Alcester Tennis Club – AGM Minutes
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held at
The Holly Bush, Alcester 19th March 2013
Present: Richard Pinder, Peter Bostock, Alex Woodbridge, Phil Catherall, Judy Smith, Bob Smith,
Mel Farrow, Stuart Beach, Tina Hennessey, Duncan Robinson, Willem Roest, Louise Hillman,
Jane Darby, Richard Jones, John Nickless, Jane Nickless, Steve Goddard, Greg Duddy, Nick Taylor,
Colin Taylor
1. Apologies: Andy Wjinberg, Daynor Moberley, Wendy Ingram, Ann Mattocks, Gill Bostock,
Clive Fletcher, Rod Hoy, Janice Gray
2. Approval of Previous minutes: Agreed & Signed, Proposed Judy Smith Second Bob Smith
3. Chairmans Report: Appendix i
4. Treasurers Report: Appendix ii John Nickless queried difference in ‘other income’ – member
loans from court resurfacing costs
5. Membership Report: Current total membership is 307 Appendix iii
6. Subscriptions:
JS Proposed new fees, second Tina Hennessey
All in favour
7. Match Reports: Appendix iv
8. Coaching and Junior Report: Appendix v
Competitions
Duncan Robinson – Club competition – what happened to last year? Weather affected – needs
someone to organise it. Hope to plan events going forward. MF to organise.
ACTION MF
Jane Darby – Buy BBQ at the club for social events – PB agreed
9. Maintenance – covered in Chairman’s report. Anti-slip paint purchased to be applied when
weather dry. Thanks to Shaun Stephens for painting the clubhouse which he did at no expense.
Paving slab on clubhouse approach needs stabilising.
ACTION PB/JS
10. Election of Officers
President – Richard Pinder
Chairman – Duncan Robinson
Vice Chairman - Peter Bostock
Secretary – Tina Hennessey
Membership Secretary – Judy Smith
Treasurer – Phil Catherall
Social Committee – Jane Darby, Sarah Morley-Cotterell, Janice Gray, Amanda Pillinger, Colin
Taylor, Mike Judd
Junior & Coaching Representative – Mel Farrow
All in Favour
12. A.O.B.
Bob Smith – problem with court booking system – PB: problem noted with provider, will look
into.
ACTION PB
Jane Nickless expressed her appreciation of PB’s work in resurfacing courts and all he has
contributed to the club
Janice Grey emailed her thanks & praise for all that PB has done for the club during his time as
Chairman
RP presented PB with voucher and card in thanks of all his hard work and service as club
chairman. All present agreed.
Meeting finished 9pm
Signed……………………………………………………………………………. Date……………………………………………
APPENDICES
Appendix i
Alcester Tennis Club Chairman's Statement to the AGM March 19th 2013
This has been another very good year for Alcester Tennis Club for a number of reasons. First our membership
numbers have gone from strength to strength to record numbers as you will hear from our Membership Secretary.
Secondly, our finances have been rebuilt after spending around £90,000 on new club facilities last year, as you will
hear from our Treasurer. Third, the play at the club has been keen and active, with our coaching team now
providing cardio tennis, group skills improvement sessions, and running a club nigh, in addition to the junior
coaching taking place every week-day and private coaching. The team tennis progresses with 3 men's teams, 2
ladies teams and a mixed team in the winter plus the junior teams as you will hear from the team captains.
This year the committee have agreed that we will fund the match balls which then can subsequently used for both
for social play and match practice. The balls last longer now we don't have the abrasive hard courts plus we intend
to spend a little more to purchase better quality balls that will last longer.
In addition to the above, there have been a number of social events run over the Autumn and Winter, the Greek
evening at Gougoulias's Greek restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Casino evening run by Duncan and Tinaat tye
Moathouse in Kings Coughton, and finally the dinner in January at the Nino's Lavinotec restaurant in Alcester. We
hope to do more this Spring and Summer, possibly even a Summer Ball. We also had a stall at the Street Market in
the summer and the St Nicholas Christmas fair in December which helps raise the profile of the club. Many thanks
to the volunteers who helped out.
In regard to our facilities, the Tiger Turf playing surface continues to impress everyone, with Warwick Boat Club and
Inkberrow tennis clubs laying the same surface in the past year. It continues to look great and play well. We will
need to carry out some maintenance this year, with spraying for moss, brushing and adding some more sand. Our
thanks to Alex for keeping the courts clear of leaves and tree debris using the leaf collector. Also, there is quite a lot
of moss on the hard court, so we will continue with the spraying of the moss killer but cleaning might be needed
over the summer. We have had a few issues with the Floodlights on the hard court but the problems have been
fixed by the company who installed them, LPLS. We also intend to look into replacing some of the fencing around
the courts this year, as there are a number of holes in it especially next to the park. The boundary between us and
the Scouts and Cubs still contains Mares or Horse Tail weeds behind courts 3 and 4 despite our efforts to eradicate
it. We propose to have another discussion with them about this but there appears to be no short term solution to
the problem.
We have installed new LED floodlights around the clubhouse which provide significantly improved lighting
especially when approaching and leaving the clubhouse along the footpath. Also they have the benefit of lasting a
lot longer and using about 15 times less electricity.
There have been some issues with the parking next the club on Moorfield Road, and we intend to speak to the
Scouts and Guides group about this and nearby residents so that the parking is kept for members. We have been
asked by the residents of Rope Walk not to park there, as more than a few cars parked alongside the club does
restrict access for residents.
Finally, we would like to look at the possibility of putting in a 'hitting practice wall' in the kids zone/hard court area.
There is a product which looks like a fence but acts as hitting wall that potentially does the job. We would propose
to run some fund raising events to help fund this.
As per Mel's e-mail, we do need more members to get involved either as committee members or volunteers for
tennis and social events. Most of the committee members have been there for a long time and we should all take a
turn. Its fun and rewarding so please if you have a little time get involved.
After a number of years as Chairman of the committee. I have finally decided to stand down this year, something I
indicated at the AGM last year. I am happy to continue on the committee looking after facilities and maintenance.
Many thanks to all club members for their support this past year, the team captains for running the teams, and
especially to the committee members for their hard work and efforts over the year including, Judy, Mel, Phil,
Richard, Alex and recently Tina who has been seconded on, and our coaching team of Alex, Stu and Mel from
Inspire2coach for all their efforts.
Peter Bostock
Appendix ii
Alcester Tennis Club - Treasurers Report for the year ended 31st December 2012
2012 was a good year for the club, despite the difficult economic climate and poor weather.
Income from subscriptions was up nearly 20% on last year and income from grants was also up following the
funding of the lights for the kidzone.
Expenditure remains largely under control, although utility bills continue to increase. This was offset by a reduction
in maintenance costs. The largest cost is not a cash outflow, being depreciation, which reflects the amount of
money the club has spent on its facilities.
Moving on to the balance sheet, you will see that the club does not have any loans outstanding. This means that
all cash received can be put towards future improvements rather than paying off old bills. The cash is needed, as
the new courts need to be properly maintained to keep them in top condition, and elsewhere much of the
perimeter fencings need to be renewed.
All in all though, the club finances are in good shape, with new courts, nearly £14k in the bank and no loans left to
pay.
Appendix iii
Membership Report 2012 – 2013
In the last 12 months, with new courts to help us sell the club to new members, and Inspire2Coach working hard to
increase the membership within the coaching courses,
we have again increased our overall membership numbers to 307.
It is interesting to note that we had an overall increase of 17 members last year we had exactly the same increase in
numbers this year.
The numbers in each category vary a little, but we are pleased to see that the adult single membership this year
increased by 10. Another interesting fact that comes out of the statistics is that we managed to renew 2/3 of our
membership, and get a 1/3 new members in the last year.
We have decided to keep our membership fee increase to a minimum this year and hope you will agree this is
reasonable and acceptable, in view of the on goingcosts of upkeep for the courts, lights and netting; and of course
giving us basis for building up the fund necessary for our next court re-surfacing – hopefully in about 9 years!.
Type
2011
Proposed
2012
Fees 2013
Discount if
paid by 1st
April
Renewal
with
discount
Family
184
212
220
16
204
A Single
112
136
140
16
124
Weekday
56
108
112
16
96
O/Peak
n/a
72
76
8
68
YA
72
84
88
8
80
YAE
44
56
60
8
52
J
44
56
60
8
52
Free
Free
Free
Child 8 and
under
Appendix iv
TEAM REPORTS
LADIES A TEAM
Evesham & District Summer League 2012, Division 3
We had another successful season with some winning matches against Inkberrow, Campden and Warwickshire
County Council and some hard fought draws against local rivals Stratford and HDA. We finally finished the summer
in first position having played 10 matches and gaining 31 points. I would like to thank all the members of the team,
Sarah Lee, Sam Watson, Lyndsey Kirby, Mel Farrow and Joan Abbott who continued to show their loyal support and
commitment to the team and who have turned out regularly in all weather conditions to practice on a Wednesday
evening. Their help has made my job so much easier so well done to everyone.
The A team is currently in Division 3 of the Stratford and district Winter League. We had a disappointing start to the
season losing a key player and injury , however since Christmas we have not lost a match. We are awaiting results
of the last few matches, the points are incredibly close, we have won 2, Drawn 5 and lost 3, however there is a
chance we will be demoted.
LADIES B TEAM
Little summary of Alcester ladies b team winter division 7
Although being bottom of the division 7 with 10 points. losing 7 and winning 2 . We have enjoyed the season and
still have one more match to play. We have two players out injured but luckily have recruited 4 new players who
have enjoyed playing this season and hopefully with more consistency with our partners the summer league may
look more promising.
MIXED TEAM
Stratford and District Mixed Tennis Winter League 2011/12
There are 3 divisions in the mixed league, Alcester playing in Division 2. We had some very exciting and close
matches played on cold winter evenings against 4 local teams, Studley, Henley, Snitterfield and Warwickshire
County Council. It is a competitive but social evening where we enjoy playing mixed doubles followed by some
delicious home made refreshments. My thanks go to the members who gave up their Monday evenings to play in
the team, Peter Bostock, Bob Smith, Andy Wijnberg, Sarah Lee, Lyndsey Kirby, Angie Dakin.
MEN’S B TEAM
There has been an excellent upgrade to the Swastennis website, and it now is easy enough to follow the teams
results. We have only one match left to play, and are fairly comfortably above the drop zone, having spent the first
half of the season fairly uncomfortably settled IN the zone! The reason for the turnaround is probably the addition
of new blood, in the shape of Simon Tinley and the occasional help from upcoming junior Will Morley Cotterell,
who has entered mens league tennis directly into the Bs. Solid performances from Gareth Havard and Oli Allemann
although they have sometimes taunted their opponents by making a three setter of what should be a straight
forward win.
We have only had one match postponement, and that was due to floods. Seems somewhat surprising considering
the apocalyptic feel of the winter we have just come through, but, I suppose this kind of confirms the
weathermans statistical assertions that that winter was, on average, not much colder, wetter or gloomier than
usual.
By nimble planning, Pete Bostock has managed to engineer no clashes of fixtures with the sacrosanct 2 free courts
on a sunday morning, but there have been other pressures on captains trying to keep 3 teams going. I suggest in
future the squad should sign up to a "no holidays allowed" contract, to avoid them going skiing, husky sledging
expeditions, or on conferences on basket weaving in outer mongolia, without first clearing this with the captain.
That way I wont be punching holes in the wall at the home trying to get a team together at the last minute.
On a more serious note, I find it pretty impressive that such a small town is able to muster such a high standard of
tennis across 3 teams, and it’s not just me boasting about our team standard, but I have also heard this from
independent "experts" (ie my friends).
Sorry I could not be here in person to deliver this- I’m desert trekking in Jordan. That trip was approved by the team
captain!
B Team Report for Last Summer Captain - Peter Bostock
As mentioned above, we used a number of C team players in the first half of the summer season with some of the
players taking A levels. Matt Fielding, Ollie Alleman, Chris and Gareth Havard and myself were the core of the
squad in the first half and by this point we were lying mid-table with only a few points separating all the teams. In
the second half of the summer season with the return of Michael and Arthur Bennett from university and with
exams over, the B team won nearly all its matches 4-0 and ended up as Champions of Division 2, and are now in
Division 1 this summer. So its going to be a tough summer league.
C Team Report Captain - Peter Bostock
The C team last Winter was captained by Matt Fielding and finished top after a strong run through the season with
a side made up mainly of Gareth and Chris Havard, and Ollie and Gareth Jackson and of course Matt himself, and
were promoted to division 5.
Last Summer I was captain of both the B and the C team. There was some jiggling around with the players using the
rule which allows players to play for a higher team up to 3 matches. After promotion this previous year, to division
5, the C team finished 4th just behind HDA who gained promotion after some teams dropped out above them.
This Winter in division 5 so far, the C team have done well having lost only 1 match and that was the first fixture
away to Wythall B who had 3 university lads that normally play in their A team. We are currently lying second
behind Wythall with 4 matches to go. We have called on a large number of players this season, the mainstay being
Duncan Robinson and myself, plus Matt Fielding for the first half but he has now moved up to to the A squad. Other
players include Bob Shipman, Bob Smith, James Morley Cotterall, Ollie and Gareth Jackson, Dave Kelly, Jack
Chisholm plus some B team players at the start of the season.
Appendix iv
Coaching Report 2012 to 2013

Current Coaching Programme
157 members of the club partake in coaching at present
16 classes
118 people in group coaching – 91 juniors 27 adults (adults nearly doubled from last year)
SUCCESSES
Saturday Morning – Adult pay & play and mini reds – great atmosphere at the club with kids &
adults playing alongside each other. Attracts new adult members
Cardio – Tuesdays Cardio sessions have been attracting up to 15 people. Run on 2 courts with 2
coaches, great buzz, great positive energy!
Tuesday Junior Squad – All junior age groups from 5 to 14 in squads at the same time with
coaching from Stuart & Alex plus Evesham Head Coach Andy Crowther & Warwick University performance
coach Will Bramley. A high quality coaching session demonstrating the great pool of talent that the club
continues to produce.

Memberships
This year more than ever before we have worked really hard to convert people from coaching to members, not just
junior but adult and family memberships too. This is clearly reflected in the increased membership numbers. We
are committed to continue this work

Schools Work
We continue to run clubs at Haselor, St Nicholas and run a secondary schools session for the Alcester schools.
We’ve just completed 4 weeks funded by inspire2coach working in St Nicholas school during curriculum time. All
these schools provide a direct outlet of players to Alcester Tennis Club & regularly promote our club through
newsletters and flyers.

Holiday Camps
Summer 2012- we ran 3 weeks of camps at Alcester attracting over 200 children during this time. Also ran at
October & February half term.
We continue to use our camp database to promote the club and coaching.
Forthcoming:
Easter 2013 – 25-28 March 2-5 April Full Day Camps
Summer 2013 – 4 weeks during the holidays
 Competitions
Whitsun 2012 Grade 4 – Attracted entrants from all over the county (and beyond).
Smaller scale LTA competitions also ran throughout the year along with internal matchplay for juniors to cater for
all standards.
Forthcoming Competitions Whitsun (26 – 31 May ) Grade 4
 Coach Education
William Davies achieved his Level 1 Coaching assistant qualification
Alex ran the first Tennis Leaders Course at Alcester during February half term taking our 13 year olds on the first
step of their tennis coaching careers – a real attribute to the club
 THE FUTURE
April 8th sees the launch of our brand new ADULT coaching programme
New classes to supplement the existing ones including




Cardio Tennis – NEW session added 10-11am Saturdays
Tennis Xpress – For TOTAL beginners Sundays 3-4pm – uses lower compression balls
Doubles Builder – Ladies Teams
Technical Blitz – Monthly clinics to improve specific areas of an individual’s game
Other areas of development;
 Tots Tennis – for age 3-5 years 30 minutes on a Friday & Saturday morning
 Secondary schools work to encourage teenage players
 Multimixer sessions – all ages, all standards – fun for the whole family – something that we need to work
with the club to achieve that is lacking at present.
Mel Farrow
Inspire2coach