WEDMORE TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday 18 March 2026 @ 7pm

Function room at Post and Wicket, Wedmore

MINUTES

PRESENT:

Committee members: Michael Gill (Chair), Trevor Savage, Elaine Steckler, Matt

Purcell, James Mitchell, Mark Jackson, Sarah Tipping, Pamela Reid. Karen Larsen

Members:

Alison Campion,

Bill Litherland

Dave Eccles

Ian Penney

Jane Pottow

Jo Purves

Katie Cumberford

Kerry Binker

Kimberley Myers

Lucy Halford

Nick Broad

Rob Tipping

Sarah Cunningham

Apologies:

Jill Thurston, Stuart Willaims, Lesley Willaims, Anja De Pree, Mike Robinson,

Andrew Scott, Claire Scott, Richard Campion, Paul Steckler, Tony Pearman, Mike

Comerford, James Halford, Kate Haley

With 22 members present, the meeting was quorate.

Minutes of the 2025 AGM: these were summarised and agreed with one item

brought forward of communication with schools which is being included in the

quarterly committee agenda.

Chairman’s report:

The chairman welcomes members to the meeting and summarised the changes to

the club over the past year. This included replacing the court lights with LED which

not only improves the lighting but are significantly cheaper to operate. The

introduction of the temporary padel court which is part of a larger project aimed to

widen the membership and increase the use of the facilities. He outlines the long

terms plans to replace the surface of the courts and ultimately to provide a covered

facility for 2 tennis courts and 2 padel courts.

Last year the chairman gave notice that he wished to stand down, however the

replacement was not able to take up the position. He stated that they were lookingfor a new chairman and he was intending to stand down at the next AGM. He

requested that interest from any member would be welcomed.

Membership:

Numbers had increased from 196 to 203 with 42 members leaving and 49 new

members. It was encouraging that there had been 10 new members since the padel

court was installed with 5 stating that the padel court was their primary incentive to

join. Publicity had mostly been through the Wedmore News as well as the website

and Facebook.

Treasurer’s report:

Income level has increased slightly but as some of the new members were in the

youth categories of the membership, the rise is less than the membership numbers

might suggest.

Expenses had increased in court cleaning, but this has improved the playing surface

especially as it has been so wet.

Electricity bill should be lower this year as the new LED lights are more efficient.

For the first months, the padel income has been low. The court was only operational

in early February.

The club is running with a surplus of around £7,000 and the lights cost to the club

was around £15,000 (with the balance from donations and grants).

Team performance: (Ladies Captain - Elaine Steckler)

The club has 4 teams in the League. The E team were not able to play league as

the spare court used by the club was not LTA registered and the paperwork and cost

to achieve that was not worthwhile. Unfortunately, efforts to find alternative

competition for team E were not successful.

For our 4 teams in the summer league, we had a mix of results. Our A team

came 5th in Div 1 so start this year in Div 2; our B team came 3rd in Div 2 so also

start this year in Div 2. Our C team, having been promoted to Div 4 last year, finished

a

comfortable 3rd and held their place in Div 4 for this year. Our D team had a tougher

time and finished 5th In Div 5 meaning they will start this year in Div 6. All in all, it

was a good year, with not too many injuries. Thank you again to all the ladies who

played, put on lovely refreshments and wrote match reports. And special thanks to

Sarah Tipping and Clare Scott as squad captains for their organisation, help, support

and for making my job much easier.

Shortly after summer league finished last year, we had our Club Champs

competitions

with the resulting finals day and some worthy winners. Details for this year’s Club

Champs will be shared soon.

After Club champs came a summer of just enjoying tennis and no organising.Winter league and Vets matches prep then started in September. Matches then

started

in October and we are approaching the final few matches over the next couple of

weekends. This season has been quite tricky as there have been so many

rearrangements due to bad weather. But we’re almost there. My sincere thanks to

James for once again organising the men so efficiently this year.

Results wise it’s been a mixed season. With 2 matches to go, the A team could end

up in the top spot in Div 1 again.

The B team have their last match this weekend. They sit 5th in Div 2 so will start in

Div 3 next year. It has been a tough season for them this year playing against all A

teams in Div 2. The C team have 1 more match to play and are the confirmed

champs of Div 5. They will start next year in Div 4.

And the D team with 2 matches to go, are sitting bottom of Div 6 but could still hold

onto

their place in Div 6.

Elaine thanked the members for being understanding when all the courts have been

in use recently on Sunday mornings due to match reschedules.

As well as our winter league teams we’ve also had 2 Vets teams playing in Div 1 this

year.

Our Vets A team have 1 match to go and are already confirmed as champs taking

the

top spot again this year.

Our Vets B team also in Div 1 have battled hard this season and it’s going to come

down

to the wire. With 1 match to go they need to keep ahead of Minehead to stay in Div

1!

As well as the winter league matches at the moment, ladies social tennis on a

Tuesday

has seen a few braving the weather over the winter months with many more keen for

this better weather!

This is the start of my 7th year as Ladies captain. I have enjoyed doing the role but I

think

it would be good for me and the club to have some change so I plan on this being my

last year in the post with a view to handing on the reins to someone else this time

next

year.

Coaching and Team Performance (Coach and Men’s Captain - James Mitchell)

It has been a positive year for Wedmore coaching with great progress from our

players and strong support from the whole tennis community the junior programme

has been strong throughout the year with groups averaging between 9 and 14players and Tots Tennis consistently running with 2 to 3 players. It’s especially

encouraging is that we did not see a drop off in over the winter months

Due to this growth I brought in a new assistant coach Jake Savage who is completed

his LTA level 1. His support has allowed us to maintain the quality of sessions while

increasing participation across all age groups. Adult coaching has been a bit more

mixed rusty racquets has grown well while Thursday adult sessions dipped slightly

mainly due to injuries and work commitments. Friday ladies groups are still running.

As many of you will have seen padel has now arrived and the demand for coaching

has been excellent group sessions are already filling up fast and additional padel

coaching groups are being organised. I'm also seeing an increase in individual

bookings to hopefully this momentum will continue into the summer.

Not everything has gone to plan, camp numbers especially in the summer were

lower this year with 61 players across February, Easter and the summer camps

compared with 83 last year. Cardio tennis hasn't run as consistently due to low

numbers.

A few highlights,

●

we welcome Jake as our new assistant coach

●

junior numbers are up to 39 players currently an increase in nine from last

year this increased wall this will increase through this summer season

●

●

we currently have 24 adults in Group sessions but slight drop of 7

padel sessions have been full since launch with new private groups now

running alongside the two introduction lessons.

●

and on a personal note, I became double county padel champion this year

winning men and mixed representing Somerset padel team.

●

As men's captain, last season was one of the toughest we've had we lost A team

players early on due to injury which led to a full reshuffle across the teams. Despite

the challenges and some tough decisions, the commitment from everyone involved

was outstanding while results didn't always go our way, the effort and team spirit

never dropped.

Final league results were:

A team - third in division 1

B team - 6th in division 4

C team - 5th in division 5

D team - 4th in division 8

I'd also like to say that I have now passed on the men's captain roll to Joe Purves

thank you Joe for stepping up.

Maintenance: all 5 courts were pressure washed in December; we've had very little

moss this winter but there is some around the edges we'll deal with shortly.The lawn around the clubhouse is improving, I am aiming for a Wimbledon style

finish so wish me luck. Improving the overall look of the club will hopefully help

attract new members. There is a maintenance schedule available in the clubhouse.

looking ahead, the focus will be on continuing to grow junior programme, building

adult numbers back up, and developing padel court coaching further as demand

increases. We'll also be looking to improve camp numbers and get cardio sessions

running more consistently again. Overall, the aim is to keep building on what we've

got and continue growing players across all areas.

Subscriptions:

The new rate proposed are:

2025/6 2026/7

Adult 170 180

Joint adult 310 330

Family 385 415

Age 12- 23 65 70

Age 6-11 40 40

Under 5 No charge No charge

Named parent of child

under 12

65 70

The new rates were put to a vote of members and agreed.

The committee have agreed to use the LTA Clubspark website for padel bookings

and in time this will host the Wedmore tennis club site. This should help to provide

more timely updates and news to members.

New committee appointments

The following positions were agreed:

Chair – Michael Gill

Vice Chair – vacant

Member’s secretary – Sarah Tipping

Social secretary – vacant but covered by Sarah Tipping

Treasurer – Matt Purcell

Welfare Officer – Karen Larsen

Ladies Captain – Elaine Steckler

Men’s Captain – Joe Purves

Secretary – Pamela Reid

Other members – Trevor Savage, Jill Thurston, Mark Jackson

The appointment of Pamela Reid and Joe Purves to the committee were proposed

and agreed by the membership.The chairman acknowledged the help of members in running the club and especially

thanked Kimberley Myers, Katie Ashton and Lou Benjamin for their help in keeping

the club house tidy, clean and welcoming.

AOB: The members raised questions:

Would a score board for league matches be available?

The committee will consider as these have been used in the past.

Can membership fees be paid in instalments?

The committee had recently considered this matter and unanimously decided not to

go ahead with monthly subscriptions. The committee believes it is in the best

interests of the club to continue with subscriptions being paid in full at the start of the

membership year. It was also noted that only one member had come forward with

this suggestion, suggesting all others are happy to continue paying up front. It was

also explained that this form of payment allows the club to manage its finances in a

way to ensure membership rates remain competitive. Although, it was agreed that

now the club is using LTA Clubspark, which offers several options for payment

including by credit card, the committee will continue to look at this ahead of the next

AGM. In the meantime, all members are reminded that if they require assistance with

this matter due a to change in their circumstances, this will be considered on an

individual basis with as much help being offered as is feasibly possible.

How were the new lights funded?

The cost was covered by funders and the club’s reserves.

Ian Penney was thanked for his work to repair the sheds.