KEMSING LAWN TENNIS CLUB

(Affiliated LTA)

Minutes

Annual General Meeting

Thursday 29th February 2024

The Clubhouse 7.30pm

Present: Michael Elders in the Chair plus 24 Members. Total 25.

Apologies for Absence: Richard Newson, Jamie Honeyman, Guy Morrell, Franz Berger, Anita Van Hensbergen.

Minutes of the last meeting

Members were sent last year’s Minutes and asked to read them before the AGM. Accepted.   Proposed Ian Head.   Seconded Lesley Robbins.

Matters Arising

Covered in Chairman’s Report

Chairman’s Report

The Chairman welcomed Members to the Club’s AGM. He then did a look back at 2022.

As of January 4th the club has 122 adult members up from 113 last year and 34 young person / Juniors.

The club has added 4 courtside benches, an equipment shed, a new fridge and filing cabinet, installed new heating, replaced the floodlights twice, tackled the hedges and treated the courts. The Chairman particularly wanted to thank Ian Head for all the work he has done for the club other than being Membership Secretary. He added that the club had a lots of members who volunteer to help e.g. the working parties and thanked them too.

The top courts will be repainted at the end of April/early May.

The club provided over 2000 new tennis balls for social sessions and league matches.

The club entered 22 teams in the Kent Summer and Winter leagues, with 60 members representing the club in men’s, ladies and mixed doubles. 7 teams won their respective leagues and the club is well positioned to win 3 more, with 3 deciding matches to be played this month. The Chairman thanked Matt Bance for all the work he has done organising the matches.

The Chairman is proud that the club financially supported grassroots tennis by co funding with the Tennis Academy at a cost of £1100 each coaching at Seal and Eynsford primary schools which gave pupils across all years a taste of tennis. Coach Steve took it upon himself to refurbish 40+ tennis racquets for Seal primary school and the club provided 100 used balls. This will continue next year too. Michael thanked Steve.

The Club held a number of wonderful social events including the Open day, Finals day, Christmas Dinner, Quiz Night and Summer Party and Louise was thanked for organising these as members enjoyed them.

The Chairman thanked the 45 members for a speedy response to the survey sent out asking for feedback and hoped that others would respond in due course as its helpful information for the Committee to work on. Out of those who replied 100% said they would be rejoining.

The Chairman said the committee are aware that there needs to be the right balance of social play and with the influx of strong players which is great for many reasons, he reminded members that an email had been sent out asking that in the spirit of ensuring enjoyment for all, please be aware of who might be across the net during social play and tailor your power accordingly.

Membership subscriptions will be going up and discussed in detail by Ian.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer began his report by introducing himself and expressing a big thank you to the previous Treasurer Bob North. He said that over the last 8 years Bob has written and posted hundreds of cheques and spent hours looking at the club’s bank statements. He concluded by saying a big thank you from all the members at Kemsing and that he hoped that Bob would stay as an honourable (not honorary) member for many years to come.

The Treasurer explained that the accounts are prepared on a cash accounting basis meaning that revenues and expenses are recorded when items clear through the clubs bank account.

The Treasurer then went on to explain that the Club’s appointed external firm of Chartered Accountants, Hedley Dunk, reviewed the financial statements and that Hedley Dunk’s report confirms that no material matters have to their attention in connection with the examination.

The Treasurer then went through the Income and Expenditure breakdown in detail:

Subs were up by 11% on the previous year. From £17,423 to £19,419.

Interest earned is up 1300%, from £60.13 to £882.51 and the club is looking at increasing this further by moving some of the savings into high interest savings accounts.

Ball sales to members are up by 1500% from £20 to £338.91.

The miscellaneous income is drastically down as expected because in 2022 the club received a £5500 refund from Scottish power and a £2500 Covid grant.

There was a 13.6% reduction in the insurance cost and club is now getting better overall terms in cover with the number of members now being unlimited and a 50% higher buildings cover.

LTA fees were slightly up due to more teams being entered into the leagues.

Ball expenditure was down in 2023 as the club over bought in2022. This will be going up heavily next year.

Coaching and income fees are up due to the £1100 spent on outreach programmes to Eynsford and Seal primary schools and £100 spent on the Open Day.

Maintenance costs were higher in 2023. Up from £2711.25 to £7313.50. This was made up from

Court cleaning £1680

Security lights, decorations, heater, defib battery shredder hire, court paint and tennis nets £800

Flood light repairs and maintenance £800 & £924.

Light post protectors £672

Clubhouse painting £1850

Fridge £299

The club anticipating similar costs in 2024 due to the top courts being sealed and painted.

Pavilion rent was £124 and there were 2 payments of £144 for the pavilion 500 club. The cheque was cleared faster this year which is why there are 2 payments showing.

Miscellaneous items is less due the buying of the Honours Boards in 2022. This year the club spent £630 on trophies and lettering and the balance was Audit fees, cleaning products and stationary.

The Excess over income for 2023 is £3k. Despite the clubs large spending this year and no further grants the club still managed to produce a small increase in the cash reserves. Next year the Business rates, Insurance and Ball costs are increasing and the Maintenance cost will stay high. To keep increasing the cash reserves to pay for upgrading some of the end-of-life depreciating assets like Courts, Fences, Lights and Clubhouse the Treasurer believes that the subscription increase this year is necessary. However, the club at this point in time is healthy with a total amount of just under £72k in its bank accounts which gives the club a buffer to deal with refurbishments that are imminent over the next few years.

The Accounts were then formally proposed by Howard Cloke and seconded Ian Head.

Alex was thanked for all his work.

Juniors & Coaching

The Kemsing LTC community coaching programme is back on Wednesday evening with red ball (5-7years), orange ball (8-9 years)& green/ yellow ball (10-12 years). These groups have running since February half term.

The club has strong links with local schools, Seal primary, Anthony Roper primary, Russell House independent prep school, St. Michaels independent prep school and has re-established its link with Kemsing primary thanks to coach Georgie Heuerman.

The Committee approved SOP (Schools Outreach Programme) will be working with Anthony Roper and Seal Primary over the next year and hope this provide a new stream of junior and senior members into the club.

The Kemsing Open Day will be on Saturday 20th April, coaching will be provided from 2.30 – 4.30 for juniors & seniors and family play 4.30 – 5.30.

There is still the opportunity for adult coaching to take place at regular times if the demand comes out of the membership survey.

On several occasions Steve has been able to arrange team coaching from Rob Smith, LTA level 5 performance coach for high level team players at £15 per person for a 2x hour group session. This has been very well received.

Ian pointed out that a lot of the clubs new members come via the Tennis Academy and thanked Steve for the introductions.

Match Secretary’s Report: 

Teams have done well this winter and so far have won 7 titles out of 11. The Men have the highest percentage wins of all the teams in Kent. There will be 14 teams playing for Kemsing this Summer between April and July with Finals in September.

Matt is organising Play your way to Wimbledon. Matt Day organised a Winter Tournament and Matt Bance will organise the Club Championship to start in May, with the final on Saturday 14th September.

Matt thanked all the Club Captains for their support and work over the year. Matt was also thanked for his hard work.

Safeguarding

Lesley anticipates a safeguarding inspection this year by the LTA which means filling out a self-assessment form and having an inspector come to the club. She will do this with Steve. She confirmed that all safeguarding measures were in place with hard copies in a file in the clubhouse. A notice board is up with the information required. The policies are also on the website. Up to date pictures of the coaches will be provided by Steve Seffens. Lesley was thanked for her work.

Social Events

Louise reported that social events will be planned for the year. Starting with Cheese and Wine after the AGM. There will be an Open Day on April 20th, the Club Championship Finals Day on Saturday 14th September, Presentation Dinner and Christmas Dinner along with other tournaments during the year. Louise recently organised a Quiz night which was a great success. She was thanked for her hard work.

Election of Officers

The Committee were unanimously elected as follows. Proposed by Howard Cloke and Seconded by Roger Ellis.

  Chairman:  Michael Elders

  Secretary:  Caroline Sweet

  Treasurer:  Alex Opitz

  Membership Secretary:  Ian Head

  Match Secretary & Championship Organiser:  Matt Bance

  Social Secretary:  Louise Smith

  Club Coach & Junior Organiser:  Steve Seffens

  Welfare Officer:  Lesley Jones

  Digital Secretary:  Matt Day

  Maintenance & Clubhouse Manager:  Richard Newson

  Marketing:  Michael Elders

  Representative on Parish Council:  Position Vacant

  Honorary Committee Member:  Des White

Membership Secretary’s Report & Subscriptions

Ian reported that the Club adult, midweek and young person membership has increased this year and subscriptions revenue is consequently higher than last year. The Club currently has 159 paying members. 122 Adults, 6 Midweek, 13 Young Person (18-25) and 19 Juniors. Junior subscriptions are down but some get their membership included in coaching fees.

There are 8 coaches and 3 Honorary Members.

Last year there were 32 Adult, 6 Young Person and 19 Junior non-rejoiners. Bob North asked if the club had any feed back from about why they left. Ian Replied that some were financial and some due to sickness or moving away from the area.

Last year there was a question about using the Parish Council Courts due to the increase in members using the club courts during social play. The Chairman is going to reconnect with the 500 Club Parish Councillors to see if the club can use them on Monday and Wednesday evenings during the summer if necessary. The Club cannot use them during the winter as they have no floodlights. The Chairman also told the members that he was seeing a representative from an LED light company to see what the cost would be to change the club lights.

Membership Subscription Proposal

The full Subscription Proposal was sent to members before the AGM.

With the anticipated club costs this year the Committee recommend that subscriptions are increased to;

                  

Family Relevant Subs – If 2 Full Adults in a household are full members (not Midweek), then each additional adult in the same household receives an additional £30 discount and each young person receives an additional £15 discount.

If any member has difficulty paying, they should contact Ian.

All members can play until the end of April and then if subscriptions are not forthcoming, they will not be allowed to play.

Visitors can play 3 times before having to join the club and those having coaching can play 6 times and then need to join or pay an additional £5 visitors’ fee.

Membership forms will be online, and payment will be by bank transfer.

Ian said he would look into Gift Aid as the club is a CASK charity and will include it if possible on the renewal forms.

Bob North questioned whether the proposed increase in the adult members annual subscription was adequate. The concern was that with costs rising by inflation, a below inflation increase in subscriptions, (the club’s main source of revenue) would lead to increasing pressure on the club’s finances, potentially resulting in the club struggling to break even. It was noted that the excess of income over expenditure has fallen to £3000, much lower than any year in the previous 8 years.

Michael replied that the Committee were aware of this and that ways of raising extra money was being looked in to.

Sue Glass suggested that if members wanted to pay in full rather than at the discounted rate they should be encouraged to do so. This will also be on the renewal form.

Subscriptions for the year 2023/2024 was given a unanimous vote and proposed by Howard Cloke and seconded by Jane Ladbury.

Tennis Balls

Kemsing provides balls for social tennis and for all home matches and quite a few team practices. This comprehensive provision of tennis balls is unique as far Ian is aware and is a valuable special provision of the club. The cost of providing these balls has risen from £1370 2 years ago to £2839 last year and will this year exceed £3600 which is nearly triple in 2 years.

The price is increasing from £12.99 per dozen to £14.99 per dozen (£5 per tube) The Tennis Academy held the price for the club last year but cannot do it this year. The increase is 15% over 2 years. Ian is happy with the club’s relationship with the Tennis Academy and does not believe the club should seek an alternative supplier. Online prices are not any cheaper.

Ian asked that if members hit a ball out of the court each one is worth £1.25 so please try and find it. If more are sent out this does not give members an automatic right to open a new tin. A total annual adult subscription would only pay for a little over 1 tube of balls per week. So if a member loses that many then they are a net financial liability to the club. Members can also provide their own balls.

Used balls are recycled and the club receives 15p per ball.

Unfortunately there have been between 500 – 800 used balls stolen in the last year. Bob North raised concerns about this, particularly given that only members have access to the clubhouse. The code for the gate and clubhouse will be changed on May 1st. Since an email was sent out to members recently none have gone missing so hopefully this will have put the thief off.

Digital Secretary:

Matt Day has taken on this role and was thanked for joining the Committee. He has updated the website making it more of a marketing tool and now has a new fresher look. There are all the events, 2024 match fixtures, Captains info, results and Honours section, photos, Safeguarding Policies, The club Constitution and Code of Conduct. Matt said if anyone wants anything to be added to contact him.

Any Other Business:

Ways to get increased revenue for the club were discussed. Including having a 5 year membership paid in advance. Ian would need to see a financial model to see if this was viable. Lesley said she knew of a club that did this and they lost out financially in the end.

Matt Bance, Andy Bourne and Steve Seffens suggested a tournament open to outside members which all players would have to pay to enter. It would work on a compass draw system and could generate around £800.

The Chairman suggested trying to get a club sponsor.

The LTA was mentioned but they no longer give grants only loans.

Andy Bourne asked why the club hadn’t entered Small Club of the Year. It was agreed that Andy, Matt and Steve would look into it.

The Meeting closed at 8.55pm and was followed by Cheese and Wine.