CHAIRMAN’S REPORT TO FROME SELWOOD TENNIS CLUB AGM
JANUARY 2009
Introduction
I will start by first saying that 2008 has been a wonderful year for the club, and this has been
due to all of you – the members, and also of course the Committee. There have been many
highlights, which I will mention in due course, but there has been so much activity this year
both on the court and with many social events, for which I sincerely thank you all.
Finance
Firstly, I would like to thank Marc for his very clear Financial Report. He has done his normally
highly competent job throughout a difficult year in the money markets. A strong financial
position is in no small measure due to him – he has managed to steer us clear of troubled
Northern Rock, and bankrupt Icelandic Banks. You will note from the accounts that he has
managed to earn us £2,643 in interest alone, which is a very valuable contribution. The
treasurer’s job is a critical one and I am so thankful that he has again expressed his wish to
carry on for yet another “one more year”, despite being very busy in his business life.
Murrhardt
On August 21st, ten members of the club took part in an exchange to the scenic town of
Murrhardt in Germany.
It was really nice to have some new faces on the visit, especially some younger ones e.g.
Jack Sheppard and Ameila West. We were all made to feel very welcome in their very unique
and beautiful homes. On the Saturday players of all levels took part in the friendly
competition, which led to a great final played by Jack Shepard and Rachel Blacklidge for
Frome and Axel and Isabelle for Murrhardt. Although we didn’t bring the cup home it was
great to see our players playing at such a good standard. We didn’t come home empty
handed as myself Frank Davies and Jack Sheppard managed to secure the Drinkers Cup –
an event that combines the highest tennis skills with the highest drinking skills. I mustn’t forget
to add that the trip was made more enjoyable by having Helen Jordan as an excellent
interpreter on tap. A return visit to Frome is planned for 2010 and I hope that as many people
as possible will be involved.
Chippenham & District Leagues
 Review of the Season past
Ladies. This year was a mixed season for the Ladies Teams. There was one notable success
and that was our Ladies A Team who won Division 2. I would like to congratulate Ros and her
team for this great effort, and ensuring that we came away from the league presentation with
some silverware. The Ladies B Team ended up in 6th position in the same league. For the
first time this year, we ran a Ladies C team and they finished 4th in Division 4 – a very
creditable result. There was a lot of debate at this time last year on whether we could support
three teams, but our ladies have proved that we can. Thank you to Sue Westlake and Donna
for running these teams and ensuring that many ladies enjoyed competitive tennis at the
appropriate level, and for the first time.
Mixed. Our mixed teams performed creditably earning 5th place and 6th place in Divisions 1
and 3 respectively. Thank you to Judy Pole and Ant Jenner for running these.
Mens. Our men had a challenging season in Divisions 1 and 2 both finishing at the foot of the
table. It was a tough season, and I know at times the normal enjoyment must have been
reduced somewhat, and it wasn’t easy. Could I thank Jamie and Muir and the players for
ensuring that the games were all completed. The Men’s C Team (Anthony) were mid-table
(4th) in Division 4 and the D Team (Rupert) were 5th in Div 5.
Our Knockout A Team lost to Trowbridge A and entered the plate competition where they met
Wylye, but at this point the trail runs dry. The B Team had a bye in the first round and lost to
Chippenham B in the Second Round. The Veteran’s KO team has I believe made it to a semifinal against Trowbridge, and are awaiting the call from them. I would like to thank Jamie
Waldron, Mark Uphill and Kelvin for running these teams.
 Next Season
Our teams for next season will be decided later on in this meeting, but next season is an
important one for us as it is our turn to host the end of season dinner and presentation
evening and also to have the Honorary Presidency of the league. Our club committee felt that
Mill at Rhode would make a good venue as it is an agreeable place and not too expensive, is
on the right side of Frome and we can book it without paying a fee for room hire, thanks to Pat
Burns and her daughter. So we have pressed ahead and booked it for Friday 2 nd October.
Could I ask members who are associated with teams to note this date in their diaries. Our
attendance at these events has sometimes been not to good in the past (Chairman included)
and we really ought to have a good attendance and make the event a bit special this year –
lets show them what the only Somerset Team in the league can do. I have not been able to
find out what honorary presidency of the leagues entails. However, I am sure that it will bring
us lots of goodies and hospitality – extra Wimbledon Tickets etc etc (not).
I really need to thank Henry King at this point for doing all of the liaison work with the league.
The Park Courts
I have been plugging away at the Council about the unsatisfactory state of the park courts,
and had several meetings with them, and also arranged a visit by the LTA’s expert.. The
reason always given for lack of progress was that they were going to do a consultation of
what to do in the long term, and also the Assistant Town Clerk dealing with Parks and
Recreation left the council. One idea was to scrap the existing courts and build some muitisports courts in the Mary Bailey Field adjacent to us.
However, with the arrival of a new Assistant Town Clerk (Simon Woollen), the council have
now changed direction and they now intend to do some refurbishment work on the courts “this
spring” (aiming at March). The option they have selected is rebinding and filling plus
repainting. The work needs two weeks of settled weather so the council are currently unable
to say when the work will be done. The courts will be power washed, the top surface cleaned
away then a binder with sand is spread over and rolled down (they are also having a few old
roots removed from the sub layer at the same time) then repainted with acrylic paint and
remarked out. It is likely that all three courts will be pure tennis courts, but there is a feint
possibility that one of the courts may be marked out for netball as well. Fencing will also be
replaced. The team captains will need to monitor this situation very closely and we may need
to make alternative arrangements for a couple of weeks, or re-schedule.
The Council also plan to provide a tea room / café. This should be operational by midsummer. I believe that this may be coupled with racket-hire etc.
Web Site and Publicity
We are the proud owners of a new web site and very stylish it looks too. Muir has worked
hard at this and the results are very impressive. Please have a look at it and let us know what
you think. We have managed to obtain the domain www.frometennis.net, which I hope that
you agree is quite neat. Please send you information to Muir and keep the site live and
interesting. Thank you Muir for your hard work in producing this site. It will be a fantastic asset
over the next few years.
One of our members (Di Cole) has designed (free of charge) a club brochure that provides
information for prospective new members. Supplies of these are at the clubhouse, so if you
know of any prospective new members then please ensure they receive a copy. The brochure
is also downloadable from the website.
The leaflet and website are made distinctive by our new logo and this was produced by the
son of a member of staff at Steve Bosworth’s (Appleford) school. The Committee selected this
from a number of his designs. Thank you Steve for arranging this.
We hope to procure some sports shirts with the new logo for purchase by team and club
members for the new season. We have brought along some samples. We would be very keen
to know what you think – please let Rachel know your views and also what garments that you
would be interested in.
Junior Activities
We have already had the junior report and I won’t go into a lot of detail here, except to say
how thankful the committee is, and indeed I am, for Steve’s junior coaching throughout the
past year. He is there come rain or shine or sleet or snow or fog in temperatures from minus 5
to + 25 degrees. And its because of this regularity that we keep up such a high level of junior
membership. Our retention levels are second to none. Its also important not to forget that
Junior Coaching brings in a significant amount of income every year to the club. And its not
just Steve, he couldn’t do it without his helpers like Jess Merry and Rachel Brenni and James
Chaventre. So I am sure that we would all like to thank them for their work.
Steve and I have now held three meetings with a coach called Joseph Henriques. Joseph’s
resume indicates that he has a very good pedigree. He is currently working in Turkey running
a coaching academy and organising the Istanbul Cup (a WTA event). His home is in Nunney
and after 8 years in Turkey he intends to move back to UK and wants to become involved in
Junior development in Frome and surrounding areas. He and Steve are currently developing
a 5-year plan for junior coaching in the Frome area, for presentation to the committee shortly.
This could be a very exciting development.
Ratings
The Ratings Tournament was a great success again this year. This was the 20 th consecutive
tournament which is a fantastic record and this is much admired by other clubs. There were
some great matches and all went very smoothly thanks to Eve, Rosemary, Ros and Lyn (who
ran the catering) and several others who helped out selling advertising and serving food
during the week. We have to pay for printing on the programme now which has dented our
profits a bit, but the venture still made a significant profit of over £1,000. But its not just profit, I
feel that the tournament is a focal point for the season, providing an opportunity to watch and
play and socialise, and long may it continue.
The Committee have already decided to carry on and hold the 21st tournament this coming
year. Eve and Rosemary will be organising this. We have been very dependent on these two
good servants of the club for many years. Amazingly, this year three club members: Helen
Jordan, Rachel Brenni and Steve Bosworth have volunteered to do the LTA Referees Course,
which should ease things a bit.. Also three of our young members: Amelia West, Jess Merry
and Robin Murray have agreed to do the LTA Young Competition Organisers Course, will
also be a help in the coming years.
Singles Tournament
The Singles Tournament (run by Ros) was run differently this year as an experiment. It was
conducted over a single weekend, and I feel (from what I heard) it was very successful. There
may be a few things to iron out, but there is an attraction in the format as it has a the
tremendous advantage that it avoids the log jam of unplayed fixtures that always occurs with
the more conventional format run over the season. But I know, some people prefer the more
traditional draw format. The committee will be making the decision on the format for this year
within the next month or so. But before that let’s do a straw poll of your views here and now.
Could those of you that would prefer a similar format to last year where all matches are
played over one weekend put their hands up ….. Now those who would prefer a traditional
draw played over several weeks of the season.
Doubles Tournament
The Doubles Tournament was run very well by Mark Uphill this year. This was run through the
season and as usual we had one or two problems with a fixture backlog, despite allowing
several weeks for each round, but Mark sorted it out in the end, so thank you very much
Mark.
Winter Leagues
The winter leagues are running again, with a good number of entries. This has been a bit
affected by the weather and by the floodlighting installation work, but lets get those games
played. Thank you very much Anthony Jenner for running this competition for many a year
now.
Court C Floodlighting
This was funded by Awards for All (£10,000), Somerset County Council, Frome Town Council
and the Thynne Trust, with a relatively small amount coming from club funds. There was
pressure to get this completed by the end of 2008, or we risked losing the £10,000 AWA
grant. Thankfully the project was completed on time and well within budget (the cost was
about £19k).
The contractor performed well in very adverse conditions. The requirements have been met
and he has been paid. There have been one or two teething problems, but these have now
(hopefully) been sorted out. My feelings are that a good trade-off has been achieved between
a good standard of lighting and minimal annoyance for neighbouring properties in Butts Hill
and Somerset Road. I would remind members that the lighting is on trial and to be mindful to
not override the time switch (set to 9.30pm) and minimise any excessive noise on Court 3.
An official opening ceremony is planned for Saturday 28th March, with probably a final of an
adult / junior tournament to be played under the new lights. All club members are encouraged
to come.
Fund-raising
Over the past year the committee has been involved in a long list of successful fund-raising
initiatives – its been an absolutely fantastic year:
The Auction of Promises – a fantastic £2,500 Thanks to Adrian and Donna for this.
The 100 Club £550 – Many thanks to Rachel Blacklidge for running this for a further year.
End of Season Do – This raised an unexpected £500 which was a tremendous bonus for us.
Thank you to Judith, Steve, Susan Merry, and Veronica for this.
The 2008 Quiz – thanks to Adrian and Donna for this.
The Ratings Tournament £1,000 – Thanks are due to Eve and Rosemary and Ros. In addition
there was the team of people who helped with selling advertising in the programme and who
helped with catering during the 8 days.
Grant application to Somerset County Council Local Initiatives Budget £5,000
Grant application to Somerset County Council Community Budget £500
Grant application to Frome Town Council £1,500
Grant application to the Thynne Trust
So that is £12,050 that we have generated on top of our normal trading activities. I think that
we should congratulate ourselves on this achievement.
We still have a couple of events to come i.e. the Valentine Raffle and the Valentine Quiz, that
will happen next week. I believe that these are on track to become another success story. My
deepest thanks go out to Tom McEwan who so very generously donated the piece of
jewellery (his involvement with the club is that his son and daughter come along to coaching),
and also to Steve and Judith, Adrian and Donna West for all of their hard work in putting
these events together.
We have probably exhausted all of the external grant opportunities except one – we have
applied for 13 grants and been successful with 7 (raising a total of £19,500 over three years),
which is a good ratio.
The one remaining opportunity left to us to get the last brick of funding that we need to
complete our re-development programme is the Lawn Tennis Association. We have been
aware for some time that the association will possibly have funding available for court
floodlighting in 2009. This has now been confirmed, so all we need to do now is tick their
boxes. We have been steadily working away to towards this and we now have a clear idea of
what we need to do to qualify for funding. There are 4 objectives that we need to achieve:

We need to have a LTA-Licensed Coach

We need to revise our junior coaching to use the correct red orange and green balls for
the correct ages and use the correct equipment for LTA mini-tennis.

We need to have more juniors competing (we have virtually none at present). This will
include our club hosting a junior mini-tennis competition and a junior U12 / U14 / U16 /
U18 competition.

We need to achieve Tennis ClubMark – much of the ClubMark requirement is included
in the aims that I jave just mentioned.
The Committee are working hard to make progress on these objectives.
This is an exciting opportunity – if we achieve the aims, we could be very well reporting at or
next AGM that we have sufficient funding to press ahead with our re-development in 2010.
Future Development
As far as future development is concerned, our priority remains the renewal of the court
surface and the replacement of the floodlighting on courts 1 and 2 with similar lighting to
Court 3. The finances of the club are improving steadily year by year, and our sinking fund is
gradually increasing towards the require level to be able to pay all the works needed. Last
year I reported that we estimated that we needed £35,134 to complete the work. I have
handed out some copies of the revised project costing, for this year. Thanks to all of the hard
work that many club members have put in, we now only require a further £15,736. So we
have moved approximately £20,000 closer to our target.
ClubMark
Tennis ClubMark is an accreditation programme run by the LTA. We have to achieve this
before the LTA will grant funds (this is one of the boxes we have to tick). A small subcommittee consisting of Steve, Helen Jordan, Rachel Brenni and myself have been making
good progress with the limited time available to us. Rachel Brenni is our Child Protection
Officer – a very important role these days.
Finally
A few names that I mustn’t forget who have helped on the less glamorous tasks throughout
the year. Amelia West for compiling the booking sheets every month; Martine Saunders and
Eve Berry for keeping an eye on the clubhouse and ensuring consumable supplies are
maintained. Nick Merry for providing free specialist electrical consultancy when required.
Helen Jordan’s generous donation towards a new viewing bench.
If I have forgotten anyone then please forgive me…………... Actually, I have forgotten
someone and that is Veronica who has been an excellent secretary throughout the year.
Always getting the minutes out on time, and getting done what needs to be done.
This is a wonderful and successful club, and I am proud to be Chairman of it. I believe that we
provide tennis and social activities for all needs and levels. We have achieved an awful lot
over the last year and hopefully we can get that final LTA brick of funding that we need to
finish the re-development of our playing facilities, in the coming year The Committee and
many others work very hard and give their time without payment to achieve this, and its all
based on voluntary effort, and I thank you all.
We always need more help, so if anyone has a little spare time or has a specialist skill that
would help us, your help will be very much appreciated. Tasks that need to be done are
further work on clubmark; helping with organising junior competitions and activities, and
writing up a history of the club.
Thank you all for your wonderful support throughout the year.