Chairman’s report

Welcome to the meeting, it is my first as Chairman, an eventful year!

What’s happened?

Covid 19 has meant that in the year to March we were only able to play and the coaching team to coach around half of the time.

Despite all this we have improved the club, most notably a new car behind Court 2, lots of benches and umbrellas!

Our membership is strong with over 250 active members.

As Aileen will detail the finances have improved too due to around £30k of grant receipts from both local government and Sports organisations.

As many of you will know our priority is to have sufficient funds to replace courts 5 6 and 7 which will cost over £50k. To help this we have been successful in obtaining some excellent corporate sponsorship. We have also agreed an enhanced deal with the coaching team at Tennis4All.

We have now opened up almost fully post Covid and have a number of activities underway beyond the normal weekly team, social and coaching activities, including a well attended social mixed last Saturday, box leagues and of course the club championships.

My two major concerns are

Firstly security…we have had two burglaries from the garage and one from the coaches’ shed, we have spent heavily on enhanced shutter doors and alarm system. We have had several instances of the last person on site not locking the clubhouse and entrance gate. It is always tough but where possible we need to treat the club the same as our homes when we leave it!

Secondly, the culvert wall near the lake is leaking badly and needs professional repair. We are liaising with our landlord, Althorp, on this. Progress has been slow and the matter is now urgent.

Overall though, your club is in good shape and I would like to thank your hard working volunteer committee members, team captains and the coaching team for making it all happen.

Enjoy your tennis!

Best Regards

Paul