Minutes of the Annual General Meeting.
Minutes
of the Annual General Meeting held at 7.30 pm on March 16th 2016 at
the Club
1). Welcome
On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman welcomed all to the meeting. As so much had happened during the course of the year, he would present a separate Chairman’s Report further down the Agenda. He also proposed that item 12 on the Agenda – Coach’s Report, be brought forward as it was Lee’s wife’s birthday and he needed to leave early
2). Apologies
Laurence Arnold, Liz Bonser, Dale Brock, Sue Burt, Peter Coley, Richard Demain-Griffiths, Patricia Dragonetti who asked that her appreciation of the work that the committee do to be noted and her thanks for the change in off peak membership, Derek Frier, Alison Herod, Peter Lloyd, Lesley Maynard, Camilla Trimble, Jacky and Roger Witt.
Present (17) Stephen Berry (Chairman), David Booth, Liz Crossley (Committee Member), Judith Cutler (Match Secretary), Tim Douglas (Membership Secretary), Joe Fuller, Theresa Griffiths (Committee Member), Mike Knight (President), Lee Mahony (Head Coach), Deborah Moloney, Geoff Naish, Mary Anne Pelton, Joe Revelle, Douglas Smith, Trina Smith (Secretary), James Watson, Simon White (Treasurer)
3). Minutes of AGM held on the 11th March 2015 (as displayed on the notice board and website).
Were agreed and signed
4). Matters arising.
a). Trees on northern boundary
The Secretary reported that following the previous meeting, they had sought advice from a local tree surgeon who had advised that some of the trees immediately behind the clay courts should be cut back on the road side. This had been done.
b). Mini Courts
The Chairman reported that the courts had been repainted in time for the County Championships. There had been a few issues with the lines, but they have been resolved.
c). Defibrillator
The Committee were keeping this situation under regular review. They were very much aware that they were being provided in many locations.
d). Fencing Around Courts 8 and 9
To be dealt with later in the Agenda.
5. Chairman’s Report
The Chairman reported that it has been a good year for the Club generally. The Club was financially sound and was well on the way to repaying the loan for the Club House. The Membership remained stable, although the Committee is conscious that female numbers lag behind men, particularly with regard to team players and we are looking at ways to redress this imbalance. The fencing has been replaced to Courts 8 & 9 and three sides of court 10. Subsequent wind damage bent the fourth side of Court 10 which will now be replaced in the last week of March courtesy of our Insurers, with the Club paying the Policy Excess of £250.
The clay court irrigation system has been upgraded with new electric solenoid valves replacing the obsolete hydraulic ones. This means that each irrigation head can be controlled individually whereas they operated in pairs previously. We will have more specific area watering control and greater pressure and coverage per head. It can also be remotely controlled from the Club House which makes it hugely more convenient to operate. The more accurate targeting of the water should also result in significant savings to our annual water bill. The Committee is conscious that these courts have been down for approaching 15 years now and need far more maintenance and money spent on them than the hard courts. However we are committed to retaining them in the medium term, not least because this was a condition of the Funding received at the time they were installed. Lesley, in particular, has spent a considerable amount of time dealing with weeds and moss over the Autumn and Winter, vastly improving the quality of the playing surface and they are in better condition than for some time. The lines are a source of frustration for some members and we will be looking into improving them (relaying/replacing) as a matter of some urgency.
A Calor Gas tank has now been installed which not only provides gas for heating and hot water more conveniently at a much cheaper price, but avoids the risk of theft – we had the bottles stolen on a number of occasions.
As you may be aware, the Council as LPA refused our Planning Application to Floodlight the first two purple Courts. We have submitted, what we believe is a robust and competent Appeal and now await the determination by the appointed Planning Inspector who visited the site visit last night.
The Club will again be hosting the Wiltshire County Junior Championships later in the year, following a most successful event in 2015. We have just successfully hosted a Grade 3 Junior Tournament during a difficult week weather-wise. Trina will give more detail later.
Social evenings have continued to be extremely very well attended, even on the thankfully very few wet evenings. The Coaching Team is working well with a very active programme covering all ages and abilities and the Committee is committed to supporting them in all their activities. We have developed a strong link with Bishop Wordsworth School through its Head of PE, who is a Club member. A training programme runs throughout the year and the school uses our courts for its home matches. We also have links to other Schools in the area.
We propose to continue the format of the Annual Club Tournament, with one or two minor changes, upon which Judith will elaborate later. The Chairman reminded everyone that the indoor courts at Downton are again available at discounted rates to Club Members which was a deal negotiated by Lee Mahony for which we are very grateful. Simon White, our Treasurer, was voted Volunteer of the Year by the Wilts LTA. We can all appreciate from the time and effort he puts in here on all fronts, why he won the award.
The Chairman reminded members that Committee Members are all volunteers and often put in a huge amount of their own time to make the Club run smoothly. Catering at tournaments etc. is all provided by Committee members supported by other Club members. Our thanks should go to Lesley for the hours she has put into the Clay Courts, dealing with weeds, moss etc.
The Chairman thanked Tim Douglas who has efficiently performed the role of Membership Secretary for the last 7 years and is retiring to spend more time in his garden.
This year particularly has seen the Hon Secretary, Trina Smith, put in so many hours that I often wonder how she also manages to run her Real Estate business. Recently Trina has secured the updating and variation of our Alcohol Licence to allow us to continue to function as we have grown accustomed and also specifically to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol outside the Club House. She has had to deal with literally hundreds of e-mails from the Council and objectors over the last couple of months in order to secure the new Certificate which was granted at a hearing on 2nd March.
In conclusion the Chairman thanked Roger for running our tournaments so efficiently as Club Referee and for the hard work he puts into making the Floodlight League so enjoyable for so many members.
11). Coach’s Report
The Head Coach confirmed the current Coaching Team - Joe Revelle, Deborah Moloney, Will Dunlop and Emily Bearne (tennis apprentice ).
He reported that there had been an increase in mini tennis numbers over the last 12 months particularly over the Winter Term. There were 100 juniors taking part in squads and mini tennis with 26 doing 2 squads pw.
The Club won the Mini Tennis County Red Team Tennis competition and Phoebe Moloney won the Red Girls’ County Championships. Many of our juniors have won local and regional events during the year particularly at mini tennis level. Our older juniors have been representing the senior teams with a fairly high success rate in local leagues. The Aegon Men's First Team in the Regional Division is made up of predominantly juniors who were trained at the Club from scratch and made regional or national level with a little help from the Head Coach.
We now have school links with Bishops Wordsworth , Leaden Hall, Harnham Infants and Juniors, Coombe Bissett, Longford, Leehurst Swan and Broadchalke. We are hoping to increase our senior school links this year. An incentive scheme had been introduced for BWS and Harnham Junior School which offered the juniors half price squads and membership. This had brought in new members to the Club.
For the Adult Programme, we now provide 5 adult group sessions per week including cardio tennis and the re-launch of Hungry Hitters
Many adults take individual lessons hoping to improve their games. This also keeps the coaches very busy We are almost at capacity already on booking for the summer term and are all praying for good weather as the winter was not very kind to us.
Joe Fuller noted how good the junior programme was and what a strength it was to the Club.
Liz Crossley asked if Lee knew why the adult evening team practice sessions had not been as well attended this year as they had the previous year. Lee thought that this was due to more fixtures and more variety being available. He may look at it again for the coming year but Hungry Hitters was fully booked.
He thanked the Committee for its support and left the meeting.
6). Hon Secretary’s Report
The Secretary reported that the Committee had held 7 full committee meetings since the last AGM. They had also met with our neighbours to discuss the proposed new floodlights and various other meetings to move our application and appeal forward.
For her part, a considerable amount of the last six months had been taken up in obtaining the Variation to our Licence. On doing some research she had discovered that the plan attached to our Licence was the old Club House rather than the new. Enquires as to how to resolve this lead to discovering that we have never had consent to consume alcohol that was purchased in the Club House, outside. To enable this to be put right, we had to publish the Variation to our Licence which opened the flood gate for our neighbours to complain about our alleged poor behaviour at the club. There were so many unresolved objections to our Variation that a Hearing had to be held but fortunately, the Licence was granted earlier this month.
She added her congratulations to Simon for his award as Volunteer of the year by Wiltshire Tennis and noted that it was a great achievement and richly deserved.
“Young Guns” – Geoff Naish, Dave Edmonds, Rebecca Walker and Trina Smith had won this year’s Floodlight League and that the final of the Cup would be held this Saturday. She encouraged members to come along and support those playing. The semis will be held tomorrow.
As in previous years, the Club had also hosted the Sarum League Mixed Tournament which saw Lee and Sue Burt win the final of the B event and James Sinclair and Liz Crossley runners up in the A Event. We also held the Adrian Ellis Tournament which was won by Simon White and Alison Herod.
The two later events again raised a considerable amount for Charity so thank you to all those involved.
Roger arranged a new event for this year, the Sarum Knock Out Cup which was won by our A team of Graeme Ellis, Jenna Wippell, Roger Witt and Liz Crossley
The Quorn Family Cup was also held at our club and Lee and James Burt, having won our event, went through to the Regional Finals where they finished third – well done to them.
The Annual Men’s Open was won by Rory Smith who beat Francis Smith in the final. They then teamed up together to play the doubles final where they lost to Gregory Caterer and Nick Jenkins (Ilkley) 12 – 14 in the third set!
The Men’s Sarum Doubles event was won by Keith Richardson and Roger Witt who won all their matches in a round robin event.
The Secretary thanked Jacky and Roger Witt for all the time they have given to making these events such a success together with the County Championships and all those that helped with refreshments at all the events and who provided some delicious cakes.
We hosted one Division of the U10s Boys’ County Cup over a weekend in May last year.
Last year she had reported that Social evenings on a Tuesday and Friday have continued to be well supported with a noticeable increase in those playing throughout the winter. But this year we have seen even more hardy players brave the rain and frost which was wonderful to see. Numbers have increased to such an extent that Lee has kindly rearranged his coaching programme so that more courts will be made available. We have also held several bacon butty mornings that have been very well attended.
The food on a Friday continues to be of an exceptionally high standard and thank you to all those people who prepare food each week.
For the first time, we ran a doubles tournament before a Christmas Meal this year. All those that attended had a great night and a big thank you to Theresa for organising it so well. Hopefully we will do the same again this year but we have also decided to have a non playing event – maybe after Christmas.
On a sadder note, two of our former members passed away this year - Geoff Baille and Kirk Moore. Members of the Club attended both funerals.
The Secretary noted that throughout the evening, there had been and will be thanks to various people and particularly members of the Committee. It may be said so often at AGMs that it just becomes an accepted part of it but members should be particularly grateful to the Committee this year. There has been an enormous amount of work to do and some difficult meetings have gone long into the evening – when some people have come straight from work to get here. Whenever volunteers for catering for the tournaments are asked for, the Committee Members are first to say yes and then they say yes again when they are asked to fill the gaps. With every event, at least three quarters of the rota is filled by Committee Members. When we were broken into at the beginning of the month, Simon, Lesley and Stephen were immediately here the latter two giving up most of their day to put everything right so that by the time members arrived in the evening, there was almost no evidence of the event. Some Committee Members have spent hours going through the very hostile objections received from our neighbours to the floodlights and our Club Licence and providing evidence to support our case. Hopefully, as far as the flood lights are concerned, this has not been in vain.
Because Roger Witt is Secretary of the Sarum League, the majority of events connected with it our held at the Club which includes the AGM. At this year’s AGM, a new Ladies’ Doubles Cup was presented – the Judith Cutler Cup – to thank Judith for all the work she does behind the scenes for the Sarum League. Judith has been on the SLTC Committee for 15 years as Match Secretary and the Secretary thought that the Club should acknowledge its thanks to her, as it is a job that very much gets forgotten and we tend not to say thank you until people leave!
R. Witt had asked that members be reminded about our Twitter Account - @Salisburyltc. We had 146 followers in the first year.
James Watson asked about the process involved in obtaining the Variation to our Licence and thanked the Secretary for the work she had done in obtaining the new documentation.
7). Hon Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer presented the accounts which had been circulated to those attending the meeting. He reported that in the year there was an excess of income over expenditure of £14,776 compared to £12,143 in 2014. Deducting the sinking fund transfer of £11,500 leaves a transfer to general reserves of £3,267 for 2015 up £2,633 (40%).
Overall income was down £4,157 (7%) and expenditure down £6,790 (14%).
Income was down due to Subscriptions £1,881 lower and Squads down £2,635 due to the revised Coach’s Contract, while tournament fees were up £1,202 despite the fact that two days had been lost and refunds had had to be made. This had caused a knock-on effect on the bar.
Overall expenses were down. Clay expenditure in Grounds expenses was £3,000 compared to £5,800 in 2014. Water was down by £438 due to the irrigation breakdown and the work carried out should resolve this for the future. Coach retainer (£2,685) and Squads (£1,579) have fallen following the renegotiated Coach contract.
While gas is of a similar charge the club is carrying a book value of stock of £372.80 (930 litres) which represents around 2 years usage at current rate.
Other highlights - £200 was gained from recycled balls which numbered 2000.
The bar continues to make a good contribution although profits were slightly down (£214) from £3,471 to £3,257 with a reduction in sales levels compensated for by the Wiltshire Junior County Championships extra week’s catering income. The Treasurer asked members to support the Bar. It was manned as much as possible not only on social nights but on match days and Floodlight League. He thanked Trina, as the Licence Holder, and others who have given considerable time in the evenings, weekends and tournament weeks, to keep it open.
The current assets of the Club have, though, reduced by £4,016 from £3,221 to negative £795 in 2015. This arises as the capital items of fencing £16,392 and mini court repainting £2.400 exceed the held reserves,
Careful management of the cash flow allows us to spend such large sums on substantial items such as the fencing. Our loan is now on payment 11 of 20 with payment 12 gone yesterday. If the loan was theoretically called in our cash held could just cover it.
While the short term of the Club finances is secure, going forward there is no quick fix to finance the capital projects of additional floodlighting (£30,000) or clay court refurbishment (at least double) so realistically we are looking at a medium term time frame.
The Committee would have to look at LTA and other Sports bodies for possible funding as well as any fundraising of our own. This would also have to be considered within the current loan scenario and undertakings. When the direction for the future is known the Committee would like to state all areas will be explored to carry out whichever project is suitable to give all of us the highest quality tennis environment possible.
In the words of the Chancellor today he commended the accounts to the House!
And for a light note to finish the best sellers are as follows:-
Pinot Grigio 2015 :453 2014:552
Doombar 2015 :305 2014:384
Becks 2015 :212 2014:261
Diet Coke 2015 :182 2014:313
Snakes 2015 :315 2014:300
It was suggested that it would be a good idea to publicise that we recycled old tennis balls. L Crossley asked why match fees were down and the Treasurer explained that it was purely due to the timing of when receipts were received as some Captains did not account for the match money as quickly as others!
There were no further questions and the accounts were proposed by M Knight and seconded by G Naish and agreed unanimously. They were signed by the Chairman.
The Treasurer was thanked for all his work during the year.
8). Memberships Secretary’s Report
The Membership Secretary reported that the Club had enjoyed a very good year with membership fees just under £30,000 and membership numbers at 349 (91 men, 69 Ladies, 133 Boys and 56 Girls).
Members playing on Social evenings is the best ever with an average of well over 20 playing on Tuesdays and close to 20 on Fridays.
The Membership Secretary thanked all those who had opted in to the LTA Wimbledon system which has given the club an allocation of 21 pairs of tickets.
There have been small increases in membership fees which were detailed in the membership form attached to the renewal notice emailed to all members.
The Committee has agreed a limited midweek membership costing £70.00 and the details of this have also been emailed to all members.
The Chairman once again expressed this thanks to Tim Douglas for all the work that he had done as Membership Secretary and a Committee Member. On behalf of the Club, he was presented with a small token of appreciation. J Watson thanked Tim for all his hard work and noted how he had always gone out of his way to meet and greet people and he had done a great job over the last 7 years.
9). 2015/16 Membership Subscriptions
The Membership Secretary reported that the Committee had agreed that there should be a small increase in the subscriptions for the following year. These had already been sent out with a request for payment at the reduced rate before the 31st March 2016.
The rates agreed were:-
Category
Reduced
Paid by 01.04.16
Full
Single
£185
£210
Couple
£330
£375
Family
£375
£425
Country 20
£125
£140
Country 30
£93
£103
Under 21
£77
£87
Under 16
£57
£67
Under 10
£23
£23
Several members noted that they had not received details of the new subscriptions and enquired when they had been sent out.
10). Match Secretary’s Report
The Match Secretary reported that it had been another busy year with coaches & team captains working extremely hard to prepare and organise teams for all the matches. They all deserve thanks for their splendid efforts.
Roger Witt ran the men’s teams for the Hampshire and Southampton Leagues and Theresa Griffiths ran the ladies’ teams.
Hampshire League Seniors’ teams were run by:-
Men’s O45A Roger Witt, Men’s O45B Simon White,
Ladies’ O40 Judith Cutler, Ladies’ O50 Theresa Griffiths
Sarum League teams were run by:-
A team Liz Crossley (winter & summer),
B team Trina Smith (winter), and Dale Brock (summer),
C team Trina Smith (summer)
Lee was captain of the Aegon Regional Division Men’s team.
Joe Revelle ran the Aegon Senior Team Tennis.
Lee & Joe also organised the teams for Aegon junior team tennis.
Results
Hampshire League: Men’s A 2nd in div 2 and were promoted, Men’s B 3rd in division 4a. The ladies’ team, which re-joined the league, was top of division 4a and promoted.
Hampshire League Seniors: O45 Men’s A last in div 1 & relegated; O45B last in div 2 & relegated.
O40 Ladies’ 2nd in div 2 & promoted; O50 Ladies’ 3rd in div 2.
Sarum League
Winter 2014-15: A team was top in division 2 & promoted. The B team was 4th in division 3.
Summer 2015: A team was top of div 1 and won the trophy for the second year running, B team was top of division 2 & promoted. C team came 5th in division 2 .
Southampton Winter League 2014/2015: Men’s A 4th in div 1, Men’s B were 3rd in division 3, Ladies’ 5th in division 2. They all stayed in their respective divisions.
Aegon Men’s A team 3rd in the Regional South West – East division
Aegon Men’s Senior Team tennis (county based)
Men’s team runners up in division 1
Aegon Junior Team Tennis (County based)
8u Mixed -1st in 8u South and went on to became county champions when they won the playoffs.
12u Boys & 14u Boys also became county champions as they both finished top of division 1.
16u Boys - 2nd in division 1 A 18u Boys’ team was not entered as there was no division 1 to play in.
Unfortunately there were no girls’ matches as, whilst we had players, no other clubs in the county could field a team.
Players representing the county during 2015
Seniors
Francis Smith & George Nixon played county cup in the winter
Jacky Witt & Jenna Wippell played o35s at Eastbourne
Stephen Berry & James Sinclair played matches for the o65s
Juniors
Louisa Fuller played u 10 county cup.
George Grant & Ollie Martin played u12 county cup
Izzy Dickson & Anna Rolfe played u18 County Cup
SUMMER CLUB TOURNAMENT WINNERS 2015
Men’s Singles: Julian Hemming Ladies’ singles Izzy Dickson,
Men’s Doubles:- Graeme Ellis & Joe Revelle
Ladies’ Doubles:- Izzy Dickson & Anna Rolfe,
Mixed Doubles:- Tim Rolfe & Anna Rolfe
Veteran Men’s O45:- Alex Vandeleur; Ladies’ O40 singles Sue Burt,
Men’s O45 Doubles:- Peter Coley & James Sinclair
Ladies’ O40s:- Judith Cutler & Pippa Fordham
Vets Mixed Doubles:- James Sinclair & Theresa Griffiths
U14 Boys’ Singles:- Ben Rolfe
U14 Girls’ Singles:- Anna Romilly
The Club Tournament marked the 120th anniversary of the club and Finals Day was a well attended happy occasion. The new format worked well and will be repeated this year. Finals Day will be held on 24th September. All other dates will be advertised at the club and also by email to members.
10). Election of Officers
The Chairman confirmed that, as per the Agenda, those that were willing to stand for re-election were:-
PRESENT HOLDER PROPOSED/SECONDED
President Mr M Knight Mr M Knight
Chairman Mr S Berry Mr S Berry
Hon. Secretary Mrs K Smith Mrs K Smith
Hon. Treasurer Mr S White Mr S White
Membership Secretary Mr T Douglas Miss L Maynard
Match Secretary Mrs J Cutler Mrs J Cutler
Under Clause 9.10, the Committee wish to appoint Miss L Maynard to fulfil the vacancy of Membership Secretary
Mr D Brock is standing down under the rotation rule.
Mr T. Douglas has resigned
Mrs E Crossley is eligible for re-election
Mrs T. Griffiths was co-opted for one year and is seeking re-election. She has been proposed by Mrs K Smith and seconded by Mr L Griffiths
Mr R Demain-Griffiths has been proposed by Mr J Revelle and Seconded by Miss E Bearne for election to the Committee
Mr J Fuller has been proposed by Mr T Douglas and Seconded by Mrs T Griffiths for election to the Committee
Miss A Herod has been proposed by Miss L Maynard and Seconded by Mr S White for election to the Committee
In view of the above the Chair suggested that everyone be voted in en bloc. J Watson proposed the motion and it was seconded by M Knight and agreed unanimously.
11). Coach’s Report
See above
12. Resolutions for consideration of which at least 14 days written notice has been given
No resolutions had been received.
13). Any Other Business
MA Pelton asked whether there was any further update on the defibrillator. J Cutler responded that the Committee had considered the costings and the training that was required. The Secretary confirmed that she had approached the Parish Council to see if they had any plans to look at a community provision.
MA Pelton thanked the Committee for introducing the Tuesday afternoon social tennis and for always arranging for a Committee Member to be present. The few that had been attending had really enjoyed it
M Knight thanked the Chairman for leading the Committee so well and thanked all those involved for their hard work.
The Chairman thanked all those that had attended and the meeting closed at 8.30 pm.
On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman welcomed all to the meeting. As so much had happened during the course of the year, he would present a separate Chairman’s Report further down the Agenda. He also proposed that item 12 on the Agenda – Coach’s Report, be brought forward as it was Lee’s wife’s birthday and he needed to leave early
2). Apologies
Laurence Arnold, Liz Bonser, Dale Brock, Sue Burt, Peter Coley, Richard Demain-Griffiths, Patricia Dragonetti who asked that her appreciation of the work that the committee do to be noted and her thanks for the change in off peak membership, Derek Frier, Alison Herod, Peter Lloyd, Lesley Maynard, Camilla Trimble, Jacky and Roger Witt.
Present (17) Stephen Berry (Chairman), David Booth, Liz Crossley (Committee Member), Judith Cutler (Match Secretary), Tim Douglas (Membership Secretary), Joe Fuller, Theresa Griffiths (Committee Member), Mike Knight (President), Lee Mahony (Head Coach), Deborah Moloney, Geoff Naish, Mary Anne Pelton, Joe Revelle, Douglas Smith, Trina Smith (Secretary), James Watson, Simon White (Treasurer)
3). Minutes of AGM held on the 11th March 2015 (as displayed on the notice board and website).
Were agreed and signed
4). Matters arising.
a). Trees on northern boundary
The Secretary reported that following the previous meeting, they had sought advice from a local tree surgeon who had advised that some of the trees immediately behind the clay courts should be cut back on the road side. This had been done.
b). Mini Courts
The Chairman reported that the courts had been repainted in time for the County Championships. There had been a few issues with the lines, but they have been resolved.
c). Defibrillator
The Committee were keeping this situation under regular review. They were very much aware that they were being provided in many locations.
d). Fencing Around Courts 8 and 9
To be dealt with later in the Agenda.
5. Chairman’s Report
The Chairman reported that it has been a good year for the Club generally. The Club was financially sound and was well on the way to repaying the loan for the Club House. The Membership remained stable, although the Committee is conscious that female numbers lag behind men, particularly with regard to team players and we are looking at ways to redress this imbalance. The fencing has been replaced to Courts 8 & 9 and three sides of court 10. Subsequent wind damage bent the fourth side of Court 10 which will now be replaced in the last week of March courtesy of our Insurers, with the Club paying the Policy Excess of £250.
The clay court irrigation system has been upgraded with new electric solenoid valves replacing the obsolete hydraulic ones. This means that each irrigation head can be controlled individually whereas they operated in pairs previously. We will have more specific area watering control and greater pressure and coverage per head. It can also be remotely controlled from the Club House which makes it hugely more convenient to operate. The more accurate targeting of the water should also result in significant savings to our annual water bill. The Committee is conscious that these courts have been down for approaching 15 years now and need far more maintenance and money spent on them than the hard courts. However we are committed to retaining them in the medium term, not least because this was a condition of the Funding received at the time they were installed. Lesley, in particular, has spent a considerable amount of time dealing with weeds and moss over the Autumn and Winter, vastly improving the quality of the playing surface and they are in better condition than for some time. The lines are a source of frustration for some members and we will be looking into improving them (relaying/replacing) as a matter of some urgency.
A Calor Gas tank has now been installed which not only provides gas for heating and hot water more conveniently at a much cheaper price, but avoids the risk of theft – we had the bottles stolen on a number of occasions.
As you may be aware, the Council as LPA refused our Planning Application to Floodlight the first two purple Courts. We have submitted, what we believe is a robust and competent Appeal and now await the determination by the appointed Planning Inspector who visited the site visit last night.
The Club will again be hosting the Wiltshire County Junior Championships later in the year, following a most successful event in 2015. We have just successfully hosted a Grade 3 Junior Tournament during a difficult week weather-wise. Trina will give more detail later.
Social evenings have continued to be extremely very well attended, even on the thankfully very few wet evenings. The Coaching Team is working well with a very active programme covering all ages and abilities and the Committee is committed to supporting them in all their activities. We have developed a strong link with Bishop Wordsworth School through its Head of PE, who is a Club member. A training programme runs throughout the year and the school uses our courts for its home matches. We also have links to other Schools in the area.
We propose to continue the format of the Annual Club Tournament, with one or two minor changes, upon which Judith will elaborate later. The Chairman reminded everyone that the indoor courts at Downton are again available at discounted rates to Club Members which was a deal negotiated by Lee Mahony for which we are very grateful. Simon White, our Treasurer, was voted Volunteer of the Year by the Wilts LTA. We can all appreciate from the time and effort he puts in here on all fronts, why he won the award.
The Chairman reminded members that Committee Members are all volunteers and often put in a huge amount of their own time to make the Club run smoothly. Catering at tournaments etc. is all provided by Committee members supported by other Club members. Our thanks should go to Lesley for the hours she has put into the Clay Courts, dealing with weeds, moss etc.
The Chairman thanked Tim Douglas who has efficiently performed the role of Membership Secretary for the last 7 years and is retiring to spend more time in his garden.
This year particularly has seen the Hon Secretary, Trina Smith, put in so many hours that I often wonder how she also manages to run her Real Estate business. Recently Trina has secured the updating and variation of our Alcohol Licence to allow us to continue to function as we have grown accustomed and also specifically to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol outside the Club House. She has had to deal with literally hundreds of e-mails from the Council and objectors over the last couple of months in order to secure the new Certificate which was granted at a hearing on 2nd March.
In conclusion the Chairman thanked Roger for running our tournaments so efficiently as Club Referee and for the hard work he puts into making the Floodlight League so enjoyable for so many members.
11). Coach’s Report
The Head Coach confirmed the current Coaching Team - Joe Revelle, Deborah Moloney, Will Dunlop and Emily Bearne (tennis apprentice ).
He reported that there had been an increase in mini tennis numbers over the last 12 months particularly over the Winter Term. There were 100 juniors taking part in squads and mini tennis with 26 doing 2 squads pw.
The Club won the Mini Tennis County Red Team Tennis competition and Phoebe Moloney won the Red Girls’ County Championships. Many of our juniors have won local and regional events during the year particularly at mini tennis level. Our older juniors have been representing the senior teams with a fairly high success rate in local leagues. The Aegon Men's First Team in the Regional Division is made up of predominantly juniors who were trained at the Club from scratch and made regional or national level with a little help from the Head Coach.
We now have school links with Bishops Wordsworth , Leaden Hall, Harnham Infants and Juniors, Coombe Bissett, Longford, Leehurst Swan and Broadchalke. We are hoping to increase our senior school links this year. An incentive scheme had been introduced for BWS and Harnham Junior School which offered the juniors half price squads and membership. This had brought in new members to the Club.
For the Adult Programme, we now provide 5 adult group sessions per week including cardio tennis and the re-launch of Hungry Hitters
Many adults take individual lessons hoping to improve their games. This also keeps the coaches very busy We are almost at capacity already on booking for the summer term and are all praying for good weather as the winter was not very kind to us.
Joe Fuller noted how good the junior programme was and what a strength it was to the Club.
Liz Crossley asked if Lee knew why the adult evening team practice sessions had not been as well attended this year as they had the previous year. Lee thought that this was due to more fixtures and more variety being available. He may look at it again for the coming year but Hungry Hitters was fully booked.
He thanked the Committee for its support and left the meeting.
6). Hon Secretary’s Report
The Secretary reported that the Committee had held 7 full committee meetings since the last AGM. They had also met with our neighbours to discuss the proposed new floodlights and various other meetings to move our application and appeal forward.
For her part, a considerable amount of the last six months had been taken up in obtaining the Variation to our Licence. On doing some research she had discovered that the plan attached to our Licence was the old Club House rather than the new. Enquires as to how to resolve this lead to discovering that we have never had consent to consume alcohol that was purchased in the Club House, outside. To enable this to be put right, we had to publish the Variation to our Licence which opened the flood gate for our neighbours to complain about our alleged poor behaviour at the club. There were so many unresolved objections to our Variation that a Hearing had to be held but fortunately, the Licence was granted earlier this month.
She added her congratulations to Simon for his award as Volunteer of the year by Wiltshire Tennis and noted that it was a great achievement and richly deserved.
“Young Guns” – Geoff Naish, Dave Edmonds, Rebecca Walker and Trina Smith had won this year’s Floodlight League and that the final of the Cup would be held this Saturday. She encouraged members to come along and support those playing. The semis will be held tomorrow.
As in previous years, the Club had also hosted the Sarum League Mixed Tournament which saw Lee and Sue Burt win the final of the B event and James Sinclair and Liz Crossley runners up in the A Event. We also held the Adrian Ellis Tournament which was won by Simon White and Alison Herod.
The two later events again raised a considerable amount for Charity so thank you to all those involved.
Roger arranged a new event for this year, the Sarum Knock Out Cup which was won by our A team of Graeme Ellis, Jenna Wippell, Roger Witt and Liz Crossley
The Quorn Family Cup was also held at our club and Lee and James Burt, having won our event, went through to the Regional Finals where they finished third – well done to them.
The Annual Men’s Open was won by Rory Smith who beat Francis Smith in the final. They then teamed up together to play the doubles final where they lost to Gregory Caterer and Nick Jenkins (Ilkley) 12 – 14 in the third set!
The Men’s Sarum Doubles event was won by Keith Richardson and Roger Witt who won all their matches in a round robin event.
The Secretary thanked Jacky and Roger Witt for all the time they have given to making these events such a success together with the County Championships and all those that helped with refreshments at all the events and who provided some delicious cakes.
We hosted one Division of the U10s Boys’ County Cup over a weekend in May last year.
Last year she had reported that Social evenings on a Tuesday and Friday have continued to be well supported with a noticeable increase in those playing throughout the winter. But this year we have seen even more hardy players brave the rain and frost which was wonderful to see. Numbers have increased to such an extent that Lee has kindly rearranged his coaching programme so that more courts will be made available. We have also held several bacon butty mornings that have been very well attended.
The food on a Friday continues to be of an exceptionally high standard and thank you to all those people who prepare food each week.
For the first time, we ran a doubles tournament before a Christmas Meal this year. All those that attended had a great night and a big thank you to Theresa for organising it so well. Hopefully we will do the same again this year but we have also decided to have a non playing event – maybe after Christmas.
On a sadder note, two of our former members passed away this year - Geoff Baille and Kirk Moore. Members of the Club attended both funerals.
The Secretary noted that throughout the evening, there had been and will be thanks to various people and particularly members of the Committee. It may be said so often at AGMs that it just becomes an accepted part of it but members should be particularly grateful to the Committee this year. There has been an enormous amount of work to do and some difficult meetings have gone long into the evening – when some people have come straight from work to get here. Whenever volunteers for catering for the tournaments are asked for, the Committee Members are first to say yes and then they say yes again when they are asked to fill the gaps. With every event, at least three quarters of the rota is filled by Committee Members. When we were broken into at the beginning of the month, Simon, Lesley and Stephen were immediately here the latter two giving up most of their day to put everything right so that by the time members arrived in the evening, there was almost no evidence of the event. Some Committee Members have spent hours going through the very hostile objections received from our neighbours to the floodlights and our Club Licence and providing evidence to support our case. Hopefully, as far as the flood lights are concerned, this has not been in vain.
Because Roger Witt is Secretary of the Sarum League, the majority of events connected with it our held at the Club which includes the AGM. At this year’s AGM, a new Ladies’ Doubles Cup was presented – the Judith Cutler Cup – to thank Judith for all the work she does behind the scenes for the Sarum League. Judith has been on the SLTC Committee for 15 years as Match Secretary and the Secretary thought that the Club should acknowledge its thanks to her, as it is a job that very much gets forgotten and we tend not to say thank you until people leave!
R. Witt had asked that members be reminded about our Twitter Account - @Salisburyltc. We had 146 followers in the first year.
James Watson asked about the process involved in obtaining the Variation to our Licence and thanked the Secretary for the work she had done in obtaining the new documentation.
7). Hon Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer presented the accounts which had been circulated to those attending the meeting. He reported that in the year there was an excess of income over expenditure of £14,776 compared to £12,143 in 2014. Deducting the sinking fund transfer of £11,500 leaves a transfer to general reserves of £3,267 for 2015 up £2,633 (40%).
Overall income was down £4,157 (7%) and expenditure down £6,790 (14%).
Income was down due to Subscriptions £1,881 lower and Squads down £2,635 due to the revised Coach’s Contract, while tournament fees were up £1,202 despite the fact that two days had been lost and refunds had had to be made. This had caused a knock-on effect on the bar.
Overall expenses were down. Clay expenditure in Grounds expenses was £3,000 compared to £5,800 in 2014. Water was down by £438 due to the irrigation breakdown and the work carried out should resolve this for the future. Coach retainer (£2,685) and Squads (£1,579) have fallen following the renegotiated Coach contract.
While gas is of a similar charge the club is carrying a book value of stock of £372.80 (930 litres) which represents around 2 years usage at current rate.
Other highlights - £200 was gained from recycled balls which numbered 2000.
The bar continues to make a good contribution although profits were slightly down (£214) from £3,471 to £3,257 with a reduction in sales levels compensated for by the Wiltshire Junior County Championships extra week’s catering income. The Treasurer asked members to support the Bar. It was manned as much as possible not only on social nights but on match days and Floodlight League. He thanked Trina, as the Licence Holder, and others who have given considerable time in the evenings, weekends and tournament weeks, to keep it open.
The current assets of the Club have, though, reduced by £4,016 from £3,221 to negative £795 in 2015. This arises as the capital items of fencing £16,392 and mini court repainting £2.400 exceed the held reserves,
Careful management of the cash flow allows us to spend such large sums on substantial items such as the fencing. Our loan is now on payment 11 of 20 with payment 12 gone yesterday. If the loan was theoretically called in our cash held could just cover it.
While the short term of the Club finances is secure, going forward there is no quick fix to finance the capital projects of additional floodlighting (£30,000) or clay court refurbishment (at least double) so realistically we are looking at a medium term time frame.
The Committee would have to look at LTA and other Sports bodies for possible funding as well as any fundraising of our own. This would also have to be considered within the current loan scenario and undertakings. When the direction for the future is known the Committee would like to state all areas will be explored to carry out whichever project is suitable to give all of us the highest quality tennis environment possible.
In the words of the Chancellor today he commended the accounts to the House!
And for a light note to finish the best sellers are as follows:-
Pinot Grigio 2015 :453 2014:552
Doombar 2015 :305 2014:384
Becks 2015 :212 2014:261
Diet Coke 2015 :182 2014:313
Snakes 2015 :315 2014:300
It was suggested that it would be a good idea to publicise that we recycled old tennis balls. L Crossley asked why match fees were down and the Treasurer explained that it was purely due to the timing of when receipts were received as some Captains did not account for the match money as quickly as others!
There were no further questions and the accounts were proposed by M Knight and seconded by G Naish and agreed unanimously. They were signed by the Chairman.
The Treasurer was thanked for all his work during the year.
8). Memberships Secretary’s Report
The Membership Secretary reported that the Club had enjoyed a very good year with membership fees just under £30,000 and membership numbers at 349 (91 men, 69 Ladies, 133 Boys and 56 Girls).
Members playing on Social evenings is the best ever with an average of well over 20 playing on Tuesdays and close to 20 on Fridays.
The Membership Secretary thanked all those who had opted in to the LTA Wimbledon system which has given the club an allocation of 21 pairs of tickets.
There have been small increases in membership fees which were detailed in the membership form attached to the renewal notice emailed to all members.
The Committee has agreed a limited midweek membership costing £70.00 and the details of this have also been emailed to all members.
The Chairman once again expressed this thanks to Tim Douglas for all the work that he had done as Membership Secretary and a Committee Member. On behalf of the Club, he was presented with a small token of appreciation. J Watson thanked Tim for all his hard work and noted how he had always gone out of his way to meet and greet people and he had done a great job over the last 7 years.
9). 2015/16 Membership Subscriptions
The Membership Secretary reported that the Committee had agreed that there should be a small increase in the subscriptions for the following year. These had already been sent out with a request for payment at the reduced rate before the 31st March 2016.
The rates agreed were:-
Category
Reduced
Paid by 01.04.16
Full
Single
£185
£210
Couple
£330
£375
Family
£375
£425
Country 20
£125
£140
Country 30
£93
£103
Under 21
£77
£87
Under 16
£57
£67
Under 10
£23
£23
Several members noted that they had not received details of the new subscriptions and enquired when they had been sent out.
10). Match Secretary’s Report
The Match Secretary reported that it had been another busy year with coaches & team captains working extremely hard to prepare and organise teams for all the matches. They all deserve thanks for their splendid efforts.
Roger Witt ran the men’s teams for the Hampshire and Southampton Leagues and Theresa Griffiths ran the ladies’ teams.
Hampshire League Seniors’ teams were run by:-
Men’s O45A Roger Witt, Men’s O45B Simon White,
Ladies’ O40 Judith Cutler, Ladies’ O50 Theresa Griffiths
Sarum League teams were run by:-
A team Liz Crossley (winter & summer),
B team Trina Smith (winter), and Dale Brock (summer),
C team Trina Smith (summer)
Lee was captain of the Aegon Regional Division Men’s team.
Joe Revelle ran the Aegon Senior Team Tennis.
Lee & Joe also organised the teams for Aegon junior team tennis.
Results
Hampshire League: Men’s A 2nd in div 2 and were promoted, Men’s B 3rd in division 4a. The ladies’ team, which re-joined the league, was top of division 4a and promoted.
Hampshire League Seniors: O45 Men’s A last in div 1 & relegated; O45B last in div 2 & relegated.
O40 Ladies’ 2nd in div 2 & promoted; O50 Ladies’ 3rd in div 2.
Sarum League
Winter 2014-15: A team was top in division 2 & promoted. The B team was 4th in division 3.
Summer 2015: A team was top of div 1 and won the trophy for the second year running, B team was top of division 2 & promoted. C team came 5th in division 2 .
Southampton Winter League 2014/2015: Men’s A 4th in div 1, Men’s B were 3rd in division 3, Ladies’ 5th in division 2. They all stayed in their respective divisions.
Aegon Men’s A team 3rd in the Regional South West – East division
Aegon Men’s Senior Team tennis (county based)
Men’s team runners up in division 1
Aegon Junior Team Tennis (County based)
8u Mixed -1st in 8u South and went on to became county champions when they won the playoffs.
12u Boys & 14u Boys also became county champions as they both finished top of division 1.
16u Boys - 2nd in division 1 A 18u Boys’ team was not entered as there was no division 1 to play in.
Unfortunately there were no girls’ matches as, whilst we had players, no other clubs in the county could field a team.
Players representing the county during 2015
Seniors
Francis Smith & George Nixon played county cup in the winter
Jacky Witt & Jenna Wippell played o35s at Eastbourne
Stephen Berry & James Sinclair played matches for the o65s
Juniors
Louisa Fuller played u 10 county cup.
George Grant & Ollie Martin played u12 county cup
Izzy Dickson & Anna Rolfe played u18 County Cup
SUMMER CLUB TOURNAMENT WINNERS 2015
Men’s Singles: Julian Hemming Ladies’ singles Izzy Dickson,
Men’s Doubles:- Graeme Ellis & Joe Revelle
Ladies’ Doubles:- Izzy Dickson & Anna Rolfe,
Mixed Doubles:- Tim Rolfe & Anna Rolfe
Veteran Men’s O45:- Alex Vandeleur; Ladies’ O40 singles Sue Burt,
Men’s O45 Doubles:- Peter Coley & James Sinclair
Ladies’ O40s:- Judith Cutler & Pippa Fordham
Vets Mixed Doubles:- James Sinclair & Theresa Griffiths
U14 Boys’ Singles:- Ben Rolfe
U14 Girls’ Singles:- Anna Romilly
The Club Tournament marked the 120th anniversary of the club and Finals Day was a well attended happy occasion. The new format worked well and will be repeated this year. Finals Day will be held on 24th September. All other dates will be advertised at the club and also by email to members.
10). Election of Officers
The Chairman confirmed that, as per the Agenda, those that were willing to stand for re-election were:-
PRESENT HOLDER PROPOSED/SECONDED
President Mr M Knight Mr M Knight
Chairman Mr S Berry Mr S Berry
Hon. Secretary Mrs K Smith Mrs K Smith
Hon. Treasurer Mr S White Mr S White
Membership Secretary Mr T Douglas Miss L Maynard
Match Secretary Mrs J Cutler Mrs J Cutler
Under Clause 9.10, the Committee wish to appoint Miss L Maynard to fulfil the vacancy of Membership Secretary
Mr D Brock is standing down under the rotation rule.
Mr T. Douglas has resigned
Mrs E Crossley is eligible for re-election
Mrs T. Griffiths was co-opted for one year and is seeking re-election. She has been proposed by Mrs K Smith and seconded by Mr L Griffiths
Mr R Demain-Griffiths has been proposed by Mr J Revelle and Seconded by Miss E Bearne for election to the Committee
Mr J Fuller has been proposed by Mr T Douglas and Seconded by Mrs T Griffiths for election to the Committee
Miss A Herod has been proposed by Miss L Maynard and Seconded by Mr S White for election to the Committee
In view of the above the Chair suggested that everyone be voted in en bloc. J Watson proposed the motion and it was seconded by M Knight and agreed unanimously.
11). Coach’s Report
See above
12. Resolutions for consideration of which at least 14 days written notice has been given
No resolutions had been received.
13). Any Other Business
MA Pelton asked whether there was any further update on the defibrillator. J Cutler responded that the Committee had considered the costings and the training that was required. The Secretary confirmed that she had approached the Parish Council to see if they had any plans to look at a community provision.
MA Pelton thanked the Committee for introducing the Tuesday afternoon social tennis and for always arranging for a Committee Member to be present. The few that had been attending had really enjoyed it
M Knight thanked the Chairman for leading the Committee so well and thanked all those involved for their hard work.
The Chairman thanked all those that had attended and the meeting closed at 8.30 pm.
