Minutes of Committee Meeting
Held on Tuesday, 26th September, 2006
at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green
Present: Paul Mitchell (Chair), Christine Gannon, Marilyn Hanbury, Jennie Holland, Linda Taylor (Guest)
1. Apologies for Absence:
Mike Warren (notes for the meeting supplied).
2. Approval of Previous Minutes (9th May)
Approved as a true record
3. Matters arising:
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Mike had made the payments for the two agreed charity donations.
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Thanks were expressed to Chris Chapman for his continuing hard work on the new website
and also to David Holmes who had completed a club history for use on the history page. It
was agreed that the website would be launched at the AGM. Linda Taylor offered to do a
final proof read of the website once all is completed.
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Mike had reported that a cheque for £104.00 for the badminton club booking of
the tennis courts is expected from Alan Mates soon.
- The strimmer has now been purchased.
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Thanks were given to Marilyn for organising the laying of the new parking area,
which had made parking much easier and was allowing the grass areas between the courts
to be protected. Positive comments had been received from members.
- Weed killer had been purchased from John de Ridder and is in the store cupboard.
- The combination lock is now in place on the clubhouse door.
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Thanks were given to Mick Jackson who had rehung the door of the clubhouse toilet and filled
in the hole in the exterior wall.
4. Premises.
Derek Coltham has now taken over the job as the club groundsman and all agreed that the grounds had
already improved.
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Derek has suggested placing a task sheet in the clubhouse so that members can note down anything
that required attention. This was agreed – Marilyn to action.
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Marilyn had suggested that the ash trees growing around the courts should be treated with weed
killer – this would be added to the task list.
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It was agreed to increase the hourly rate for the job of groundsman to £10.00 per hour as this
was felt to be a more realistic payment for the work involved.
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Regarding the dip in the access track to the club, the Parish Council has now received approval
from the Water Board for the work to go ahead (required due to proximity of drains). Paul is obtaining
quotes, which he will take to the next Parish Council meeting on the 17th October.
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Subsidence – there was concern about the cracking of court 1 and a crack extending from the corner
of court 1 and around the back of the clubhouse. A temporary repair to court 1 had been made by
contractors Trevor May. Paul had contacted the Environment Agency for support but they will
only get involved if the stream becomes blocked. Paul will meet shortly with Lee West, an
LTA-funded engineer who will carry out a survey and report on actions needed. In the meantime
Chris had checked the club’s insurance which covers subsidence for up to £20,000 but there is an
excess of £2,500.00 to be paid. It would not be clear whether any loss would be covered by the
policy until a claim is submitted.
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Court and Net Repairs – The net centre stop on court 3 has been fitted, and Derek would be asked to
repair the wire in one of the spare nets.
5. Financial Report (figures submitted in advance by Mike).
The assets of the club at present are:
| Portman Building Society: |
£19,804.07 |
| Tennis Club Lloyds TSB: |
£3,338.64 |
| Petty cash |
£144.34 |
| Total: |
£23,287.05 |
The balance was down approximately £2,500.00 since the last meeting. Further analysis would
be available at the next meeting.
The change of savings account from Portman Building Society to Alliance & Leicester would be
delayed in view of the windfall payment that may be due when the Portman merges with the
Nationwide Building Society next year.
6. Membership Report
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The club membership now stands at 116 members - 70 adults, 10 students, 29 juniors
and 7 non-players. This is reasonable level but down on last March’s high of 157. No
club marketing had been carried out this year but this will return in 2007 to ensure
that membership levels remain healthy.
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It was agreed that the joining fee should be paid by all new members regardless of whether a
key was issued although only one joining fee would be due per household.
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It was agreed to add e-mail addresses to the membership list - Linda Taylor offered to do
this – Paul will send her the necessary information.
7. Comments from the membership
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Steve White and Helena Sanders had commented that it is not easy to access the ball machine as
a key has to be obtained and a £1 payment made. In the past the ball machine had not been made
available to all due to concerns over security. It was agreed that it was more important to see
the machine used and that open access for members came with a risk that would have to be borne.
As a result the ball machine would be moved out of the store cupboard (by Paul) so members can
access it and that the hire fee would be waived. Jennie would provide a labelled box for the ball
machine balls.
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Club tournament format - Richard Valdez & Brendan Carroll had commented that inequities could occur
if players didn’t play all their matches as this prevented other players from completing theirs.
In addition there was a suggestion to award points for matches won so that there was greater
recognition for winning rather than just acquiring games. In response it was agreed that players
must play all their matches in the round-robin to move on to the next round and that if any player
did not complete all their matches by the deadline then all their scores will be removed from the
scoreboard. There wasn’t a consensus re scoring systems – Marilyn offered to research this and put
proposals to the next meeting.
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Following Maria Roche’s proposals at the last meeting it was agreed that, from immediate effect, the
match fee would be dropped for LTA League matches and Horam League away matches. A £1 fee per player
would remain for Horam League home matches to be collected by the Captain to cover catering costs.
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Very positive feedback has been received from members about the Monday evening members coaching sessions,
which were enjoyable and had helped all participants to make progress. Members should contact Pamela
on 890124 to take part.
8. Events Calendar
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Club tournament- thanks were extended to Mike for organising the tournament this year and congratulations
to the winners. All agreed that number of entries had been disappointing this year. Paul volunteered
to run the tournament next year. He will try to encourage more people to take part and to play all
their games.
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In response to many members’ requests this year a proposal would be put to members at the AGM for the
tournament Finals Day to be moved to the first Sunday in October. This would make the Finals Day date
the 7th October in 2007.
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Thanks were expressed to Lesley Satchell and her team, who raised £200.00 by serving teas at the Plumpton
Model Railway Day on Saturday 23rd September.
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The entry forms had been issued for the Rosebowl Tournament to take place on October 8th. Thanks to Jennie
for organising this.
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Thanks to Marion Tilford who is organising the Jumble Sale on November 18th. Marion is looking for helpers
on the day and for donations of cakes or tombola prizes.
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The Committee is also grateful to Lesley and Nick Satchell for being our annual quizmasters for the 2nd December
Quiz Night. Lesley has also offered to organise the raffle and winners prizes. Marilyn and Jennie will seek volunteers
to co-ordinate the organisation of the quiz and work with Lesley. It was decided that the maximum table size would be
8 and that payment for tickets must be made in advance (last year’s quiz suffered somewhat due to late withdrawals).
Linda T offered to organise the selling of tickets.
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Thanks to Lesley Satchell and Ann Denny who have suggested that they run a fund raising Safari Supper in the
summer of 2007 as part of the club’s calendar events. This was warmly welcomed.
9. Future Committee roles.
There was a discussion about the intentions of those round the table re standing for election again in November. Paul
said that he was happy to stand again as Chairman; Jenny would stand for Membership Secretary; Chris stated that she
would step down as Secretary in November but would like to remain on the Committee; Marilyn wished to stand again for
the Committee but not as Vice-Chairman. Mike had stated that he would stand again as Treasurer. All of this subject
to the vote by the members at the AGM. Nomination forms would be issued to all members in advance of the AGM and it was
hoped that more members would come forward with a view to joining the Committee.
10. Any Other Business
Chris reported that the club’s contact at the LTA is now Joel James.
11. Next Meeting
Monday, 23rd October - 7.30pm at Heath Farm, Plumpton Green