for Absence:
Mike Warren
2. Approval of Previous Minutes (20th February)
Approved as a true record
3. Matters arising:
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Paul will confirm with Mike that agreed charity donations had been paid.
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The club night supervisor role guides had been distributed to the supervisors and the members
and displayed in the clubhouse. Supervisors had been issued with 8 tubes of new balls each so
that good quality balls could be made available by the supervisors at club evenings. Good reports
of the club evenings have been received since these measures had been taken.
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Paul and Chris met Liz Wigley, the LTA Club Development Office on Wednesday 12th April. Liz was
interested to hear all about the club and we discussed all the help, support and benefits that
affiliated clubs receive from the LTA such as free personal injury insurance, access to Wimbledon
tickets and legal and technical help if necessary. A full report was given to the Committee.
4. Financial Report.
Mike had sent a report of the current balances of the club accounts as at 8th May 2006:
| Tennis Club Lloyds TSB: |
£4,341.93 |
| Petty cash |
£203.23 |
| Portman Building Society: |
£18,804.07 |
| Total: |
£23,349.23 |
Figures were also available for income and expenditure for the period since the last meeting. The figures
show an increase in the balance in spite of the fact that the club paid the LTA affiliation fee of £727.80
and bought the Wimbledon ticket allocation at a cost of £1722.00. These costs had been offset by income
from membership renewals. The club’s savings account would be moved from the Portman to Alliance & Leicester as agreed at the last meeting.
A full report would be available from Mike at the next meeting.
5. Wimbledon tickets.
Based on the outcome of a meeting between Paul and Alan Mates, a procedure was agreed by the Committee
for the sale and allocation of available Wimbledon tickets. The tickets had now been received. A final
chance would be offered to members to express their interest in tickets and it was noted that the club
must inform the LTA of its allocation of tickets by 31st May. Paul would make sure that Alan was aware
of this.
6. Premises.
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Paul met Parish council representative Kelvin Spiers and obtained approval for a number of areas
as work as follows:
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path to the clubhouse – this was approved and Ian Streeter had begun work.
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repairs to the dip in the access track - it was also agreed with Kelvin that Ian Streeter
could concrete over the dip in the access track as long as it was established that this
would not put any pressure on drains that run close to that area. This was being investigated
by Ian.
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approval had also been given by the Parish to create more hard standing parking space in the
area between the two courts in order to avoid parking difficulties especially in the winter
months. Paul and Denis Jones had investigated ‘grasscrete’ as a possible solution (concrete
slabs that allows grass to grow through) but estimates had shown that this was expensive.
Other alternatives would be investigated by Marilyn and other quotes obtained by the next
meeting. Chris would contact Liz Wigley of the LTA to see if any financial help would be available.
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It was agreed that the club would appoint a person to be responsible for maintenance of the grounds
and courts on a paid basis. It was agreed that the role would be for an average 2 hours per week,
52 weeks a year at a rate of £7 an hour. Marilyn would place an advert in Chailey post office
and in the village shop while Paul would circulate the opportunity to club members. Paul would prepare
a list of the duties. It was clarified that the grounds person would be asked to carry out grasscutting
and the cleaning of the clubhouse as arrangements are already in place for this.
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Jeff Smith the electrician had, at Paul’s request, replaced bulbs in the security lights.
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Paul informed the meeting that the lock on the clubhouse door has a crack and is difficult to open.
However, if the key is inserted, then pulled out slightly and turned the lock can be opened. Paul would
order a replacement lock that fits existing keys.
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Mike had spoken spoke to Trevor May, the MD of the company that laid the courts 1 and 2 about the
cracks appearing in the ‘river’ corner. Trevor will come back within a couple of weeks with a
geotechnical engineer to decide on the best course of action to repair the cracks. The problem has
been caused by land movement.
7. Membership Report
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The 2005/6 membership year ended on 31st March with 157 members. To date 94 of these had renewed,
7 new members had joined, leaving the current membership at 101 members. 63 members had not
renewed largely due to lack of participation and some though injury or moving away. 25 of these
members had not contacted the club and despite Paul’s efforts had not informed the club that they
were not joining. It is hoped that some of these would rejoin in due course – Sue Brown was following
up these members and chasing the return of keys from non-renewers.
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Some members had been lost as they couldn’t attend club evenings e.g. they worked in London. As a
result Paul suggested that a weekend club session be introduced, perhaps on a Saturday afternoon.
Paul would try to find a volunteer to carry out the session supervisor role.
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Some members had questioned the need for membership cards. It was decided to put the matter to the
AGM to see if members valued the card sufficiently to warrant the effort and cost required to
produce them.
8. Comments from the membership
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Alan Mates asked if the block booking of courts for the ‘badminton club’ on Thursday evening could
continue this year. It was agreed that one court could be booked for a block fee to be discussed
and agreed with Paul.
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Julia Pusey had given her congratulations to the committee, especially to Paul, for the efficient
way the club is run.
9. Events Calendar
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The Ladies LTA league and the Horam League matches were now taking place.
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The Ladies Day would take place on the 18th May. 14 couples are booked to play. Marilyn Hanbury and
Ann Jones were the organisers.
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The Club Tournament would start on the 22nd May. Mike Warren organising.
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The American Tournament on Monday 29th May would be organised by Jennie if available – if not she
would find somebody to carry this out in her place. Paul would issue entry forms and be the form
collection address.
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The Junior Tournament would take place on the 17th June to be organised by Pamela Lucey-Butler and
Marilyn Hanbury.
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The open day for all members, including new members would take place on 2nd July. Paul and Sue Brown to organise.
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The Spring tournament on the 2nd of April was a great success. Thanks were given to Jennie for organising and
Sue Brown for providing the food.
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Pamela provided an update on the junior coaching on Monday and Tuesday evenings, which was still
going well. The adult coaching at 6.30pm on Monday evenings has been fully booked and enjoyed by all
(it would move to Tuesday evenings when there is a clash with Horam League home matches on Monday
evenings). Anyone else who is interested in taking part in the group coaching sessions should
contact Pamela on 890124.
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Pamela is intending to organise a Tennis Camp for the juniors during the first week of the summer holidays.
10. Website.
The new club website is nearing completion and was viewed by the committee. It was agreed that this looked very
impressive and that the site should be launched as soon as possible. Thanks were expressed to club members,
Chris Chapman and Oliver Morgan for their work on the site.
10. Any Other Business
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The Weald Tennis club has sent invitations to take part in a ladies tournament commencing at 9.30 am
on Wednesday 13th September, finishing by 5pm. Cost is £25 per pair. The application forms are
available in the clubhouse.
11. Next Meeting
Tuesday 18th July 2006 - 7.30pm at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green