MINUTES OF FROME SELWOOD TENNIS CLUB AGM TUESDAY 10 th JANUARY 2017 HELD AT THE RUGBY CLUB Apologies: Paul Sherrin, Eve Berry, Lucian Bujor, Carol Chaventre, Tony Chaventre, Ros Bean, Mary Clark. Present : John Price, Linda Perry, Alan Fowler, Chris Matthews, Mark Poole, Bill Bean, Rachel Blacklidge, Geoff Smith, Victoria Barwell, Henry King, Tim Bilham, Laura Murray, Alex Kershaw-Moore, Mark Brierley, Mark Beasley, Thelma Hand, Jean Plaskitt, Keith Falconer, Paul Godwin, Debbie Godwin, Adrian Green, Lyn Green, Martine Saunders, Veronica Price, Martine Saunders. Agenda Item 2- Minutes of Last AGM There were no changes or comments about the last year s minutes. Agenda Item 3 Matters Arising None. Agenda Item 4 Treasurers Report, Subscriptions and Match Fees for 2015 Alan Fowler presented his treasurer s report on the understanding that the figures are subject to being reviewed by Mr Andrew Liggatt. The report was proposed for acceptance (subject to no major issues being found by audit of Mr Liggatt) by Henry King and seconded by Veronica Price and carried unanimously. The Committee debated subscription rates at their meeting in December. The committee wanted to recommend a 3.5% increase in membership fees due to uncertain economic conditions ahead and forecasts of inflation running at about 3.5% over the next year. So the rates will be: Full - 155 (was 150) Couple - 285 (was 275) Family - 310 (was 300) Student - 62 (was 60) Junior - 31 (was 30) Restricted - 83 (was 80) Parent - 42 (was 40) Social - 18 (unchanged) Visitors fee - 5 (unchanged) This was proposed by Henry King and seconded by Paul Godwin. This was unanimously agreed and so there will a 3.5% increase. On match fees, whilst the cost of balls goes up a little year by year, on the other hand there will be some saving from not having to hire courts once the new park courts are open. So the committee propose that the match fee of 3 will stay the same this year, as they have been for the past many years. This was proposed by Keith Falconer and seconded by Henry King. This was unanimously accepted.
Agenda Item 5 To confirm that the auditor (Mr Andrew Liggatt) shall remain in office Andrew Liggatt is happy to remain as auditor. This was proposed by Alan Fowler and seconded by Veronica Price. This was a unanimous decision. Agenda Item 6 - Junior Report Chris Matthews shared his juniors report. Agenda Item 7 - Consideration of a proposed revision to the Club Rules (Constitution) to: a. Create a Membership Package for the case where one parent and his or her children wish to join. The Committee proposed the introduction of a One Parent Membership Package to sit alongside Family Membership (2 adults and any children in full time education) and Couple Membership. One parent Membership Package is open to single parent families and two parent families where only one parent wishes to join. This is reflected by changes to Clause 5.4. The Committee proposed that the package should be priced at 180. It is not anticipated that there will be not be a big take-up of this category. This was proposed by Adrian Green and seconded by Veronica Price. This was a unanimous decision. b. To introduce a reduced membership charge for those who are on state benefits and have a low income. The Committee would like propose the introduction of a concession to allow a 50% discount for those with low incomes and who are on state benefits. Evidence will have to be produced that a benefit is being received. This was proposed by Henry King and seconded by Lyn Green. This was a unanimous decision. Paul Godwin offered to look at the wording around receiving state benefits to qualify for this. ACTION: John Price to send Paul Godwin a copy of the wording for this one parent package criteria for comments. c. To add a Safeguarding Officer Role to the Committee The current Safeguarding Officer has recommended that the Safeguarding Officer should be a Committee position and the Committee proposed this. This will ensure that the Committee always acts in the light of Safeguarding advice. This was proposed by Paul Godwin and seconded by Henry King. This was a unanimous decision. Chris Matthews requested the person who takes up this role does not have a child who is currently receiving tennis coaching at FSTC in order to be objective. It was appreciated this was a valid point as long as parents and children were aware of who is the future Safeguarding Officer, how to contact them and for the Safeguarding Officer to have a presence at committee meetings, coaching and tournaments. Agenda Item 8 Chairman s Report
John Price presented his report and this will be put on the club website for future reference. John Price reported that the club has had a very successful year both on and off the court. Firstly the results of the tournaments in the club were shared: Chippenham & District League This year FSTC again entered the summer leagues with (3 men s, 3 ladies and 3 mixed league teams), which is good for a club of our size. On the whole the A Teams did better than the B and C Teams Ladies The Ladies A Team captained by Victoria Barwell finished a very creditable second in Division 2 winning 8 of their 12 games and only 7½ points behind the winners Devizes. The Ladies B Team captained by Jane Renno and Donna West finished 6 th in Division 3 The Ladies C Team captained by Vicky Savage and Justine Weyman finished 5 th in Division 5. Mixed The Mixed A Team captained by Jamie Waldron were second in Division 1 having won 8 out of their 12 games. The Mixed B Team captained by Phil Ascott finished 5 th in Division 4. The Mixed C Team captained by Eve Bateman finished 6 th in Division 5. Men s The Men s A Team captained by Jamie Waldron were 3 rd in the First Division having won 9 out of 12 of their matches equal to the winners (Devizes A). The Men s B Team captained by Marc Waller did very well in Division 4 ending up second only 1½ points behind Marshfield B but having won more matches. The Men s C Team was captained by John Price and finished 8 th in Division 6 having won 3 of their matches. John Price wishes to step down this year. Knockout Teams Frome A won through to Round 2 by virtue of a bye and lost next round with a walkover. Frome B lost to Bath in the first round and in the Plate got through to the semi-final by successfully negotiating a Bye to be beaten in that semi-final by Bloomfield. The Over 50s K/O Team did not progress beyond the Preliminary Round where they lost by a walkover to Trowbridge. It was noted that is appears difficult to turn out teams in these Knock Out events over the last few years. Winter Leagues
Our Winter League Team captained by Linda Perry and are holding their own by one win, one draw and one loss. John Price thanked all of the Captains on behalf of all of the people who play in these teams, stating he appreciated it can be a thankless task, but necessary task chasing people to play. A Summary of Achievements During the Year At the beginning of the year, the Committee started off with an Action Plan. And this year most of these targets were achieved. Development of Facilities. We successfully introduced into service three new courts for use by the club and the public. The Courts perform well and I think everyone is pleased with them. The LTA funded an on-line booking and access system which after some teething problems is working well. It is one of the first of its kind and enables members to book the courts for free and the public to pay 5 per hour on line. Free Tennis for the Public. In partnership with the Town Council, after the Summer Leagues are over, a scheme of free tennis for the public was introduced, where the public gate was latched open. This was totally funded by the Town Council and provided free tennis for the public on Monday, Wednesday, Friday evenings and Saturday and Sundays from 4pm onwards. This is very important to the Club as the 2,000 paid by the Town Council to the Club is a significant contribution toward the annual sinking fund necessary to maintain the courts for the long term future. Park Single Tennis League. The addition of the new courts opened the possibility of competition with non club-members. We were approached by the LTA about running a singles league based in the park. Oliver Leatham kindly took this on. Games are normally played on the park courts with the cost being shared. It is important that if the club members book a community court or club court for this purpose that a guest fee is paid in the club house and the fee recorded in the book. The league is now starting to flourish with three divisions of the league now running. Oliver Leatham was congratulated for getting this going. Provision of Broadband. The Court Booking and Access System needs to be connected to the internet and this was originally done by a 3G Router in our clubhouse. We were advised that the system would be more reliable if the connection was done via BT ADSL Broadband. Although expensive (due to the need for two poles to carry the cable from Somerset Road) we decided to press ahead with this as it would provide the additional benefit of WiFi Access for our members. We were fortunate to have gained a grant for becoming a Smoke-free club and this funded about half or the 1,500 costs. Club Web Site. The committee asked Mary Clark to review the Club Web Site. Its my belief that, generally, the web site is fit for purpose and this tends to be confirmed by the survey result where 32% thought that the site was completely adequate, 51% thought that it was mostly adequate, 14% not really adequate, and 1 thought it completely inadequate. We are continuing to work on this and will probably concentrate on correcting out of date information rather than major structural changes. One thing that we have done already is to set up a page where members can get access to the Minutes of Committee Meetings, Minutes of AMMs and the Club s Annual Accounts. This will be the permanent record of the management of our club. Mary Clark was thanked for her work on this.
Social Media. We have tried to become more active on Social Media. The Club has a Facebook Account and Twitter Account and these are operated by Fiona Puleston was thanked for taking the lead on this. There is also a closed tennis club Facebook group for news that is of particular interest to club members. It would be good if more members could join this. Survey of Club Members. Having completed the work on the new facilities we conducted a survey of Club Members. The main findings of this were that 73% of members would like a new clubhouse, 47% would like to see better lighting on the drive to the courts, followed by 43 % who would like to see floodlighting on the new courts. We are starting to pursue the clubhouse and lighting on the drive initiatives, to be discussed a little later. Great British Tennis Weekend Open Days. This year we held two Great British Tennis Weekend Open Days on the 15 th May and 17 th July. These were well attended with 80 and 53 visitors respectively. We have gained several new members since we started holding these in 2014. They are a focus for the club to get together and are our main source of recruitment. Many people help on these days who should be thanked, and I would especially like to thank Geoff Smith for organising these events and Lucian for being Master of Ceremonies on the BBQ. It was hoped the club members would continue to support next year s open days which will be on Sunday 14 th May and Sunday 23 rd July. Social Events. Two social events were held during the year. There was a summer BBQ which was very successful. Last month there was the End of Season Presentation Evening and Disco here at the Rugby Club which in the end was well-attended and enjoyed by everyone and a great success. Mark Poole and Alex Kershaw-Moore were thanked for organising this so well. Annual Club Tournament. These were again held very successfully by Lucian Bujor and attracted a very good number and standard of entrants. Lucian solved the problem of the Honours Board running out of space by just re-writing it in small lettering! Lucian was thanked for all he has done for the club this year, including Master of BBQing, Tournament Organiser and of course Ball Meister! Club Maintenance. The clubhouse was repainted and commissioned repairs to the roof which is leaking. The broken slabs on the drive were replaced whilst the raised ones were reset. (The Bowls Club paid for 50% of this). Bill Bean has been keeping the club in good shape with various minor repairs. Bill was thanked for this. It was noted the club and Bill could do with some more help and a plea was made for other club members to help with club maintenance, by letting Bill or John Price know. This would also will keep help membership fees down. The Committee s Plans for 2017 Construction of a New Clubhouse. The Clubhouse has a considerable charm, and is definitely superior to many clubs in the area. However, it does have shortcomings as perceived by the members in the survey. We have investigated the possibility of grants and loans and there is certainly likely to be money available over the next year or so. The possibility of funding will be greater if we make a joint application with another club, and we are looking at a couple of options: a stand-alone clubhouse on the current site; or a clubhouse / pavilion serving the tennis club and bowls club. We have had a very useful meeting with the bowls club and our
relationship is very good. They are reasonably positive to the idea within the limits of their membership numbers as long as we take the lead. The Committee have also listed the requirements that it would like to see in a new building. There will be a Working Group forming in the New Year and Mark Brierley has kindly agreed to work up a couple of design options. We also plan to visit clubs in the region to see examples of what other clubs have done. Lighting of the Drive to the Courts. We are talking to an electrician who has offered to come up with a scheme for some low level LED lighting up the drive. This will switch on automatically when anyone approaches from either end. A price is awaited for this. Visit by Murrhardt Tennis Club. For many years now regular exchange visits have taken place between Murrhardt Tennis Club and Frome. It is Murrhardt s turn to come to us next summer, and there will be 15 adults and 5 Juniors coming to visit us. The visit will be over the weekend of Thursday 15 th 18 th June. These visits are good fun and we are planning a tennis competition, a day visit to Bath and celebrations in the evening, possibly involving a ceilidh. There was a request that for those members not involved before to do so this year. Social Events. The committee are planning various social events throughout the year. Obviously there will be the normal social competitions, a quiz in February and a horse-racing evening later on in the year. Thanks to the Outgoing Committee John Price stressed the need to celebrate the fact that we were voted Somerset Tennis Club of the Year, which was a tremendous achievement which you have all had a part in. Also to thank the committee and other helpers for their work during the last year and in particular to thank: Mark Brierley who generously gave his time to help with the design and tendering of the new community courts, and also led the way in negotiating the coaching contract for the coming year. Alan Fowler who has been our Treasurer now for several years. This task takes some hours and never decreases. Also he only occasionally questions about expenses (like why we have purchased about 6 gate padlocks during the last year)! Henry King who has a good relationship with Eddy Watts and Victoria Barwell the Teams Representative on the Committee. Vicky Savage who is our Hospitality Officer who very kindly makes superb cakes and savoury food at absolutely no cost to the club. Callum Hill is our Junior Representative and listens with patience at our deliberations and provides his opinion where necessary. We are very lucky to have as a Junior Representative who is so mature and happy to serve on a committee. It was noted we appreciate Callum s contributions very much. Lindsey McLennan is our Press Officer she started this when Fynn was a member here but has kindly carried on this is a tremendous help to us Lindsey and she was thanked.
Rachel Blacklidge who represents our Trustees on the Committee. We have trustees because we own the land on which we sit, so the land has to be in the name of three trustees. Rachel provides a valuable historical insight into the background of the club. John Price also thanked Mary Clark and Martine Saunders for performing one of the most important jobs that of Membership Secretaries as the club certainly couldn t do without them. Also Tony and Carol Chaventre who send off our used tennis balls and obtain ten pence each for them (also Carol make a mean cake as well if requested). Chris Matthews for providing a reliable coaching service and solidly supporting the Committee by attending every meeting, and reducing John Price s workload enormously by not having to chase issues outside of the meeting. Agenda Item 9 Election of Officers (nominations received are on a separate sheet) for 2017 Firstly the Chairman needed to be elected. Linda Perry nominated John Price. This was proposed by Henry King and seconded by Rachel Blacklidge. This appointment was accepted unanimously and John Price was re- elected unopposed. John Price accepted this, but made the meeting aware this was his tenth year as Chairman and he made it clear that this will be his last as although he is very happy to continue on the Committee in a Club Development and Fundraising role, he felt it was time for new ideas and for someone new and younger. Almost all of the Committee was willing to stand again. Linda Perry has decided to step down this year as secretary. Mark Poole was joint Social Organiser in 2016 and this is now being taken on by Alex Kershaw-Moore who assisted Mark with this last year. Mark Poole has offered to stand as secretary. So, the following officers were nominated for the Committee for 2017: Mark Brierley (Vice-Chairman) Mark Poole (Secretary) Alan Fowler (Treasurer) Henry King (League Representative) Vicky Savage (Hospitality Organiser) Alex Kershaw-Moore (Social Organiser) Rachel Blacklidge (Trustees Representative) Victoria Barwell (Teams Representative) Lucian Bujor (Tournament Officer) Callum Hill (Junior Representative) Lindsey McLennan (Communications Officer) Bill Bean (Maintenance Officer) Geoff Smith (Marketing Officer) Only one nomination has been received for each post and the nominations were duly proposed and seconded, so these members were elected unopposed.
Agenda Item 10 - Teams for 2017 The Committee proposed that the same teams are run as last year. Three Men s Teams, three ladies and three mixed together with two knock out cup teams and a veterans knock out team. This was discussed and was agreed. Agenda Item 11 - Determination of Team Captains for 2017 (see separate sheet) Some positions remain vacant, waiting from replies from existing captains (the Men s first and second teams, the Mixed first, second and third teams, and the KO first and veterans team). Mark Beasley was nominated for the Men s third team, Victoria Barwell for the Ladies first team, Donna West and Jane Renno for the ladies second team, and Vicky savage and Justine Weyman for the ladies third team. Donna West was nominated for the KO second team. These were all proposed and seconded and so elected unopposed. ACTION: Victoria Barwell to email existing captains who have not responded with a deadline of 15 th January to reply to her to say whether they would like to continue to be captains. If no reply is received than this will be followed up with an email to all club members to fill the unfilled captaincies. Agenda Item 12 - AOB 1. There was a request for extra storage at the clubhouse as there is a lot of spare equipment, such as spare nets, the ball machine that are stored permanently in the changing rooms which make them extremely difficult and unpleasant to use. ACTION: This will be put on the agenda at the next committee meeting as in the long term a new clubhouse will address this but there may a need for an interim, lower cost solution eg buying an additional shed. 2. The maintenance fees have not increased, despite there being extra work (grass cutting around the edges of the new courts in the park). 3. There was clarity received about the 1 free month trial membership of the club of club sessions. After a month the people wanting to join should be referred to the membership secretaries- Martine Saunders and Mary Clark. 4. John Price was formally thanked for his enormous contribution to the smooth running of the club which has allowed the club to move forward and progress whilst maintaining its standards