Henley Tennis Club [‘HTC’] AGM 2020

 

Henley Tennis Club [‘HTC’] AGM 2020
Date:	03 December 2020 (late due to COVID restrictions)
Venue:	The Bird in Hand
Attendees:	Katy Bayly, Secretary Allen Levy, Social Secretary Colin Main, Chair Mike Pugsley, Treasurer John Tamplin, Facilities Manager Plus x members
Apologies
		Action

		Action
AGM Agenda   1.      Apologies for Absence 2.      Approval of 2019 Minutes of A.G.M. held on Previous Year 3.      Chairman's Report 4.      Secretary’s Report 5.      Treasurer’s Report 6.      Appointment of Auditor 7.      Constitution changes 8.      Election of Office Bearers (a)   Chairman (b)   Secretary (c)    Treasurer (d)   Etc. (e)   Ordinary Member   9.      A.O.C.B   9.1   Maintenance 9.2   Coaching 9.3   Health and Safety 9.4   COVID 9.5   Fees for 2021 9.6   Floodlight Update 9.7   Court Maintenance 9.8   Lease update 9.9   Team Updates   10.   Fees for 2021 11.   Floodlight Update 12.   Lease update 13.   AOB (Members questions( 14.   Closure
Apologies for Absence
Approval of 2019 Minutes of A.G.M. held on Previous Year   Proposed: ? Seconded: ?
Chairman’s report   Good evening and thank you to all who are attending.   This is the Chairman’s Report for 2019 / 2020.   Firstly, let me say a belated Happy New Year!!   And wishing for a much better one. The AGM was supposed to be in the first week of December, 2020. However, we decided to postpone as it was difficult to arrange due to COVID. We aim to have the AGM in January. I will write up the Chairman's report before then so that we can all have the information prior to any meeting. Look out for this in emails and on the Club web site. Overall, this has been quiet year on deliveries.   Our main focus has been on keeping the club compliant with COVID restrictions as well as keeping the courts and grounds up to a good standard, along with floodlight planning and lease changes.   As per last year, we are making steady progress, all be it, slow progress. It has been quite a year. I hope you have all managed to come through relatively unscathed. I would like to thank everyone for following the rules of tennis lockdown, even though sometimes the rules may not seem perfectly sensible. Amazingly the tennis club has been quite successful in attracting new members and keeping the courts open as much as possible. As usual we still do not have floodlights or a signed off version of a new lease. However, we do now have a flood light plan that is expected to pass planning. The planning decision was initially going to be in October, 2020. However, some hurdles we're put in our way which meant we had to have further surveys. All of this is now complete, and we will be seeking a decision from SODC in February. The new version of our lease with Henley College has been held up due to COVID and some misunderstandings. However, we are working our way through these and I hope for good news, also in January. The new version of the lease will enable us to invest further in the club with the security of a buy back clause that will compensate us adequately should it be invoked in the next 11 year's. The word from the college is that we should not worry about a buyback as the college are now pursuing use of the fields for sports. Contracts have been signed with rugby and football clubs and also with the England Ladies U20 rugby to use the fields I would like to thank all the Committee for their support over the past year. We have so much more to achieve in 2021. I would also like to thank Tom, our Head Coach. It has been a difficult time to be a coach over this year. Tom keeps extremely positive and has still managed to keep junior course and camps, and adult coaching going in these trying times with all the limitations that COVID brings. Tom has also published some incredible free offers from Tom. I do believe that these are exceptional offers and I hope you will support Tom over the next year. The current membership of approximately 335 is roughly 100 more than last year. We now have a strong core of members. Tennis in a covid has been very popular and one of the few sports to remain relatively unaffected. We will be working hard to retain all new members who have joined us because of covid. When the lights are installed I expect another influx of members.   I believe the club finances are strong as we had very little expenditure over the last year. Future projects will affect our balance. However, we do intend to apply for a couple of £25,000 interest free loan to help with the large expenditure we are planning over the coming year’s.   Coach Fees to the club were suspended due to COVID as the Committee felt it was not appropriate to take fees while the Club Coaches have been severely reduced.   On the flip side of this, we did open the courts to Bisham Abbey coaches, while their club was under lock down, and arranged a small fee for use of the courts. We had the pleasure of seeing some incredible tennis players in action. These fees incredibly more than covered the loss of fees from our own coaches.   As per last year, the next membership year we aim to have completed the sign off of the new version of the lease and installed floodlights on a minimum of the bottom two courts, Courts 1 and 2.   We also have plans for the following –   1.       Removal of a tree in the car park that is affecting the ground of court 1. 2.       A new ball machine. 3.       Courts 1 and 2 are starting to look a little tired and require re-surfacing.   I did propose that should we fail to have the lease and floodlights completed by end of 2021 then I would be quite happy to step down. However, even though these two items are still outstanding I do feel confident that the two goals are now within touching distance. As such I will remain as Chairman.  However, I am quite prepared to step down if it is felt that we have not achieved.   Unfortunately, we were not able to run the club championships this year due to the unpredictable nature of opening and closing the club. We will run the chapionships this year. I would like to think that Rob Dickie, Jeremy Wright and Max Miles Thomas will be looking after the Club Championships again this year.   Ladies and Mens Team matches have also been disrupted. We are making great progress in this area. organisational, more available players, and successful winning teams. Thank you all involved in this area.   I would like to thank the following people who help run our club –   1.       All of the committee for their work and attendance at meetings 2.       Thanks to the team Captains for looking after our competitive sides, Jeremy Wright, Jess Craig, Agnes Ruusmann, Hussein Abdulaahi, Levi McAndew Brown. 3.       Thanks to our new Head Coach who has increased the number of members having coaching, increased the number of courses on offer, offering free coaching and charity fund donation, as well working with the committee behind the scenes on various projects and initiatives.   I apologise if I have missed anyone.   As usual we are open to having more people active on the committee and very open to any feedback or new ideas and proposals.   Please do get in touch.   That concludes the end of year report.   Thank you all.
Secretary’s Report   None submitted.
Finances – Mike Pugsley   These are the Club Accounts for 2021, click here   The main feature is the successive rise in subscription income for the 3rd year in a row, despite lockdown, to £14,308. This mainly accounts for the £,5251 excess of income over expenditure which in turn comes through for a healthy final bank balance of £52,629. Expenditure in 2019/2020 is a bit of a hotch potch. The large increase in tennis balls, etc reflects a major re-equipment of the juniors stock, with appropriation of balls, nets etc. In contrast, the nil entries for affiliation fees and water are down to the LTA’s kind waiver of payment due to the lengthy lockdown and our continuing credit with Castle Water, respectively. Finally, although the responsible officers duly paid the required league fees and insurance premium, the invoices were not presented in time for the 2019/2020 accounts.   Approval of Accounts: Proposed: ? Seconded: ?
Appointment of Auditor   We are still trying to resource an auditor.
Constitution changes   None proposed.
Re:Election of Office Bearers   (f)     Chairnan – Colin Main (g)   Secretary – Katy Bayly (h)   Treasurer – Mike Pugsley   Approval of: Proposed: ? Seconded: ?
A.O.C.B 9.1  Maintenance – John Tamplin   1.       Clearance of 2 meters of shrubs and trees along courts 3, 4, 5.  This will help with leaf fall on to those courts. 2.       Courts 1 and 2 jet washed and weed and moss treated 3.       Holes filled on the practice wall court area.
A.O.C.B 9.2  Coaching – Tom Scott Firstly, I have never been to a club as welcoming as Henley and wish to thank everyone for the support since starting in August. It has been a rollercoaster 5 months however, throughout the pandemic the programme has remained strong and I believe is in a good place for when we come out of Lockdown 3.0 All group lessons have been kept to a ratio of 6 per court which is considerably lower than the LTA and Government guidance. Adult Programme Current active group members – 36 Monday Team Night - The group was created with Team Captain Jeremy and begun in September running through to Mid-October before losing the evening light after half term.  Initially, 3 participants signed up. However, within 3 weeks, numbers grew to a consistent 8 and on occasions 10. Club Night classes - Set up to run along side the club nights Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for those less confident to join in.  All sessions proved very popular but, unfortunately, with the loss of light Tuesday and Thursday sessions have paused whilst the Sunday morning has continued to grow to the point where there is now a waiting list. Mid-week mornings - Initially there were 2 groups offered on Monday and Wednesday mornings.  However, without much of a take up and struggling numbers Monday has been removed from the programme.  Although a group was lost, a new group was created in the shape of a Thursday morning which has proved to be very popular with regular weekly numbers of 8+ 2021 - I look to get the programme up and running with consistency before adding any new sessions.  I hope we will be back in some shape by February half term (15th February) or as soon as possible after that.  The LTA as well as other National Governing bodies are working hard with a lot of lobbying to get sport running again as soon as possible. As evenings become longer the Monday team night and the mid-week Club nights will return.  With the Men’s Team Practice proving popular I wish to introduce a Ladies Team Practice with the intention to grow and improve our ladies teams As the year develops and depending on Covid-19 I look to introduce ‘Cardio Tennis’ which is a high energy group fitness session which combines music and tennis with cardiovascular exercise.  So instead of focusing on technique and tactics this will get your heart rate up, burn lots of calories and hit loads of balls to give you a great workout.   Juniors Current active group members – 53 Two Junior programmes are offered Summer and Winter this is due to the lack of daylight hours in the winter.  The Summer programme offers groups after school in the week as well as the weekend and the winter programme is restricted to the weekend and one after school session per day. All children have developed and will be re-visiting much of what was learnt prior to lockdown before introducing more match play. Groups - Mini Red (5-7) Sundays have seen regular high numbers with Saturday morning and weekdays being a little quieter.  Mini Orange (8-9) There are several individual groups either privately arranged or as part of the programme.  All based around other sports in the area. The numbers across the board have been good and numbers are growing. Green & Teens (10+) Saturdays have unfortunately been a non-starter however Sunday afternoon has proved very popular with 12 children across two courts and Thursday evenings also in high demand. Holiday Camps - The first offering was the 3 weeks of summer camps a minimum of 6 children per day was achieved and provided a platform for the term time programme.  October half term was also successful even in the wet weather!! Two days delivered during Christmas holiday which also had a great up take. The next camp will be February half term (if out of National Lockdown) followed by Easter. 2021 - As the daylight becomes longer and with the prospect of floodlights being in place for winter 2021 the club will be able to offer a coaching programme with after school coaching in the week as well as the weekends all year round without any changes. Juniors (and adults) will be based at the club for the entire year without having to go to other clubs in the area.  This will result in the programme growing and for the first time a performance program will be introduced.  I am very excited to be able to develop and deliver such a programme which I target County representation from Henley Tennis Club ideally within 18 months of it starting and subject to any further Lockdowns. To coincide with the performance offering I will be running Youth Strength and Conditioning either as part of the programme in sessions and/or as an extra.  I am currently studying for this and once qualified it will be included. Exciting projects Charity - Nomad Henley have been using courts during off peak times.  We are in discussions to hopefully offer coaching and/or tennis leaders courses.  The time frame for this is likely March or later in the year. As we know many charities have been hit hard during the pandemic and off the back of this the Hit4Henley Fundraiser has been developed.  The fundraiser offers 1-2-1 lessons for all Adult club members as well as Tennis Leaders courses, all payments are made by way of a donation.  Within 48 hours of the fundraiser starting £400 has been raised and amazingly the figure has been increasing during this National Lockdown.  The Tennis Leaders course will run at the first opportunity and the 1-2-1 lessons will be rebooked and the initiative will take bookings for 1 month from when the club reopens.  I want to thank everyone for their generosity and hope this can be an annual event. Schools - After completing training for the New LTA Youth programme, I can offer LTA programmes to Schools.  With LTA funding for lessons as well as training for one staff member we are looking to deliver tennis to all local schools.  If anyone would like Tennis to be offered free of charge in your child’s school please speak to the Headteacher to get in touch info@mysportspro.co.uk. Coach Development Completed training to deliver the new LTA Youth Programme. Mentioned above currently taking a Youth Strength and Conditioning course completion date end 2021. As a coach I am always looking to improve and grow.  Once restrictions allow and LTA courses start running again I will hope to apply to do the LTA Master Club Coach (Level 5).  This is the highest level in the LTA coaching system, which takes between 1-2 years to complete and there are only 70 coaches in the country! This is an exciting time to be at Henley Tennis Club and I count myself fortunate to be involved in the development. Tom Scott Head Coach – Henley Tennis Club Director – My Sports Pro
A.O.C.B 9.3 Health and Safety   New specific role: Claire Smith The following actions have been taken to make our club safe and healthy. ·       Installation of a defibrillator ·       Installation of hand sanitisers around the club ·       Put up NHS COVID Sign In Poster ·       Club House use patrolled and still being cleaned ready for opening. ·       Checked and Restocked First Aid kit
A.O.C.B 9.4  COVID19   A difficult year for members play time, the teams, the committee and especially the coaches who have had their income severely disrupted.   I would encourage you to support the coaches by booking in for lessons or maybe buying birthday coaching lessons, as soon as we are open and play can continue.   Amazingly, as far as I am aware, we have remained relatively free of members catching covid. However, I do know a few people who have and I believe they are recovering or have recovered.   If anyone has any other news on members who have been less fortunate then I would like to be made aware so that we can reach out.   Overall, I would like to thank the members for their patience while we keep open and shutting the courts.
A.O.C.B 9.5  Membership Fees 2021 /2022– Col Main   Now being looked after by CM   It is proposed that the club membership fees remain the same as of 2020/2019   These are still the smallest fees in the area. Peppard is £165, Family is £310, Juniors are £55.                                                                                    2020/2021 5 and under                                                               £20 18 and under                                                            £35 Student 25 and under, in full time education    £35 Adult                                                                          £75 Family                                                                        £165 Henley College Staff Discounted                          £60   Approval of Fees Proposed: ? Seconded: ?
A.O.C.B 9.6 Floodlights – Col Main   ·       SODC decision date postponed due to further pre planning environment and floodlight reporting requirements. But will be asking for anew decision date in early February, 2021. ·       Lee West employed as a professional consultant to help with planning prep and to produce a floodlight proposal that will most probably be approved by SODC ·       Flood light costs will be around 25,000 for courts 1 and 2. ·       Pre-planning costs are approximately ·       We will be arranging an interest free Lta loan of 25,000 ·       Meeting with Henley Town Council to show that we have now complied with all SODC requests. And to gain their approval. ·       Successful planning application decision would then potential mean we could have lights installed within 6 weeks.
A.O.C.B 9.7  Court Maintenance.   Courts 1 and 2 have been cleaned but this has severely removed paint. The courts do need painting, but this will not happen while we are pursuing floodlights and resurfacing options. The courts will probably need resurfacing next year. Depending on funds available this will happen pate 2021. First thoughts are to lay clay / artificial clay to allow more use. Clay courts ado not have problems with frost. Members feedback welcome.
A.O.C.B 9.8  Lease – Col Main   Security of longevity on site can not be guaranteed. Buyback can be invoked in 2022. However, the current situation is more positive than most years due to the college now actively pursuing use of the fields for sports. Renegotiation of the buy back is on going, as you all know by now, we have proposed an increase and no reduction to allow us security of investment in the courts.   N.B. Update 10th March, 2021. I have received agreement from the college that the buy back will be increased to £67,500 and remain at that figure until the end of the lease in 2033. We now have ongoing financial security to spend and improve at the club.
A.O.C.B 9.9  Teams – Jeremy Wright – Team Captain   The Ladies and Men’s teams are now very well sourced. Although we could probably do with a bigger pool of Ladies to choose from.   The Ladies are continuing to improve results year on year. Our captains, Agnes Russman and Jess Craig are to be congratulated for the improvement and organisation.   The mens team pool is now very well established. This means that we are always able to field teams and this is leading to success in the leagues. Competition for places is a strong as it ever has been.   We did win Oxon Div 3 winter 2020, and we did complete it in August 2020.   That was winning the league and promoted 2 years in a row...   We had 3 teams in the Berks winter league 2020, but were unable to complete the leagues   When league matches were suspended in 2020, the Men’s A team were top of Div 2.
13. AOB (Members questions
14. Closure   Thank you all for coming.   We look forward to another successful year.