STEWARTRY COMMUNITY SPORTS CLUB
Registered Scottish Charity: SCO43061
Minutes of the 15th Annual General Meeting of Stewartry Community Sports Club held on Tuesday 30th September 2025 in the Castle Douglas Parish Church Hall, Castle Douglas. (note – due to Covid the 2021 AGM was held in November and then we reverted to having our AGM in April so the final accounts for the year ended 31st December each year submitted to OSCR could be prepared. The 2025 AGM was deferred from April/May due to the complete Management Committee being unable to attend).
Present (10): Doug Walker, Colin Kennedy, Geoff Legg, Eileen Legg, Lindsay Kennedy, James Warwick, Colin Davies, Simon Mein, David McBeth and Calum Wilson.
Apologies: Mark and Sue Roberts, Steve Smith, Dougie Kerr, Ian Gordon.
Welcome and thanks: Chairman Doug Walker welcomed those in attendance and thanked all office bearers and committee for their work since the last AGM.
Minutes of the previous AGM: The minutes from the 14th AGM 2024 were taken as read and approved and matters arising were deferred to general business as they appeared on the agenda.
Treasurer’s Report and Finances and Secretary’s Report: (see the 3 pages of extracts from the annual accounts submitted to OSCR, Office of the Scottish Charity Register, for the year ended 31st December 2024 at the end of these minutes. Saint & Co closed their Castle Douglas office in mid 2021 and their director Jennifer McDairmant prepared our report and accounts for submission to OSCR the governing body for charities in Scotland and our accounts are extracted from there).
GL presented both reports. GL went through the accounts beginning by saying what a very healthy financial position the club is now in. When the club was formed by merger of the tennis and squash clubs in 2009 we had fewer than 100 members and £700 in the bank. Fast forward to 2025 and we have around 600 members, over £85K in the bank, no liabilities and have paid for the major clubhouse extension, resurfacing tennis courts, refurbishing squash courts, creating and equipping a gym and aerobics room and upgrading equipment 3 times in each, installed 4 heating/aircon units and installed floodlights on the tennis courts.
For the y/e 31/12/24 Income was £44,429 vs Expenditure £29,863; a surplus of £14,566 was earned (£2,273 in 2023). Income is predominantly from subscriptions and the main items of expenditure were electricity and gas £8,935 (significantly down from £12,503, in 2023 mainly due to a change of supplier), cleaning £5,959 (up from £4,819 in 2023, mainly due to an increase in the hourly charge we pay), property repairs and renewals £2,135 (substantially down from £8,111 in 2023), depreciation £5,743 (slightly up from £5,340 in 2023, it is a book entry not involving cash), administration £1,578 Saint & Co (£1,500 in 2023), coaching (Mark Sindall per Ryan Galloway for taking the juniors) £1,996 (up from £1,480 in 2023 due to increased numbers) and insurance £1,639 (£1,693 in 2023).
.2.
The Statement of Financial Position (aka Balance Sheet) showed fixed assets (buildings, tennis courts and equipment) of £359,230 (£358,021 in 2023) and bank balance of £75,263 (£61,906 in 2023), less current liabilities (bills outstanding on balance day since paid) of £2,064 which gave a ‘net worth’ of £432,429 (£417,863 in 2023). The bank position as of the AGM, 30/9/25 had improved significantly from 2024 year end and was standing at £84,726. The trustees have decided to ‘ringfence’ at least £50k of the current bank balance of circa £85k for future asset replacement and unexpected contingencies. Discussion took place on ways of earning more interest on this ringfenced ‘sinking fund’ and it was agreed to seek the advice of Jennifer McDairmant, Saint & Co on this.
The club is now back to above pre Covid levels of activity and the membership is significantly higher. The bulk of our membership is gym/AR users who appear to have no/little interest in racket sports. Discussion on ways to get gym/AR users playing racket sports took place and it was agreed to start off next year with club nights for all racket sports and promote them to gym/AR users.
Estate Manager’s Report: CD said that there were few maintenance issues arising during the year but repairs and replacements were effected as and when required. Andy Boyd did some repairs on the 2 main doors and we are awaiting a plasterer suggesting how to repair and tidy up the showers. The treadmills have been lubricated regularly and we had the gym equipment, boiler, air conditioning units and fire extinguishers serviced during the year.
Reports from Squash/Racketball, Tennis and Keep Fit sections:
CD reported that we entered a squash team but no racketball team in D&G Leagues. Club nights hadn’t been well attended and eventually were discontinued. Discussion took place on how to get more members playing squash and racketball
CK/EL/GL reported on tennis. Men’s and ladies coaching on Monday mornings had good numbers. Junior coaching went well with over 40 to 50 regularly taking part in the Thursday evening sessions run by Ryan Galloway. We couldn’t enter a ladies team in D&G leagues this year due to insufficient numbers for a team squad. Many of our 6 times league winning team have retired, moved or are injured. We entered a men’s team and included a 13 year old junior which was good for the future. The team finished third to Dumfries 1 and Dalbeattie 1. We couldn’t enter a mixed team due to a lack of competition standard ladies. It was agreed to try to increase the number of ladies in 2026 so we can enter men’s, ladies and mixed teams. GL advised that there was going to be a winter block of junior coaching after the October holidays because there is sufficient demand for it and we now have the floodlights. It was agreed to investigate whether there was a demand for squash and racketball coaching and CD and SM suggested targeting juniors. A new member has expressed an interest in providing squash coaching.
There was little to report on Gym and AR. As agreed at last AGM we had a review of equipment in both rooms via consulting members. The only feedback we got was to add a curved treadmill in the AR. This proved to be unpopular and the item was disposed of and replaced by a conventional treadmill. We also added a new cross trainer and bikes in the AR, spending £8/9k this year.
Election of Office Bearers:
The Management Committee and General Committee were unanimously re-elected en-bloc
Chairman - Doug Walker
Vice Chairman - Colin Kennedy
Secretary – Geoff Legg
Treasurer – Saint & Co to do books and prepare final accounts, DW/GL/CK look after banking/payment of invoices via online a/c’s
Estates Manager – Colin Davies
Committee – Lindsay Kennedy, Steve Smith, Calum Wilson and David McBeth
.3.
Membership Fees:
It was unanimously agreed to not change the membership fees put in place on 1st May 2015:
Adult membership £10 per month or £120 by lump sum
Family membership £15 per month or £180 by lump sum
Junior membership £30 p.a. by lump sum
Country membership (residing outside the Stewartry) £6 per month or £72 by lump sum
Life individual £800 one-off lump sum
Life family £1,200 one-off lump sum
Fund Raising and Social Activities:
The healthy bank balance and post Covid reluctance both mean that no/few fund raising and social activities will be planned for the near/distant future. However, it was agreed that we could hold a quiz night during the winter months for ‘social reasons’.
Any other competent business:
It was agreed to engage our cleaners for extra hours and to redraw the list of tasks we want them to carry out.
It was suggested that we could try holding the next AGM at the club as this may increase attendances (10 out of 600, a bare quorum this time!!)
There being no further business to discuss, DW thanked all those in attendance and closed the meeting at 8.10 pm.
