AGM Meeting Minutes

Chairman’s Report January 2024

In my first year as Nuneaton LTC Chair, 2023 was always going to be a year of consolidation for the tennis club, having made significant investment into courts 1 and 2. This investment was desperately needed, and we now have two of the best tennis courts in the country. This investment has limited what we could do in 2023, as we re-build our finances and sinking fund for future capital investments, but I am pleased to say that we will be proposing a significant amount is put into the sinking fund again this year. With regards to future investments, we see the next big projects to be:

• The remaining stop netting clubhouse and factory side, following the great work done along the Morris Drive side.
• LED Floodlights.
• Courts 3-5 maintenance/ investment as required.

All require significant investment, so we will be looking out for available funding to support doing these when we can afford to do so.

Away from the court, we’ve made a significant change in the club structure this year by becoming a registered charity. This means that Nuneaton Tennis Club is now a legal entity, and we will have ownership of our land and buildings. In the past the land has been held on our behalf in the names of a small number of trustees. This process is currently being concluded. It was important we reviewed this structure with the passing of one of our trustees. We reviewed all options and concluded that this was the best option moving forward. I’d like to place on record my thanks to all who have acted as trustees of the land over the years, and to Ken who has spent many hours leading us through this change.

On the coaching front, we have put in a one-year extension with i2c which runs to the end of December 2024. This is a shorter than usual contract which allows us to review all options available to us. The current contract had expired, and some issues has been raised by members, particularly regarding communication, so this short-term extension allowed us to have an open and honest discussion with Inspire and give them an opportunity to improve things in 2024. We continue to have quarterly reviews with them and are confident communication is better. We have also made our intentions clear that we plan to run a tender for coaching activities this year so that we can benchmark against what else is offered. I’d like to thank the coaches for their effort and enthusiasm over the past year.

2023 was a good year for our adult league teams, with the highlights being promotion for the Men’s 2nd team from Division 3, and the Men’s Rugby League team taking the title on the last set of the last match of the season. The Men’s 1st, 3rd and 4th teams and Mixed team all finished 3rd, so had really strong years. Unfortunately, the Ladies team were relegated following promotion in their first season after injury and availability issues. Having gone through many years without a ladies team, it’s great to see so many ladies enjoying league tennis. It’s also great to see so many people getting the opportunity to play in our 5th team. We continue to put many junior teams out and ran yet another successful Junior and Senior club championships. I’m sure you will agree, a really successful year.

As the membership report covers in more detail, at the last AGM we were asked to consider light inclusive membership. A sub-committee was formed to explore this and recommended a basis to proceed. We are putting forward a proposal today which incorporates light membership but also limits the potential inflationary increase vs. what it could have been considering fewer members this year and the cost-of-living crisis. I hope that what is proposed works for the vast majority and can help grow membership numbers again this year, using inclusive lights as an incentive.

As with most clubs of our size, we rely on the goodwill of members to support with club activities and tasks. This support helps keep membership fees down as we don’t have to pay others to do work. I would like to use this opportunity to thanks those who support with working parties and beyond, but also use it as an opportunity to ask for more support from the wider membership as we often see the same faces every time. If you have a skill or trade that would help with any of the above or see something around the club that could be improved that you could help with, please do let me know.

Finally, I’d like to thank the committee for their support over the past year. When I was asked to take on the role of Chair, I was delighted to agree subject to getting key vacancies on the committee filled. This was really important to me as my time is more limited now having 2 and a half year and 9-month old girls, I couldn’t take on any more workload. Malcolm agreed to join as Treasurer, and Lauren as Secretary for which I am really grateful. I also couldn’t have done it without Irene’s extensive support as Vice Chair and the wider committee. Lauren is stepping down as Secretary as injury has limited the amount of time she can spend down the club, and at the time of writing we have one nominee for Secretary for which I really appreciate. It is also great to see a few new people putting themselves forward for roles on the committee this year, and as always I invite more people to do so in the future if they can spare the time to support the club.

Wishing you all a healthy and successful 2024.

Ryan Forrest, Nuneaton LTC Chair

Treasurer’s Report (2023 Accounts) to Nuneaton Lawn Tennis Club AGM January 2024

This report is intended to be read alongside the figures outlined in the 2023 NLTC accounts spreadsheet, which provides a detailed breakdown of the accounts and compares them with the financial records of the previous year. Excluding the one-off impact of prior year crowd funding and payments made for the new courts in the financial year (FY) 2022 and FY2023 accounts, the club experienced a notable surplus of over £10,000 for 2023, a considerable improvement from the £4,464 surplus recorded in 2022.

For clarity, payment for the new courts was made via three instalments. The initial court deposit of £6,000 was paid from the business account in FY2022. Subsequently, £42,481 was paid from the Barclays sinking fund (leaving £40 in the sinking fund). A final payment of £15,605 was made in FY2023, again from the business account. As of the end of FY2023, the sinking fund balance stands at £40, and the cash position in the trading account is £16,326. The committee's goal is to replenish the sinking fund, facilitating future investments into the club for significant capital projects such as new stop netting and hard-court refurbishments.

The improved financial performance in 2023 is primarily attributed to reduced capital expenditure (excluding the courts), as there was a significant outlay of £8,700 in 2022 for the car park and shelter. In contrast, only £900 was spent on capital expenditure in 2023. Additionally, reduced electricity spending in 2023 resulted in savings of almost £900 compared to the previous year, despite unit rates increasing in 2023. However, as noted in Ken's membership report, a decline in membership numbers led to a reduction of £1,017 in membership income when comparing FY 2023 to FY 2022.

Apart from the final payment for the new courts, there were no significant exceptional payments in FY2023. Looking ahead, predicting how 2024 will compare to 2023 is challenging, especially in estimating 2024 membership income given the continued challenging economic environment. Moreover, electricity remains our largest annual cost, and both electricity usage and unit rate prices are unpredictable metrics. It is crucial to emphasize the importance of ensuring the floodlights are turned off when not in use. While no major expenditures are anticipated in 2024, there is always the risk of emergency repairs. I hope members of the club will continue offering their assistance whenever possible, as demonstrated when they recently came together to repair the downed stop netting. This team effort translates to significant cost savings, as it eliminates the need to allocate funds towards hiring contractors. Personally, I hope to see the club in a position to contribute at least £8,000 to the sinking fund each year, ideally moving towards £10,000.

The accounts will undergo independent examination before submission to the Charity Commission later in the year.

Malcolm Thomas

Treasurer, January 2024

Membership Secretary’s Report 2023

Unfortunately our membership has fallen by around 10% in 2023. This year we have 218 members, was 243 last year and 234 in 2021. We are seriously concerned about this drop and it goes against the growth trend we have experienced for the last 5 years.

At last year’s AGM we took an action to investigate if memberships could include floodlight usage. A sub-committee was organised to look at this with the outcome being a recommendation that floodlight usage should be included in the membership payments. To support this it was proposed to increase the membership payments by inflation plus 6.5% for the next 2 years. This would have led to increases of around 11% for the 2024/2025 membership fees.

However we need to take note of the 10% drop in memberships this year. Is this at least partially due to the level of our fees? We are very concerned that an increase as above might lead to a further drop in membership numbers. After considerable discussion and review of our costs (especially our energy costs) we have decided to limit the increase to 6.5% - which is around the current inflation rate. For 2024/2025 floodlight usage will still be included for all members. However we are now looking at this as an incentive to retain and increase our membership next year. We need to use this, and other measures, to increase our membership in 2024 and get us back into the growth pattern that we have had for the previous 5 years

Ken Key (January 2024)