Chestnut End
Halton Village
Nr Aylesbury
Bucks HP22 5PD
Tel : 01296 623453
HVLTC
www.haltontennis.co.uk
haltontennis@btinternet.com
06 February 2016
Dear Member
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
I would like to start my report this year with a ‘thank you’ to the many people who have given
their time and expertise to help run & improve our club. The Club committees (Main & Playing)
together with the many enthusiastic members who have volunteered their support and time,
(especially those who do the Mix Ins at Club Sessions plus Team Captains who work hard to
make our team tennis so enjoyable) have all helped to make it another busy and successful year
in challenging economic conditions. Thank you for your invaluable commitment to the club.
One of our aims is to provide a fun, relaxed social environment in which everyone feels at home
and where everyone is a host as well as a guest. We regularly receive feedback from new
members, about how welcome they have been made and what superb hosts our members were on
club sessions. Thank you to those who have helped maintain this incredible level of support to
new members, it makes such a difference.
We continue to work hard to contribute & support Halton Tennis Centre (HTC) and have again
included in section 10 some excerpts from this year’s Trustees Report in particular the section
on 'achievement and performance' plus other items which may be of interest including how we
work on keeping our charity status.
Halton Tennis Centre is the umbrella organisation that provides the management/operational,
financial and facilities support for each of the 7 activities (Club Tennis, Coaching, High
Performance Academy, Disability Tennis, RAF Tennis, Health & Fitness and Pavilion
Bar/Catering).
This year has seen the significant addition of Halton Inclusive tennis (wheelchair,
visually/hearing impaired & learning disability), providing tennis opportunities for over 180
people in the local community.
This structure provides us with stability, consistency and a professional input, as well as
employment opportunities for over 50 part time and full time staff, including 17 tennis coaches
AGM
The date of our next AGM is Wednesday 26th February 2014 at 8pm. It will be preceded
with a fun coach led tennis session & opportunity to watch/try wheelchair tennis at 7pm
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Most if not all the news and activities of the past 12 months have already been published in our
monthly e-newsletters, and website. I have therefore restricted my report to the main
highlights and the challenges that we and other tennis clubs face next year.
1. FINANCES
Our 3 challenges remain as ever- increased electricity & gas prices, the costs of indoor courts
and a relatively small membership. A key benefit of being a part of Halton Tennis Centre is the
number of income sources such as the Catering, Gym & the High Performance Centre which give
us more stability than many other clubs. Thank you to Gill Roe, Netty James and Monica
Maguire our accounts team, for all their hard work and keeping us on track.
We all love and appreciate our indoor courts – very few clubs in the UK have any let alone 6.
They are however a major cost; each indoor court costs some £10k per year to run and a
further £10k pa sinking fund to replace them as and when necessary. We continue to enjoy a
strong relationship with the LTA; they provide us with a substantial yearly coaching grant for
the High Performance juniors of @£80k. This helps in particular to pay & sustain the extra
operating costs of the 6 indoor courts which we can all enjoy.
HTC Finances: Every month HTC places £10k into reserves (£120k per year), to be used to
replace existing facilities as and when they wear out. With loan repayments to the
LTA/Members, a surplus of £150k is required each year to remain sustainable. Above that
figure, new projects are considered by the trustees.
CLAY COURTS
Please use the drag mats every time you play; it only takes a few minutes at the end of
your game, but helps keep the courts in good condition, they last longer and of course you
get much better and more even bounces
ACRYLIC COURTS
Please be very careful not to hit the playing surface with your racket – the soft acrylic
we chose for our knees (!) is easily cut by improper use of the tennis racket
2. MEMBERSHIP
Adults: Our membership levels have remained similar over the last 12 months (with new
members matching those leaving). We currently have 220 full adults, and 34 off peaks; evenly
split between Men & Ladies. Whilst it is not our intention to grow much beyond current levels,
it is a low membership for the size of our facilities and we will continue to promote the club in
our local community. Our Rusty Rackets sessions continue to be a very popular way of joining
the club.
Juniors: Our junior section has some 150 members and 250 Mini (under 9) members. Our mini
membership has grown significantly over the year from 175 and augurs well for the future.
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3. INDOOR COURTS
Having indoor tennis is a significant financial challenge for any club, and has been the subject
of a detailed review and discussion at previous AGMs especially its impact on our subscription
rates.
We now enter our 6th year of having 6 indoor courts and a mini zone. We are very conscious of
all the various groups of membership and stakeholders and will endeavour to share the facilities
as evenly as possible, but we have to make the courts pay to keep us economically sustainable.
This year we have installed a new entrance to the mini zone, which everyone agrees has had an
immediate benefit in reducing disruption to the main clay court users. The clay courts had a
major service in September and a water supply has also been brought in - to dampen the
clay/reduce dust and improve the playing surface. It has also enabled us to install a water
drinks machine.
Whatever the challenges, I think we would all agree that we enjoy a fantastic tennis facility
and one that every other club in the UK would love to have.
4. FACILITIES IMPROVEMENTS
2013 has seen
1. Lights added to the hard courts by our clubhouse for coaching & casual play – these are
low level LED lights that are the first in the UK, and cost just 6p an hour to run compared with £3ph for normal lights. They also have a 50,000 hour life span and can be
turned on/off with no time delay. Cost was £15k of which 50% was paid for by EBI
2. Mini Zone entrance added at cost £9k.
3. A new ball store built that will also accommodate the 8 wheelchairs and tennis equipment
used for the Schools and local leisure centres where we now deliver tennis.
4. The Gym outside area has been expanded and in due course further equipment/activities
will be added.
5. Central heating installed into the Admin building.
Our future plans for 2014:
1. We are extending the admin/reception building to include a dedicated meeting room.
2. The 6 artificial grass courts; courts 4/5/6 need replacing after some 9 years and courts
1/2 are already wearing out despite being just 3 years old. We are looking at options to
replace them all with clay – same as in the dome.
3. The area behind the acrylic dome has been cleared; further work will happen in 2014 our plans are to add further tennis courts and a toilet block.
4. Create a larger studio at the rear of the gym, and convert the existing studio into
additional changing facilities.
Our main aim is to keep the club feel; although we have grown our facilities, our membership
numbers have remained roughly the same, and your feedback has always been that “retaining
the club feel” is very important.
Thank you to Pete Taylor for keeping our tennis club looking magnificent throughout the year
and Miranda/Sue/Yvonne/Lisa for keeping up with the constant cleaning challenge.
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The team of some 50+ people who work at the club, whether it’s the gym, catering, admin or
coaches, all play an important part in your enjoyment of the club. We have invested a
considerable amount of time and money in supporting individual training, & development during
2013 and will be continuing to do so in 2014.
5. HEALTH & FITNESS
The club has completed
success with a current
around and much better
on another successful
supported by Elaine.
its 4th year in its new larger home and enjoys continued growth and
membership of some 400. The facility and environment is the best
value for money than other gyms. Congratulations also to Dave Hudson
year operating the Physiotherapy business within the club, ably
A warm welcome to Jason, who came on board in November in a full time capacity as a trainer
with a speciality in Outdoor activities and Christine our new Sports Masseur. Thank you to Jon
Price who after many years managing the gym has stepped back from this role to focus on his
Personal Training activities.
The team are always on hand to support you in getting the most out of your tennis game or gym
training. So if you require physiotherapy, sports massage, Pilates, health and dietary advice or
would like to improve your tennis game by up to 20% without hitting a ball, then don't hesitate
to contact them!
December - don’t forget is the month of opportunity for tennis members to use the
gym free of charge to help prepare for Christmas!
6. TENNIS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Adults
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Ladies 1 won through to Regional Play-Offs in Aegon Competition
Men’s 1 promoted to National Division in Aegon Competition
Bucks Shield champions – Ladies 1 & Men’s 1
Bucks Mixed Knockout Champions (again!)
County Week – our players again featured strongly in the Senior Bucks Men’s &
Ladies teams with the Ladies winners in Group 1 for the first time in the history
of Bucks tennis
Another successful Rusty Rackets tour to Spain saw 22 members enjoy 4 days of
tennis in the sun of La Manga – thank you Andy Maclean
Tennis Jeannie – a singles/doubles box league competition for adults & juniors
continues to attract over 150 members. Thank you to both Mike & Emily Quin
The busiest ever (most entries) Club festival of tennis
Disability tennis program really took off with lots of activities and winning the
LTA Club of the Year award and significant grant funding
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Juniors
 Katy Dunne ranked 9 in world juniors U18 and playing at Junior Wimbledon
 Lauren Armstrong representing Great Britain & winner of 12 & U Tennis Europe
tournament
 Sophie Drakeford-Lewis won UK 14U Masters at Wimbledon
 Holly Hutchison winning an international U18 title in Sri Lanka
 Girls 12 & Under Aegon National Champions
 Highest ever number of children being funded by the LTA
 We have achieved NO 1 status in the Region & top club in UK for regularly
competing juniors with over 300 children playing more than 6 matches in the year
and over 100 playing 20+ matches
 AASE – 5 more children have successfully completed the Advance Apprenticeship
in sporting excellence
 USA Scholarships – 3 juniors were successful in being awarded places to study
and play tennis (Tor Pisani, Claudia Marsala, & Michael Patch)
 Jemima King was invited to join the GB Fed Cup Team in Argentina as part of a
Coach Ed trip along with 3 other coaches. Jemima followed this up by creating a
mini Fed Cup competition, taking 4 players to Edgbaston Priory to compete in a
one-day event – Lauren Armstrong, Erika Dodridge, Indu Ragunather & Scarlet
Hutchinson. Judy Murray supported the event by donating GB Fed Cup tops.
Halton were the Champions.
Charity support
Charities that we supported include Great Ormond Street Hospital, Iain Rennie Hospice at
Home, Florence Nightingale Hospice, Dens –action against Homelessness, Happy Days Charity,
MS Society, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Special Care Baby Unit, Interserve, Children in Need &
Action Medical Research. In addition, the Coaching team have also provided financial support
to players and parents over the last year.
Disability Tennis
Under the leadership of Tom Wood & Alex Barnes, 2013 saw Halton achieve LTA Club of the
Year Award and funding to embark on a series of new tennis experiences for children & adults
with special needs, including wheelchair, Visually Impaired, deaf and education special needs.
Halton’s Inclusive Tennis Programme has progressed very quickly in just 3 years to become one
of the busiest and most proactive in the UK. In October 2012 there were just 3 weekly
sessions (Learning Disability, Visually Impaired and Wheelchair) but after 12 months there are
now 9 weekly sessions at Halton and 3 in Milton Keynes, plus an outreach programme with 4
schools (Heritage House, Alfriston, the Pace Centre and Mandeville School) which are delivering
tennis to 200 disabled people on a regular basis.
Additionally, the Network has 5 other clubs delivering sessions to disabled players and Halton
works closely with Wheel Power, the Spinal Unit at Stoke Mandeville, the Special Olympics
organisation, the Olympic Legacy team, Aylesbury Vale District Council and Wycombe
Wanderers. There are 7 specially trained disability coaches delivering the sessions supported
by volunteers from the Club and Berkhamsted School.
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Highlights of the year include a trip in the gliders at RAF Halton for some of the Visually
Impaired tennis players and an Inclusive Tennis Festival on the 31st August where disabled
players from across the region joined club members for an afternoon of fun activities.
Additionally, we hosted a fantastic festival day of tennis in October for 60 children; we are
now an education site for training courses and in October hosted a 3 day Camp for players with
learning Disabilities.
7. SOCIAL CALENDER
Many congratulations and thanks to Ellen North, who has superbly organised our social calendar
activities during the year. Following your feedback, we will continue to focus on organising
tennis related events.
8. CLUBHOUSE & CATERING
Many congratulations to Julia & Steve (now in their 9th year with us) and their team for another
very busy and successful year and in particular the number of parties and events held on a
Saturday night at the club. Every month over £10,000 is spent by members and guests in the
Pavilion.
Our current Catering/Bar team now boast over 25 years of serving customers at Halton!
Thank you all for using our catering/bar – we try to keep it open as much as possible (every
lunchtime and evening) but it remains a major challenge to run a small club catering operation
whilst remaining financially sustainable.
Julia has achieved this for the 4th year running and I congratulate her and offer a big “Thank
you” to her, Steve and their team for all their enthusiasm and hard work, especially over the
busy summer months; we know it has been very much appreciated by the members.
9. COACHING
We hope you'll agree that our coaching programme (now in its 11th year under the leadership of
Mike & James) continues to move from strength to strength. 2013 has been its busiest year
ever and at the last count we had a record 17 coaches working at Halton.
Our current coaching team now boast over 80 years of coaching at Halton!
Welcome to our new coaches; Mark Hunter and Cerys Hughes from Liverpool. Emma Strong, one
of our ex juniors, has also joined the toddler tennis & mini tennis team. We also welcome 2 new
coach apprentices, Ed Taylor & Elliot Field.
The Friday night 'FUN' EVENING WITH COACHES’ have gone very well, and we will continue
to schedule these every few months.
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Mini Tennis continues to thrive under the direction of Sam Start, Camilla Hayward and Neale
Proud. Alan Hutcherson is doing a super job at developing our more ambitious youngsters in the
Aspirantes programme.
As 'Holiday Camps Director' Danny West has done another superb job this year and the 'Multi
Sport Summer Camp' was especially popular. Over 600 children have attended this year.
We have from January 1st 2014 been awarded a contract to deliver coaching at Tring Tennis
Club; Danny West one of our senior coaches will be leading this new initiative.
We are sorry to have to say “goodbye” to Emily Quin who has accepted a coaching post at
Storrington Tennis Club, West Sussex. Emily has been a wonderful asset to us here at Halton
over the last 6 years, and I know you will join me in wishing her the very best for the future.
Schools Tennis; there are 5 local primary schools that Halton has a relationship with; Griffin
House (formerly Ladymede), Berkhamsted Pre-Prep, Aston Clinton, Weston Turville and Halton.
Aylesbury Grammar School: We have just embarked on a unique partnership with Aylesbury
Grammar School to promote tennis in the local community and deliver coaching at the school &
local community. This has opened up an opportunity to create a mini tennis development centre
in the school sports centre and start working with the 70 feeder primary schools. For our
talented older children considering a career in tennis, the school are also offering a bespoke
education package.
Our High Performance programme continues to receive plaudits from the LTA as an outstanding
example of best practice as well as producing a steady stream of talented players; currently we
have our largest ever number of LTA funded players.
AASE (advanced apprenticeship in sporting excellence)
We had 4 Halton students graduate this summer in the Advanced Apprenticeship of Sporting
Excellence Scheme (AASE). A further 5 students are following closely in their footsteps under
the watchful eye of Phil Hill our AASE Programme Manager. Over 20 of our youngsters have
participated in this scheme over the last 5 years. Many thanks to Phil Hill who has led the
AASE programme since outset.
This scheme is an NVQ-style programme financed by the Skills Council and available to any
children over 16 in full-time education, who are serious about their tennis. There are also
considerable financial benefits to students with their squad coaching costs.
The coaches would like to thank you all once again for supporting them, and look forward to
another fruitful year with you on the courts.
10. TRUSTEES REPORT (Halton Tennis Centre)
In summary, our objectives as set out in the governing document are to provide appropriate
management & facilities, to ensure the smooth organisational and strategic well-being of the
Halton Tennis Centre (HTC), ensuring its financial sustainability.
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Structure, governance and management
The Charity is registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee and was set up by a
Memorandum of Association. The Charity is constituted under a Memorandum of Association
and is a registered charity number 1115040.
The Charity brings together the activities of Halton Village Lawn Tennis Club (HVLTC) and the
Royal Air Force Lawn Tennis Association (RAF LTA). HTC provides members of the HVLTC with
a high quality location for their civilian club and a springboard for excellence through the LTA
High Performance Tennis Centre (HPC) and the RAF LTA with a high quality facility, which they
regard as their "home" site for RAF tennis competitions and matches. The provision of tennis
for those with disabilities has also become a significant activity.
The Charity provides a strong learning environment, through the Everyball International
Academy including bespoke education facilities and full-time or part time schooling
opportunities for young players who wish to focus on tennis as a career, from age 11 upwards,
using a mixture of direct teaching from tutors and distance learning with Oxford Home
schooling. We have strong links with Aylesbury Grammar in this respect, and anticipate a
partnership with Aylesbury flourishing further in respect of both a full-time tennis/education
mix. It also acts as a host delivering the government's Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting
Excellence for teenagers who play tennis at Halton (now in its 6th year), with 26 students. For
those who have left education, the Charity offers an opportunity to advance in the field of
tennis coach education; with the Coaching Apprenticeship scheme. Gap Year opportunities are
also offered to A level students to work at the Centre as well as work experience opportunities
for numerous GCSE and A level students each year.
Objectives and Activities
Our objectives as set out in the governing document are to provide appropriate management
and facilities, to ensure the smooth organisational and strategic well-being of the Halton Tennis
Centre (HTC), ensuring its financial sustainability. In addition, we offer a willingness to help
people when they are unable to afford to play, through supporting bursaries for both adults and
children.
We hold free open club sessions for members to bring friends and relatives free of charge to
hit some balls and have fun. We provide tennis for those with disabilities including a festival of
tennis for 60 children with special needs in October. We have significantly increased our
disability tennis sessions for over 200 children & adults each week including Wheelchair,
Visually impaired, Downs’s syndrome and Special Education Needs. Our aim is to offer the
"Complete Tennis Experience" now, but also to look ahead to 2020 and start thinking about the
long term future and strategies for achieving them to continue to provide a thriving
environment for the various activities taking place and ensure that the quality and customer
care were maintained at a high level to ensure the HTC Vision was being delivered. We continue
to heavily invest resources in disability tennis delivering coaching to external sites/schools as
well as hosting a festival of tennis at Halton for special learning needs schools.
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We have delivered an outstanding performance tennis programme with players gaining scholarships
to USA Colleges and Katy Dunne becoming a full time professional on the adult circuit having
achieved a Junior World ranking high of 9
Achievements and performance
The past year has been successful, both in terms of remaining financially stable despite a
challenging economic environment, but also operationally by continuing to grow our tennis offerings.
In particular our children continue to play more matches than any other club in the UK, as we
actively encourage them to play tennis matches throughout the year and provide additional court
space and organisation (tennis Jeannie box leagues).
We have maintained the No.1 status in the Region for regularly competing juniors with over 300
children playing more than 6 matches in the year and over 100 playing 20+ matches.
Our gym has also improved and grown its membership, to support both performance players and also
other local clubs/sports with its specialist training & rehabilitation offerings. We also support other
key local user groups such as Weightwatchers and tackle obesity with special offers of support,
including running a Biggest Loser project in tandem with other local gyms in Bucks, which has
provided free gym places and tuition to 8 adults over an 18 week period.
Adult tennis for the local community has continued with the successful Novice section, to encourage
daytime play for mums with young children at school. Rusty Rackets has been heavily promoted to
encourage people back into sport, with free taster places being offered all year round. Tennis is
delivered locally in primary/junior schools each term by our coaches as part of the outreach
programme as well as Special Needs schools.
The High Performance tennis activity has flourished with superb on court results, including over 20
players from local clubs accessing our squads.
In 2012/13 we have been asked to run the tennis activities for Stoke Mandeville spinal unit as part
of their rehabilitation programme, and also at Stanmore spinal unit in Middlesex.
We were proud to be selected to host 2 more National Grade 3 events for juniors and Mini
tennis competitions. Our funding and status as an HPC 1 (one of only 8 in the UK) was confirmed in
the annual review for a further 5 years.
The RAF continues to host their tournament programme, match & practice sessions at Halton,
including the main championships in June as a prelude to the Inter Services at Wimbledon. Our
coaching team has been active throughout the year running weekend training for them.
Public benefit
HTC is acutely aware of its place in the wider community. In addition, we offer a willingness to help
people when they are unable to afford to play, through supporting bursaries for both adults and
children.
We work hard to ensure that as many adults and children have the chance to play tennis at Halton
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and promote access via the local press and schools. We allow access to talented children to play
regardless of their ability to pay. All comers are welcome to our many holiday camps for children.
Our Easter and Summer school holiday camp activity has again been successful so far and over 500
children attended over the 6 weeks, including a multisport camp to encourage a wider audience to
participate in healthy activity. The camps are open to non-members and are actively promoted in the
local community. Coaching is always available to non-members.
Our mini tennis and toddler tennis remains one of our major success stories, utilizing the 3 indoor
mini courts and access to other indoor courts to ensure they can play all year round. Young players
really form the heart of the Centre and we are proud to be one of the LTAs top performing High
Performance Centres and one of just 2 in the UK to be based at a club. We are held up by the LTA
as a great example of the "Ecology of a successful High Performance Centre in a club environment"
and regularly receive calls of help from other clubs.
In addition, HTC has again raised money for a wide variety of charities such as the Ian Rennie and
Florence
Nightingale Hospices, the MS society, Teenage Cancer Trust and Bucks Mind.
11. THE KTDA GROUP
High Performance Junior Tennis costs a lot of money and as such we are always looking at ways of
supporting it and helping to KTDA keep the dream alive of a Halton player one day walking onto
Centre Court at Wimbledon; any help that you can offer to make this possible would be greatly
appreciated by joining the group. Thank you especially to Alec Clapperton who has organised the 100
Club, the profits of which go towards KTDA. This is how other members can help get involved.
1. Giving - financial gifts via Gift Aid. Over £1500 has been raised from the 100 Club during the
past 12 months.
2. Brainpower - business expertise/contacts to assist in Fund raising.
3. Pastoral - helping with the social and educational development of our young players.
4. Practical support - being there, blowing their trumpets, cheer leading.
12. SPONSORSHIP
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Club Sponsors – Ellen North (Kado), Garry King
(Kings Farm shop), Andy MacLean Carpentry, Morton Financial Services, Grant & Stone Building
Suppliers and the Holiday Inn who have supported the Club, not just financially, but also with their
involvement and enthusiasm for what we are trying to achieve here at Halton Tennis Club.
And finally….!
On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone who has helped at the club this year, and whilst
there are too many people to mention all by name, I would particularly like to thank Nick Leighton,
Gill Roe, James Morgan and Mike James for their exceptional work and commitment to improving
our club. Their massive contribution is the real reason we have made so much progress over the last
few years and I know they will continue to seek to improve everything we do as we move on to plan
and execute ideas (including those ideas proposed by members) in the next 10 years.
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Also I would not wish to miss this opportunity to thank our RAF colleagues who have worked closely
with us to keep the club and tennis centre moving forward.
John Walker
Chairman
Appendix A - Halton Tennis Centre 2020 Vision
"To be the first organisation that, by our attitudes, actions & behaviours, sets a new standard in
Europe for the enjoyment & pursuit of excellence in tennis, related sports and physical health,
supported by a social experience where we help people connect with each other; and in doing so play
a leading role in the growth of British tennis through the power of our influence"
Mission
What we look like if we are “on purpose”
Create a growth environment which builds:
a. A culture which welcomes everyone and delivers on our ethos
b. Superb tennis & sport science facilities
c. An inclusive coaching / education for everyone from beginner to world class
d. A delivery team who demonstrate a personal commitment to each other and their
customers
e. A Leadership team that inspires performance and a management process in which
everyone supports each other’s growth and potential is recognised & nurtured
f. Opportunities for individuals to develop & grow their own business within an
environment of Inter Dependence’ supporting the economic sustainability of HTC
Strategy
Deliver our mission by developing the ultimate learning culture by:
1. The out workings of Eupsychia: a focus on attitudes and behaviours needed to deliver world
class performance through Deep Practice
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2. Developing a culture that rewards learning from experiences, gives permission to try and fail
3. Supporting personal & professional development through the “Owners Eye”
4. Researching and developing world class practices – both on & off court
5. Partnerships with our key stakeholders; HVLTC, RAF, LTA and our local community
6. Everyone to demonstrate by their actions that they buy into the above
7. Create an Ethos for each business around superior value
 HTC - each talented each different but all valued
 Everyball Tennis - educate, motivate & inspire to be the best you can be
 Halton Health & Fitness Club – realise your potential
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