CHISELDON TENNIS CLUB
RECREATION GROUND, MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at the Recreation Hall on Wednesday November 23rd 2016
PRESENT: Julie Porte (Chairperson) Phil Kerley (Coach) Rachel Whatley (secretary)
Mick Molloy (Treasurer) Brian Boston (Trustee) Sara Brazell Chris Covell
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Passmore - Carol Gibbon – Warren Hicks – Simon Stevenette
Barend van der Sanden - Steve Riddiford – Paul Sunners (Parish Council)
APOLOGIES - MEMBERS: Margaret Hobbs – Tracey Jackson – Michelle Harding
Ruth Hibberd – Jeff Hannath – Joan Hannath – Keith Bates
Chairman, Julie Porte opened the meeting and welcomed all members.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
Having been elected Chairman following Adam Pike’s resignation and the co-opting of Mick Molloy to the committee and the post of Treasurer we started the new tennis year with 9 committee members but due to work commitments Warren Hicks and Shane Kingsley have since resigned. Many thanks to them for their hard work within the club.
Since our last AGM we have enjoyed some good tennis, league and social events on our new courts, including a Touch tennis tournament and a racket demo evening organised by Phil which together raised £150 for the club.
In April we held a Village Open Day to officially open the courts. Invitations were sent to all who were concerned with and involved with our massive fundraising project. With before and after photos of the courts, delicious refreshments, celebration tennis court cake (courtesy of Sara) and visits from the Mayor-elect and the Swindon Advertiser it was a big thankyou to everyone present.
Our efforts to promote the Club included taking a stall at the Village Church Fete and being part of the LTA’s Great British Tennis Weekend in July. This initiative offers a chance to play tennis for free and encourage young and old to try or return to tennis and a way of recruiting new members.
Our recent Quiz night raised £482 and thanks go to Margaret, Carol, Ruth and Rachel.
Court 3 is completely fenced off and available to the public to hire for a number of days per year. Chiseldon House Hotel kindly take bookings and hold the keys and took £40 for the club.
As you know the courts and grounds have been kept up by Steve Riddiford for several years- he has cut grass, weeded, blown leaves off the courts, fixed new numbers to each court and maintained the club house and grounds tirelessly. Sadly Steve is coming off committee now and I would like you all to show your appreciation for his sterling work.
Also leaving the committee is Joan Hannath. for Joan has been a member of the club for 30 years, secretary for 25 and membership for 5. she was great at chasing us up to fill in our forms, sending receipts and issuing shoe tags as well as providing keys members and guest players. I would like to thank Joan and ask you all to show your appreciation for all her work over the years.
Joan and Steve continue to support and help the Club and we are very grateful to them for this.
MINUTES:
The minutes of the AGM held on November 18th 2015 (a copy having been sent to all members) were accepted by those present as a true record, proposed by Carol Gibbon and seconded by Sara Brazell. There were no matters arising.
TREASURERS REPORT:
Details from the Treasurers report, copies having been seen by all present were explained.
Total cash in hand is £7,019. (£4,546 in 2015)
This increase in funds from last year is important and something we need to continue to build on to meet future expenditure on the courts and their upkeep. Excess income over expenditure is £2,618 mainly due to increased match fees, a result of 1 extra team entering league competitions, and fees due which were not included in last year’s accounts.
The maintenance expense of £510 is a one-off payment for consultancy work obtained during the courts’ upgrade in 2015 but paid this year.
CLUB CAPTAINS REPORT:
It has been another positive year with our teams producing good results overall.
In the Winter League the Mixed A team won Division2, were promoted and now playing in Division 1. The B team finished 3rd in Division4.
The Summer League saw the Mixed A remain in Division 1 and the B team in Division ??
The Men’s A finished 2nd in Division 3 and next summer will be playing Division 2. Despite The B and C team finishing in the bottom half of their leagues there are many positives to be taken. Several of the younger lads have been competing in matches, improving all the time and giving hope for the future. This is testament to the coaching and consequently becoming members.
Finally the Ladies team won Division 4 and are promoted for the 2nd year running.
At the recent League Presentation Evening we collected 2 Winners Cups and 5 certificates. Tracey Jackson and Julie Porte were named as top players in their respective leagues.
TRUSTEES REPORT:
The Annual inspection of the Club’s facilities by the Trustees and the Parish Council revealed some minor problems but otherwise everything was in good condition. The Parish Council are presently painting the external walls and will be monitoring the settlement of the whole building.
The contractor’s warranty has now completed but not before courts 2 and 3 were repainted.
The Trustees have drawn attention to the Club to the need for providing a fund to meet future maintenance and replacement of facilities. Both parties recognise the keen competition locally for tennis club membership and so a Marketing and Membership committee person will focus on this need.
Coordinating with the local LTA representative the Trustees will continue to monitor the facilities in general and ensure that the targets for future funds meet the needs of the Club.
Finally the Trustees and the Tennis Club have agreed to investigate opportunities for the funding of future maintenance and replacement of facilities in the same manner as was successful in 2015.
The Trustees are pleased that they continue to work closely with the Parish and the Tennis Club.
COACHING REPORT:
Coach Phil Kerley reported he now has 3 full time and 3 part-time coaches and recently invested in 4 juniors taking and passing their level 1 coaching courses. Congratulations to Joe Packer, Jack Karpinsky, Oli Marsden and Harrison Kerley.
The current coaching programme offers mini red, orange and green sessions for those under 10 as well as a tots and an adult cardio session. In total 34 people attended coaching just in October. All children on the courses recently received certificates to show their improvement.
At the start of the summer a £1 levy was introduced for those wanting to do coaching but did not want to join the club. This has been successful and approx. £89 was paid to the Club last term and £66 from this term.
Children from some of the local Primary Schools attend coaching sessions and recently a session was held in Chiseldon school. The main objective for March 2017 is Wroughton Primary school.
Phil thanked all those who attend coaching and especially the parents who bring their children every week as well as the adults who regularly attend cardio tennis.
NEW COMMITTEE
The following were elected to the committee- Julie Porte, Mick Molloy, Sara Brazell, Chris Covell and Rachel Whatley were all duly elected, proposed by Phil Kerley and seconded by Brian Boston.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Paul Sunners, Chairman of the Parish Council Recreation Committee, spoke of the relationship between the Tennis Club and the Parish Council. He apologised on behalf of the Recreation Committee to Steve Riddiford for the recent tensions that had arisen . Recognising the importance of the facilities in Chiseldon for the benefit of the community he hoped that the Parish Council would still be seen as being fully supportive of and thankful for the partnership we have with them. Julie replied that the main relationship between us is a good one and recognised the help and support of Keith Bates who represented the Parish Council at our committee meetings.
Simon Stevenette thanked the Committee for all the hard work they do for the Tennis Club.
Finally Chairman Julie Porte thanked the committee for all their support and help and everyone who helps with events during the year adding that we, the Committee, are looking forward to a year where we will try our best to improve membership, promote the club and hold events that include coaching, tennis competition and social activities.
We will raise funds for the club and take care of our lovely courts but above all we all want to play tennis…
There being no further business the meeting closed.