2009 Annual General Meeting

From Tennis

124th Annual General Meeting

Thursday 22nd October 2009

The Clubhouse, Weston Green Road

7.45 pm for 8.00 pm

The AGM is open to paid up Adult Members.

Contents 1 Notice of the 124th Annual General Meeting 2 Agenda 3 Minutes of the 123rd Annual General Meeting 4 Nominations for the Committee 4.1 Directors standing for re-election: 4.2 Vacancies on the Committee: 5 Vote By Proxy Form 6 Nomination Form

Notice of the 124th Annual General Meeting

20th September 2009

Dear Members

The Club’s AGM will take place at the Tennis Club on Thursday 22nd October 2009 at 7.45pm. The meeting is open to all paid-up adult Members.

The purpose of the AGM is to update members about the Club’s performance over the past year, as well as outline plans for the coming season. It is also your opportunity to stand for a committee position. There are two vacancies on the current committee and all committee positions are, as always, up for election. The Committee vacancies are:

• Vice Chairman
• Treasurer
• Junior Secretary

Please don't hesitate to talk to any recent committee member if you want to find out what any of these roles involve.

The Agenda, Minutes from last year, a list of all Directors standing for re-election, nomination forms and proxy voting forms are enclosed. The Club’s accounts for the financial year ended 30th April 2009 will also be presented at the AGM.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Jane Baller

Club Secretary

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of the 123rd Annual General Meeting
3. Chairman’s Report
4. TDLTC Accounts (year ended 30th April 2009)
5. Club Coach Report
6. Club Groundsman Report
7. Elect Club’s Directors/Committee Members for the year 2009/10
8. Founder Member’s Prize
9. Any Other Business

Minutes of the 123rd Annual General Meeting

Of Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club, held in the Clubhouse on Tuesday 21st October 2008

Present:

• Andrew Meatyard (Chairman)
• Martha Gordon (Secretary)
• Club and Committee members

1. Apologies for Absence: Apologies were received from Guy Philips (Membership Secretary), Mike Simpson (Ground Secretary) and Anne Simpson (House Secretary).
2. Approval of the Minutes: Brian Holmes pointed out that the minutes of the previous year’s AGM should include the discussion around the removal of the Club’s auditors and the concern of some members that this was inadvisable. The Secretary agreed to change the minutes to reflect this.
3. Report from the Club Chairman: The Club progressed well this year, but was sadly marred by the passing of one the Club’s stalwarts and most popular members, Shaun Freeman, Social Secretary. Shaun’s enthusiasm and commitment to the Club were matched only by his determination to see the Club succeed and to that end, the committee will continue his hard work.

   There were a good number of social events during the year – the Christmas and Summer parties, the successful Family Tournament, the American Tournaments which went very well, the 2 day Junior Tournament, which raised £500 for the Club as well as Finals Day, during which 10 finals were played, both adult and junior. The new format worked well and it was a great day.

   Membership was down on last year in spite of bringing the Open Day forward and changing the advertising. It is the Chairman’s intention, however, to increase membership by 10% each year starting 2009.

   The Club reports a surplus of £18,000 for year ending April 2008, an increase of £13,000 on the previous year. Next year, this is unlikely to be such a healthy figure, but rather than be pessimistic, the Chairman reminded us that we are on target for where we want to be by 2011. We have a good base membership and sound finances in place.

   The top 2 priorities for the committee are membership and facilities. Regarding facilities, planning permission for floodlighting on 3 courts was granted. This work has been costed at approximately £50,000. In May 2008, the Chairman approached both the LTA and Sport England for a grant or loan, though both responded negatively. The direction of Sport England is due to change soon, however, and he remains hopeful that this could make them much more likely to support the Club. It has also become clear that the LTA would view financial support for a Club much more favourably if they were accredited with the Clubmark award. To achieve this award, TDLTC would need to comply with the LTA’s standards on Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity, Child Protection Policy, Coaching and Club Management and to produce a report outlining our policies to support this. The Chairman is hoping to submit this before Christmas this year. Assuming this report is successful, an application for funds will immediately be made.

   One condition of the Clubmark Award is that TDLTC will need to actively promote British Tennis Membership (BTM). Members should be aware that from 2009, the Club’s allocation of Wimbledon tickets will be dependant on the number of members we have signed up for BTM. In addition, only BTM members will be eligible to receive tickets. The Chairman urged the membership to sign up to BTM as soon as possible, for Wimbledon tickets but especially to support our Clubmark application.

   There then followed a lengthy discussion about floodlighting and court surfaces and whether the committee felt it had chosen the right priorities in selecting floodlighting as the primary concern. Part of this concern was the slippiness of the hard courts and the safety concern that poses for members. The Chairman reminded the floor that members were approached with a survey in 2007 and asked directly what their priorities were. Following the results of this survey it was decided to actively progress with floodlighting. There is not enough money at this point to do everything and we must move forward with achieving something positive for the Club. The Chairman assured members that there has been no cutting back on spending on court surfaces and that the hard courts are due to be cleaned to make them less slippy (in fact this should already have been done). For future years, this should be done as soon as the grass season is ending.

   Three committee members will be stepping down this year and the Chairman thanked each of them for their contribution – Martha Gordon (Club Secretary), Guy Phillips (Membership Secretary) and Peter Newman (Vice Chairman). He also welcomed on to the committee the new Bar Secretary, Steve Banham, who joined the committee on 1st April 2008. Steve has been responsible for the new bar rota of volunteers, which has seen the bar go from strength to strength. Andrew urged any members reluctant to volunteer for the rota, to please put their names forward, as it is enjoyable and also helps the Club to move forward.

4. TCLTC Accounts: Club Treasurer, Gavin Wilson, gave a brief overview of the Club’s Accounts to end April 2008. The Club presented a surplus of £18,000 for the year, though it should be noted that the coming year will not record an increased income. We are down 15 full members from last year. He also presented a chart graphing the Club’s deposit account over the last 4 years – it is clear from this that our balance peaks in May-time, then ebbs away throughout the year. Steve Banham reported a profit from the Bar of £3,500 to date and hopefully of £4,000 by next April. These figures will appear in next year’s set of accounts.

   The committee was asked if it was happy with the mix of membership categories. Is the club losing out on revenue from the 22 – 30 group, as they pay substantially lower fee of £80. The Chairman explained that prior to the lower fee level there were 3 or 4 members in this category. It was decided to get some new blood in to the Club and there are now 11 members in this age group, with no financial loss.

   Advertising was also discussed – the committee spent £1.7K on advertising in 06/07 and got 48 new members, though these directly replaced the 48 who left that year. In the year 07/08 advertising was approx £1K and we had a drop in membership. The Chairman in not proposing an increase in advertising spend next year, however, but to look at the best places to spend that money.

   Tom Kelly has generously been overseeing the accounts this year.

5. Club Coach Report: Club Coach, Sunni Dimic, was not in attendance.
6. Club Groundsman Report: Graham Kimpton, Club Groundsman, reported the grass season as a bit of a washout due to the wet weather, though he did try to extend the season towards the end with the final day of play on 4th October. The later into Autumn you play, the shorter the window becomes to reseed the baselines. This year, however, he has used pre-germinated seed which should speed up the process. At times during the Summer, the lines were getting a bit faint. Unfortunately, as our courts undulate quite a bit, lining them tends to be more difficult. Additions to his team next year should mean that his staff are better able to do this. He is also happy to concentrate more on improving the state of the hard courts.
7. Elect Club’s Directors/Committee Members for the year 2008/09: The positions of Club Secretary, Social Secretary, Membership Secretary and Vice Chairman are vacant, though the Chairman pointed out that anyone can stand for any committee position and competition would be welcomed. No one opposed the incumbents, and the new committee members correctly proposed, seconded and voted in are:
   • Chairman: Andrew Meatyard
   • Deputy Chairman: Vacant, applications welcome
   • Club Secretary: Jane Baller
   • Treasurer: Gavin Wilson
   • Membership Secretary: Chris Lewis
   • Social Secretary: Irene McClean, with support*
   • Match Secretary: Graeme Boddy
   • Grounds Secretary: Mike Simpson
   • House Secretary: Anne Simpson
   • Information Secretary: Gavin Wilson
   • Junior Secretary: John Hutton-Attenborough
   • Bar Secretary: Steve Banham
     • 3 other members will assist Irene McLean with her duties, though this position only holds 1 voting position on the committee and only 1 set of Wimbledon tickets will be allocated to the position.

   Abbie Salisbury from the Junior Committee suggested that the would like a few more committee members from next Spring. She and John Hutton Attenborough are the only 2 on the committee and more input is required.

8. Draw for the Founder Member’s Prize: The annual Founder Member’s Prize Draw was won by Maurice and Joyce Grant.
9. Any Other Business:
   • Brian Holmes raised 2 maintenance issues. The top pavilion is in a dangerous state with a hole in the floorboards. The outside of the main clubhouse is also in need of treatment with wood preservative. The Chairman agreed to look at both issues urgently.
   • Veronica Whittall suggested that the Membership Secretary is present at the Open Weekend to renew memberships on the day. She also suggested an early payment incentive for members. The Chairman said that this would be up to the new Membership Secretary himself.
   • VW also suggested that the Club reintroduce the charging of match fees as it is useful revenue for the Club. The Chairman disagreed stating the difficult logistics of collecting the money and the relative low monetary value to the Club, however, this will be put on the agenda for a future committee meeting.
   • Peter Ellaway requested clarification on the allocation and prioritisation of courts for Winter. It is already in place for Summer and would be useful to have a Winter system publicly available. This is to appear as an agenda item for the next committee meeting.
   • Sophie Frame requested clarification on prioritisation or otherwise of ladder matches. This will also be discussed at the next committee meeting, though common sense should prevail in not organising the matches at set times.
   • Ros Holmes asked if we could get the board system up and running again. The board still exists and we will try and implement it again.
   • Belinda Powrie had submitted a question via email regarding a possible reciprocal arrangement between TDLTC and Colets Gym, as there would seem to be a fantastic opportunity geographically. Shaun Freeman was going to take this on, but unfortunately this has obviously had to be put on hold. This will be discussed at the next committee meeting.

Meeting closed 9.45pm.

Signed:

Andrew Meatyard

Chairman

Date _____________

Martha Gordon

Club Secretary

Date ____________

Nominations for the Committee

Your club is a Company limited by guarantee. It is run by volunteers who carry out a substantial range and volume of work and attend Club committee meetings. Each committee member is a Director of the company. Each year all the members stand down although they are eligible for re-election. Please find enclosed a nomination form for any adult club member willing to stand for election at the AGM and serve on the committee as a Club Director. The duties and responsibilities of Directors of the club are not onerous and do not involve any substantial financial risk; no special qualifications are required. However, the Club’s policy does require all Directors and club coaches to sign a Child Protection Declaration which allows criminal record checks to be carried out. Our insurance policy requires Directors to provide references.

The progress and development of the Club depends on the efforts of an effective committee. Members are encouraged to put themselves forward for any committee position where they feel they could contribute, even if a current committee member is seeking re-election for that position. Healthy competition will be welcomed. For further information, please contact Andrew Meatyard (Chairman) or any other member of the committee.

Directors standing for re-election:

• Andrew Meatyard (Chairman)
• Chris Lewis (Membership Secretary)
• Steve Banham (Bar Secretary)
• Gavin Wilson (Information Secretary)
• Graeme Boddy (Match Secretary)
• Jane Baller (Club Secretary)
• Irene McClean (Social Secretary)
• Bev Banham (House Secretary)
• Julia Francis (Ground Secretary)

Vacancies on the Committee:

• Vice Chairman
• Treasurer
• Junior Secretary

Vote By Proxy Form

For all Resolutions at the AGM on 22nd October 2009

I ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (full name)

being a fully paid up adult member of this club, appoint

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (full name)

to vote on my behalf at the AGM

Signature ……………………………………………………………………………………

Address ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please return the completed and signed form to the Secretary, Jane Baller, in the clubhouse postbox. Thank you.

Nomination Form

For Election to the Committee

Full Name ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Address ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Signature ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Proposed Position on Committee ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Name of Proposer ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Signature ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Name of Seconder ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Signature ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Date ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please return the completed and signed form to the Secretary, Jane Baller, in the clubhouse postbox