Hi everyone,

We trust this message finds you, your family & friends remaining fit and well. 

As I write, sadly the club remains closed (due to the restrictions imposed by the Government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic), snow is on the ground and thoughts of playing tennis seem a long way away! 

That said I wanted to bring some positive news to you in these somewhat ‘dark’ days!  In the background your committee has started the process of researching the resurfacing of the courts.  Quotes are being sought and additional funding to supplement club resources is being organized.  

With this in mind may we ask for your support of our fundraising activities by signing up to the ‘Easyfundraising’ site found at:  https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/goudhursttennisclub/

This site helps raise donations for the club whenever you shop online. It doesn’t cost anything to join and only takes a few minutes to sign up. Thank you for your support.

On another subject, we have also used this time to look at the way the club is structured.  Since its inception in 1957 the club has been held ‘in trust’ (i.e. an elected group of trustees ensure that the club remains in existence for the sole purposes of “tennis” within our community). The ‘day to day’ running of the club has been undertaken by committee members elected at the annual AGM, all of whom are volunteers.  This structure has served the club well for all of these years but advice from the LTA/Kent LTA has lead us to review the club’s legal status to ensure that it remains appropriate for the current and future running of the club.

There are many options available and all are being reviewed. These include (but are not limited to) incorporating the club as a Company Limited By Guarantee, Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) and Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

If anyone has any strong opinions on this or indeed has direct experiences (for a similar type of sports club as GTC) which might help guide the decision then we would welcome your input.

This brings me neatly on to give notice of our Annual General Meeting. For obvious reasons, this year as last will be held as a ‘virtual AGM’. We intend to hold the meeting on Wednesday, 17th March (St Patrick’s Day!) at 8pm by way of a Zoom call.    

An agenda will be sent out approximately two weeks before the AGM (including details on how to join the Zoom meeting). We do ask that if you have any subjects you wish to have raised/discussed/added to the agenda (even if you are unable to attend) or would like to join us on the committee then please send an email to goudhursttennisclub@gmail.com or call me on 07841 234849 by 3rd March. 

A final thought:

Before Covid disrupted our lives, I can report that membership of the Club had been at its highest level for several years; we had 5 teams (Womens, Mens and Mixed Doubles) participating in 3 local leagues; our coaching programmes under Mike (Roi) and Breakpoint Tennis were thriving and we were looking to increase the number of our club events/activities.  If we can improve the playing surface we can certainly push on and the club can continue to grow!  

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes – Paul (Chair) and the Committee of Goudhurst Tennis Club