Wells Tennis Club Minutes - AGM 2019

Wednesday 27 February 2019 at 7.30pm

Wells Sports Club, The Athletic Ground, Rowdens Road, Wells

Present:

Ruth and Brian Clarke, Kim and Richard Hole, Brian and Tasha Smith, Vicky Flicker, Clare Mather, Dave Mills, Ruth Angelinetta, Dan Cooke, Frank Jenkins, Marcus Fisher, Di Lyons, Deborah Woolven-Orett, Colin Blatchford-Brown, Sue and Wolford Gillison, Liz Shelton, Sarah and Robert Powell, Lucy James, Sarah Montagnon, Binkie Heather, Caroline Moule, Kevin Durney, Matt Goatcher

Apologies: Linda Lester, Julia Nest

1. Chairman’s Welcome

Tasha Smith welcomed everybody to this year’s AGM.

2. Minutes of 2017 AGM

The Minutes were approved, proposed by Brian Clarke, seconded by Brian Smith and signed by Dan Cooke.

3. Matters Arising: None.

4. Chairman’s Report by Dan Cooke:

Dan reported that when he took over as Chairman, his 2 key themes were to offer value for money, good facilities and service to members. Floodlights are now working much better and courts are due to be repaired which should then give them an extra 2-4 years life. Coaching is strong and there are lots of opportunities for playing. Secondly, Opportunities for juniors – Coaching on offer is very good but there could be an improvement on the number who become members. Review of year – Mens’ A team won the league in division 1. We have an extra ladies’ team. Kevin’s coaching is excellent. We had successful Open Days with lots of publicity surrounding events thanks to Julia Walton. We were at the Wake Up to Wells Day. Maintenance is well done by Dave Mills and members like Brian Smith who contributes a lot. Relocation is going ahead with a potential £1M investment. We have a strong Committee – thanks to everyone who does a great job. Thanks to all members for their support.

5. Treasurer’s Report by Richard Hole

Copies of the Financial Statement for the year ended 31 December 2018 were circulated. Richard went through the main items of income and expenditure. Subscriptions are slightly down. We receive some extra income from court hire by Kevin and WCS. We currently have £45,000 in the bank, but there will be £15,000 approx for court repairs in April. Fees will be increased slightly, with the main change being a rise of £5 for visitors fees, which have remained unchanged for many years. Also the junior and intermediate category will be merged to become one junior category. Fees at other local clubs have been researched and although we are among the highest rates, we do offer free tennis balls and floodlighting. Thanks to Karl Tucker for auditing the accounts and to Richard for his hard work. Proposed by Brian Smith and Seconded by Brian Clarke.

6. Playing Report by Vicky Flicker – See attached report.

Thanks to Kevin and all helpers at Open Day. Thanks to Vicky for all her hard work in sorting the leagues and playing competitions and thanks to all the Team Captains for their efforts.

7. Coach’s Report by Kevin Durney

Kevin reported that it has been a good year and he is trying to get more non-members to join. Things have been good through the Summer, but we tend to lose some juniors in the Winter but hopefully they will return as the weather improves. He is continuing his links with local schools and more schools are keen to come for open days at the Club. County training has been rejuvenated and the hope is for Wells to be a hub for training. Kevin has been made U-10 County Performance Coach and has obtained his Masters Degree. Congratulations to Kevin. He is linking up with the Dinky-Active Coach who will come to Wells. We had a stall at the Wake Up To Wells Day. Our proposed junior competition dates organised by Dave Kirkman have been accepted by the LTA. Thanks to Caroline for all her excellent safeguarding work. Thanks to Kevin for all his hard work.

8. Development and Relocation Report by Dan Cooke

The proposed relocation to Haybridge with the Rugby Club has not moved on as fast as expected. The RFC have now chosen their preferred development partner and have accepted an offer on the land. The design team have drawn up an outline design. The Relocation team have met with the RFC and are awaiting the revised outline plans. They are in negotiations for Heads of Terms. A pre-contract rent of £5000 has been proposed to include all services, apart from floodlighting. We would require 6 top-spec courts with 4 artificial clay and 2 indoor hard courts. Indoor courts would be part of the phase 2 development if we go ahead. There is an option for a 7th court. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get first class facilities, including a new brick-built Clubhouse with outdoor viewing facility and access to a gym and the main Rugby Clubhouse facilities. The LTA would accept the project for match funding purposes. There will be a full weekend consultation once we have appropriate details and reach a more advanced stage, before a formal EGM to enable key decisions. Brian Smith queried order of development – DC confirmed new Clubhouse to be built before housing development. Clare Mather pointed out that there would need to be suitable space around the Indoor courts. DC confirmed there would be and that match funding would be matched to the relocation amount of £200,000. The Club would also need to look at funding sources, ie Viridor, Sport England. The RFC hope to submit their planning application in early Summer. RH said we should have a minimum of 5 outdoor courts. DC asked for a vote of Approval and all were in favour.

9. Election of Officers

This was voted enblock after DC explained that Colin BB was elected onto the Committee after the AGM last year as Vice Chairman. Proposed Wolford Gillison and Seconded by Brian Smith. Also a presentation was made to Ruth Clarke who is standing down after many years as Membership Secretary. Thanks to Ruth for her many years of service to the Club. Clare Mather is taking her place. Nominated Tasha Smith. Seconded Vicky Flicker. As there is no longer any Tennismark per se, Marcus Fisher is a Member without Portfolio, as is Matt Goatcher, who also wishes to be on the Committee. Proposed Dan Cooke, Seconded Marcus Fisher.

POSITION OFFICER

Chairman Dan Cooke

Vice Chairman Colin Blatchford-Brown

Treasurer Richard Hole

Secretary Kim Hole

Playing, League & Coaching Vicky Flicker

Marketing & Publicity Julia Walton

Maintenance Dave Mills

Social & Fundraising Ruth Angelinetta

Ladies Captain Julia Nest

Mens Captain Dave Mills

Membership Secretary Ruth Clarke