LEIGH TENNIS CLUB AGM FLEUR DE LIS THURSDAY 7TH MARCH 2024 8pm

Present:  Helen Scott, Chris Scott, Kendra Felisky, Janet Oppen, Jim Oppen, Iza Hales, Di and Colin Barber, Richard and Liz Heis

Apologies:  Lorna Belither, Jenny Mathur; Lesley Raymond, Andy Wallace, Tigger Neeves, Ali Shamash, Rob Swallow, Laurence Coleman, Imran Zuberi

Minutes of AGM March 2023 - Iza proposed; Kendra seconded - approved as a correct record of the meeting. 

Chair's Report

Leigh Tennis Club has had another successful year. Club nights on Tuesday and Thursday evenings have been well supported, our Ladies and Mixed teams have performed well in the Weald League and our social events have been hugely enjoyable.

Our subscription rates remain very competitive when compared to other clubs in our area and our courts and clubhouse are in good condition. 

Our financial position is healthy but we do need to maintain our reserves for future resurfacing work and to ensure that we cover our annual operating costs. With that in mind we have decided to raise subscriptions for 2024/2025 in line with the Consumer Prices Index (approx. 4%).

We currently have 171 members in total. 103 adult members, 52 junior members and 16 social members.

In our 40th anniversary year we are planning a membership drive to boost our numbers and raise our profile within the village.

We have also hired the marquee on the Green on Saturday 7th September for a 40th anniversary Band Night Bash. The event will be open to the wider community but priority booking will be made available to our members.   We will be looking at hiring food vans for the evening so that committee members can have a rest from the catering.  A band has been booked for the evening as well. It would be great to get some club photos from years gone by, as well as inviting past committee and members for a real celebration.  A sub committee will be formed to co-ordinate this event.

Membership

Chris Scott kindly agreed to take over the role of membership secretary this time last year and we are very grateful to him for the work he has done moving the Club over to a new LTA/Clubspark membership and on line payments system.

At last year’s AGM we agreed that family membership should be open to adults and their “children” under the age of 25.

Any regular playing members, over the age of 25, are expected to pay full adult subs unless they are students, or are in receipt of income support.

Our Club rules allow paid up members to play with visitors up to 3 times a year. If visitors are likely to want to use the courts more often than this then we would expect them to join the Club as members.         

Courts and grounds

The path leading across the school playing fields to the courts was upgraded last May and has significantly improved access to the Club.

The court surfaces are holding up well and at the moment we think we will be able to defer resurfacing the courts until late Autumn/early Winter 2024. When we do this work we will replace the court netting at the same time and carry out routine maintenance work to the floodlights. We have sufficient reserves to carry out this work.

Thanks once again to Judi Bishop who does a great job keeping the Clubhouse clean and tidy.

Playing matters

Adam Harrison continues to offer adult coaching on Monday mornings and junior coaching on Wednesday afternoons/evening. Adam coaches the Leigh Primary school children on Tuesday afternoons.

We have also recruited a new coach, Ian Chapman, who is able to help with individual coaching. 

Teams

Our match secretary, Ali Shamash, works tirelessly organising our teams and fixtures and without her work behind the scenes and her prowess on the court our mixed and ladies teams would not have enjoyed the success that they have.

Summer 23 

Ladies played in Division 2 - Finished 3rd out of 7 so will stay in Div 2 next Summer

Mixed played in Division 4 - Finished 1st so will be in Division 3 next Summer

Winter 23/24

Ladies moved from Kent league to Weald league for the Winter which meant we started in Division 5.  We have won all our matches to date with one more to play so will move to Division 4 next Winter.

Mixed are playing in Division 3 - Won 1 and lost 3 so far with one more to play so will move to Division 4 next Winter.

Club nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays continue to be well attended and for those new to the Club these evenings are a good opportunity to meet other members and play some very informal, friendly tennis. If you are interested in joining the Club night What’s App group message Imran Zuberi on 07803 172990 and he will add you to the group.   

Social

We held a very successful safari supper in June and hosted our traditional cocktail party in December.

A great deal of work goes on behind the scenes preparing and then running these events and we owe a particular debt of gratitude to Janet Oppen, Laurance Coleman and Tigger Neeves.

I am hugely grateful to all on the Committee for all they do to help run Leigh Tennis Club and to organise the various activities we host each year. Kendra Felisky does a brilliant job as our Treasurer and Iza, as our Secretary, produces minutes of our meetings with exemplary efficiency.   

If any of our newer members would like to join the Committee we would love to have you on board.   

Financial Report

Copies of the Annual accounts were circulated to those present at the meeting.

(A PDF copy is available to all members on request) 

Kendra reported subs for last year were down by almost £2,000. This was due in part to the restructuring of membership categories but also to a squeeze on family budgets. Coaching income was also down by £2,500. 

Our major expenditure for the year at over £8,500 was the new path leading from the gate up to the clubhouse.  

There was some discussion about the Club lease, which is due to expire in 2030. We discussed whether KCC should be approached now. On balance, however, it was felt that it would probably be to our advantage to keep our heads down and leave it until 2028. The Tennis Club is clearly an important village amenity and is used throughout the year for the benefit of the school and our members. Future plans for the school playing field and tennis club area are not known, although the local education authority own both plots.

KCC may be only too happy to grant a new lease to us with a new rent for the next period. There is always a risk however that they could elect to terminate it, or take back the strip of land from Hollow Trees Drive into the main field, in which case we would have to turn the courts around again to fit them in. 

Given the lack of certainty in relation to the lease it was agreed that we should defer any decision about resurfacing (estimated cost £40,000/£50,000) until a new lease has been secured.

Four Seasons (Adam Moon) has provided a quote for cleaning, re painting and redoing the perimeter fencing for around £12,500. This work should keep the courts up to playing standard for at least the next 6/7 years. 

The Committee are to decide whether this needs to be done this year in August. This is the best time of year to repaint and is a quiet time to do the works as many people are away on holiday. The work may take up to 4 weeks. 

The floodlights also need some maintenance work - repainting, cleaning, replacing bulbs with LED's etc - this would ideally be done at the same time.

We will have to let the members know well beforehand that the courts will be out of use for a few weeks, but it was felt that this shouldn't be a problem. 

In addition to the school using the courts, it is important that we carry on a strong programme of coaching for all ages and continue to encourage member participation at Clubnights. This will further strengthen any future negotiations with KCC.    

Accounts were proposed by Liz and seconded by Janet. The accounts were approved.

Re election of Committee

No one had indicated that they wished to stand down from the committee but no one new had offered to join this year.  We have a good committee of 10 

Helen, Chair,

Kendra, Treasurer

Chris, Membership Secretary,

Iza Club, Secretary,

Ali, Match co-ordinator,

Imran, tournament organiser

Jim and Janet Oppen, Laurence and Tigger to help at social events. 

Helen stood down from the chair and Liz proposed the committee be re elected for another year. Di seconded and Colin and Richard agreed. 

Membership and subscription renewals

Chris's reported that our last increase in annual subs was 2013 and given the increased cost of running the Club, it was decided to put our subs up by 4% which means:   

Subs for 2024/2025

Senior             £  84 to 88

Family             £184 to 193

Junior              £  37 to 39

Social              £  15 to 16

This increase will help address some of the deficit we suffered last year but still keep our Club subs very competitive.  

Liz proposed the new rates, Janet seconded. Agreed. 

Chris will issue new membership forms for 2024/25 in a couple of weeks time. 

Any Other Business

Liz said it is great to see the club nights so well attended on Tuesdays, and Thursday evenings - even with the atrocious recent weather.  There are usually a minimum of 8-12 players each week.  

Signs -  This item has been on the agenda for over 30 years now with various bodies being opposed to having any signs affixed to their walls etc so it has never happened.  The website does have good directions and most people only have to ask. 

It was agreed that we should put a sign on the gate leading up to the courts as they are not really visible from the gate. HELEN agreed to ask the school for their permission to do this.  

 

THE MEETING CLOSED 8.45PM