BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Contents
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1)
Friday 8 December 2000
2)
Thursday 6 December 2001
3)
Thursday 28 November 2002
4)
Thursday 4 December 2003
5)
Wednesday 13 October 2004 - EGM
6)
Thursday 9 December 2004
7)
Friday 9 December 2005
8)
Friday 8 December 2006
9)
Thursday 6 December 2007
10)
Friday 12 December 2008
11)
Friday 11 December 2009
12)
Friday 10 December 2010
13)
Friday 9 December 2011
14)
Friday 7 December 2012
15)
Friday 6 December 2013
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 8th DECEMBER 2000 at 8pm
Present:
Jeff Clapp (President), R Hughes, B Carey, J Can, A White, E Bealey, S Lovell, M Lewis, C
Webber, C Weeks, K Clark, C Weatherley, A Davies, A Carey, C Warburton, K Becker, C Foxall, A
Becker, K Webber, A Griffin, C Potts, K Webber, K Griffin, A Williams, J Buxton, T Saunders, J
Skinner, D Page, M Scudamore, K Weatherley, P Chick, B Harvey, L Davidson, A Johnson and
Neil Pirie.
1. Apologies:
O Brown, J Warburton, S Carver, L Thorne, I Thorne, M Groves, R Eddy, T Massingham, R
Hughes, V Leveridge, R Leveridge, Claire Bailey and Sue Standford.
2. Minutes of the AGM held on Friday 3rd December 1999:
These were agreed as correct.
C Weeks, seconded by C Warburton proposed the adoption ofthe minutes. All were in favour.
3. Chairman's Report:
Ross thanked everyone for attending. In particular he wanted to thank Claire Bailey our treasurer
who was standing down this year. She had provided regular financial updates and forecasts, which
had the committee primed with the financial health of the club and had allowed Martin Lewis to
proceed with confidence with the clubhouse project. He also thanked Errol Grant for his work on the
committee and for his enthusiasm for getting involved with the running of the club. Although Errol
did not want to commit to another year on the committee Ross was pleased that he still wanted to be
involved whenever he could be of help.
This year Don Shears had formally opened the clubhouse. Don had been a junior at the club and was
now a world ranked veteran player. Also present at the opening were representatives of the local
LTA and our President Jeff Clapp. With such good facilities now, it was up to all club members to
keep the clubhouse clean, tidy and secure.
Unfortunately during the year the contractors who had built the clubhouse had gone into liquidation
As at that time the final amount due to Spillers had not been resolved, we, through Martin Lewis,
now had to renegotiate the amount due with the liquidators. Because the financial position of the
club was not certain yet we would have to put projects involving large amounts of money, such as
replacing floodlights, on hold. Over the next 10 years we had to repay an LTA loan of £25,000 and
as part of the loan agreement with the LTA put £4,000 per year into a sinking fund for future court
development. As far as playing matters were concerned he was particularly pleased with the way
that the junior squad coaching sessions were enabling kids of all ages and abilities to play and enjoy
tennis. Senior coaching courses had also been very successful with a number of new players taking a
keen interest in the playing and social side of the club. He thanked Alec Davies for re-introducing
and organising the Club tournaments this year. He also thanked everyone who had been involved in
organising other playing events.
It was of prime importance for the tennis and financial future of the club to both retain our existing
membership and to attract and integrate new members at the club. He said that in organising court
usage time the club tried to ensure that it catered for all sections of the playing community. He was
aware that recently there had been a call for more time for club play, and membership views on this
and other playing matters would be welcomed.
Next year we would be striving to secure a successful future for the club by way of membership,
sponsorship and voluntary help. He hoped that the running of the club could be done by small
groups of both committee and non-committee members, alleviating the need for long, time
consuming committee meetings and providing a direction for the club which truly represented club
membership views. In addition to this the club would be involved in a development programme with
the LTA, which should help ensure that we are moving in the right direction.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2000
Karen Clark, seconded by Erica Bealey proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurers report:
Martin Lewis delivered a report in Claire's absence. Accounts were circulated. These looked healthy
at the present time. An amount of approximately £15,000 would eventually be due to the liquidators.
Income was up due to the increase in the subscriptions. Cash flow for the coming year looked good
as long as we kept up and increased our income from subscriptions. An encouraging sign was the
bar profit and a worrying aspect the reduction in the amount taken by way of match fees. Next year
we would need to review the way in which these were collected. Martin reiterated that we could not
undertake any large projects until the liquidation negotiations had been completed.
John Skinner queried the amount showing for the provision of floodlights since we no longer
operated a meter system but included the cost in the amount for subscriptions. This as yet had not
been identified separately.
Ken Griffin said that the accounts looked sound and asked if the committee felt that funds should
become available before very long. Martin felt that this was a reasonable assumption.
The meeting thanked Claire for all of her hard work as Treasurer.
Erica Bealey, seconded by Chris Webber proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
5. Captain's Reports:
Ladies: Jill reported that the ladies' summer league teams had been successful with Central 1
winning division 2 and Central 2 and 4 achieving second position in their respective divisions. The
3rd team had fought valiantly against strong opposition. In the Summer Veterans league we had
experienced some difficulty in fielding 2 teams because of holiday and other commitments. The 1st
team had ultimately achieved 2nd position in division 1.
We have 3 winter league teams and 1 Veterans team currently competing in the winter leagues. The
standard of the Veterans league is particularly high.
Jill thanked Carol Weatherley for organising the Monday night match practices and all the ladies
who had participated both in these sessions and the matches.
Mens: Alan reported that in the summer league the 2nd, 3rd and 5th teams had finished strongly in the
middle of their divisions. Only one team had been relegated. Some matches in the men's summer
veteran league had been conceded, as at times there were insufficient players to support 2 teams.
Alec Davies and Karen Clark had won the Avon Inter-Club mixed doubles tournament. Bruno
Grasso, Chris Webber, Alistair Williams and Nicki Perrott had also taken part in this or other Avon
Club events.
In the A. T. Kerney Interclub Challenge Ross, Ken, Ruth and Charlotte had reached the 3rd round
before being defeated by a strong team from Bristol Club.
Alan thanked everyone who had taken part in matches.
Ross added that the 2nd winter league team had done very well and gained promotion at the end of
the last winter league season.
Martin Lewis seconded by Annie Griffin proposed adoption ofthe reports. All were in favour.
6. Bar Chairman's Report:
Chris reported a turnover on the bar of £2,500 with a profit of £800. Drink prices were low for a
social club, but we had still managed to generate a profit by having a bar rota organised by Carol
Weeks and a number of social events organised by people attending Wednesday night club play. The
bar area had also been improved with the acquisition of a cool cabinet and the purchase of bar
shutters at a reasonable price.
Carol Weeks asked if we could provide more food through the bar. Catherine Warburton and Anne
Becker asked if the clubhouse could be made less like a committee room and more like a clubhouse
for members with comfortable seating etc. This would be considered in the New Year.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2000
David Page, seconded by Anthea Johnson proposed adoption of the report. All were in favour.
7. Junior Representative's Report:
Karen reported a very good year for juniors at the club. Her main aim was always to give kids the
opportunity to play with the emphasis being on enjoyment. This year there had between 60 and 70
kids taking part in the play and pay sessions and between 40 and 50 juniors who paid a lump sum.
She had received help from other coaches as well as from the older junior members to support 7
different after school squads ranging in age and ability.
Future plans included more work with local schools, helping to ensure junior numbers at the club,
with funding from the LTA as part of an inner city initiative. She would also be involved in short
tennis, which was being set up at the County Ground with LTA funding.
She hoped to secure funding for a kids' zone area beyond court 4 which could include a short tennis
court, hitting wall and possibly a basket ball hoop and other facilities.
Two juniors Ben and Jo had been to Camp America this year and Jo had won the 'best camper' away
Next year she expected 7 juniors to go on the trip.
By way of other coaching at the club, the adult coaching courses had been very popular attracting 51
adults and the doubles drill coaching was in demand again.
Chris Webber said that he would like to see both junior and adults making the transition from
coaching to full club play as soon as possible.
Louise Davidson, seconded by Alan Carey, proposed adoption of the report and all were in favour.
8. Development Officers Report:
Martin reported that following the liquidation of Spillers he was having to re-negotiate amounts due
with the liquidators. This included the cost of rectifying defects and faults found in the work done by
Spillers. In the meantime we did have a superb clubhouse and we now needed to develop the playing
side of things. He felt that we were exceptionally lucky to have Karen Clark with us because she
was now talking to the LTA Development Officer about the development of juniors at the club. This
fitted in very nicely with the terms of the LTA loan and lottery applications that had been made. We
also needed to take on board the provision of tennis for the less physically able player by completing
the disabled access to the club and making contact with relevant parties.
Ross thanked Martin for the significant amount of work he was still putting into the clubhouse
project. Carol Weeks asked if it would be possible to have signs for the club particularly at the end
of the lane. This would be considered in the New Year.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Karen Clark, seconded by Louise Davidson and agreed by
all.
9. Subscriptions:
Ross reported that we were committed to an inflation linked increase in subscriptions as part of our
loan agreement with the LTA. The Committee were therefore proposing a subscription of £135.00
for the new subscription year.
All were in favour.
10. Election of Officers:
Claire Bailey was not desirous of re-election. Alec Davies had been nominated for the position of
Treasurer and nominations had been received for all the other existing office holders.
These were therefore offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
11. Election of Executive Committee:
BCTC AGM Minutes 2000
Errol Grant was not desirous of re-election. Carol Weatherley had been co-opted onto the committee
during the year. Nominations had been received for Carol Weatherley, Sue Lovell, Carol Weeks and
Karen Becker.
There were no other nominations so these were offered en bloc for election. All were in favour.
12. Election of Auditor:
No auditor was elected. Martin pointed out that it was usual for us to send a gift to the person who
audited the accounts for us. Ross said that this had already been done.
13. Election of Honorary Members:
The Committee had received no nominations.
Jeff Clapp closed the meeting by saying what a success story the rebuilding of the clubhouse and the
resurfacing of courts had been, and he thanked the Committee for the carrying of this responsibility
and for all of their hard work. He said it was an honour to be the President of the Club and he was
pleased to be part of its move towards the future. His one regret was that he could not be more
involved due to the fact that he no longer lived in Bristol.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2000
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on THURSDAY 6th DECEMBER 2001 at 7.30pm
Present:
Jeff Clapp (President), R Hughes, B Carey, J Carr, A White, S Lovell, M Lewis,
C Webber, C Weeks, K Clark, C Weatherley, A Davies, T Saunders, A Carey, C Warburton, K
Becker, A Becker, K Webber, K Griffin, J Skinner, K Weatherley, N Pirie, H Woodward, A Biscoe,
A Johnson, J Hagger, A Wild, D Banwell, K Lovelady, D Standingford, M Groves, J Warburton and
E Bealey.
1. Apologies:
O Brown, R Hughes, M Morgan, N McClennan, K Thomas, M and S Scudamore, C Foxall, A
Griffin and B Grasso.
2. Minutes of the AGM held on 8tb December 2000:
These were agreed as correct.
C Weeks, seconded by E Bealey proposed the adoption of the minutes. All were in favour.
3. Chairman's Report:
Ross said that as well as the items on the agenda the Club Development Officer would also be
providing an update on the Clubhouse project.
He thanked everyone who had helped prepare things for that evening. He was not standing for the
Committee again and he gave particular thanks to the other Office and Committee Members who
had decided not to stand for re-election for the next year.
It had been a frustrating year as it had not been possible to complete negotiations with the
liquidators of Spillers, which meant that we had not been able to undertake large Club projects such
as replacing the floodlights. We also had large financial commitments, which accounted for over
40% of our subscription income. Despite this we had worked towards our aim as a Club of providing
more tennis for more people of all ages and experience. To this end we had held open evenings and
days, played external competitive matches, held Club tournaments, had a winter singles ladder, had
more club play sessions and run coaching courses tor adults and juniors. We had also managed to
publish 2 newsletters in the year, launched the new website and made Club clothing available
incorporating a new Club logo. We still needed to make progress in other areas such as finishing off
the club environment (garden and patio), fundraising and finding sponsors, facilitating access to play
for players with disabilities and continuing to build the profile of the Club by hosting external events
and celebrating the Club's 70th Anniversary. In addition to this we would be taking forward
initiatives as part of the LTA's Club Vision and our own Development Plan. He asked all members
to give their ideas and opinions on the running of the Club including thoughts on court usage time.
Finally he said that he had enjoyed his time on the Committee, first as Men's Captain and then as
Chairman and thanked everyone who had helped over the years.
Jill Carr, seconded by Jayne Warburton proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer's report:
Alec Davies reported that the accounts looked healthy. We still owed the Receiver payment for the
amount due to Spillers when the company went into liquidation. As we still did not know how much
this would be, the Club would only be able to consider undertaking small expenditure projects in the
immediate future. Things like sorting the garden out and getting soft furnishings might be possible.
Although our overall income was up we had not increased the amount from subscriptions by 10% as
hoped for in our financial forecasts, but we had collected more by way of match fees, match practice
fees and coaching courses. Unfortunately, expenditure had gone up by 23%. We had lost charitable
status for the purposes of payment of rates, the cost of maintaining the floodlights had increased due
BCTC AGM Minutes 2001
mainly to the large number of bulbs we needed to replace and we were paying more for electricity
because previous bills had been underestimated and we now were paying the arrears due. Overall
there was a 4% surplus income, which looked good, but we also had an annual commitment of
£4000 to a sinking fund for court replacement, and £2500 for the LT A loan repayment. It was
hoped that we would find this out of income rather than reserves. He thanked Kevin Lovelady for
auditing the accounts.
Catherine Warburton asked about the £708 showing in the accounts as an insurance payment. Alec
explained that this was for the replacement of coaching equipment stolen in a break in. The
insurance company had repaid £679.
Chris Webber, seconded by Martin Lewis proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
5. Captain's Reports:
Ladies: Jill reported that all teams had struggled in the summer league. Some opponents were young
enough to be our daughters if not our granddaughters. Despite problems fielding two summer
veteran teams, the teams had come first and second in their respective divisions. She hoped to
continue to field 2 teams next year. Four teams, including one veteran team were competing in the
winter league and the competition seemed very strong. She thanked everyone who had helped
organise match practices and played in matches. Collection of match fees was proving to be difficult
again and she would prefer them to be collected after each match next year. In the New Year she
would be encouraging the up and coming junior players to attend match practice and hoped that
some would be able to play league matches.
Mens: Alan White reported that results had been variable. The last winter season had ended with the
second team gaining promotion again and the first, third and the veteran's teams staying in their
respective divisions. Unfortunately in the summer league the second team had come bottom in their
division and other teams had struggled, None had gained promotion. The veterans team had finished
in the middle of Division 2.
He finished by saying that he had enjoyed being the Captain, in particular the relationships he had
built up with answering machines!
Chris Webber seconded by Adam Biscoe proposed adoption of the reports. All were in favour.
6. Bar Chairman's Report:
Chris Webber reported that the bar was operating at a profit. He said that the cost of squash tor
junior~ was coming out of the bar fund and probably amounted to £100 per year. Other people were
taking an interest in the bar now and he was glad to be handing the Chairmanship on to someone
else this year and wished them good luck.
Sue Lovell seconded by Erica Bealey proposed adoption of the report. All were in favour.
7. Junior Representative's Report:
Karen Clark said that she had moved away from Bristol in the year and Kerris Weatherley had
become the Club Coach. Kerris had needed to enlist the help of other coaches to cope with the 70
juniors now attending sessions on a weekly basis and probably another 100 attending during a
month. Funding might be available through the County Development Officer tor a Kids Zone and
Sports West would give money towards things like balls and coaching. Jayne Bullock had gained
coaching qualifications and would be sponsored to gain further qualifications. Our juniors were not
overly enthusiastic about playing official matches, but they all seemed to enjoy playing on a friendly
and social basis. They had held a 'Children In Need' fancy dress day and raised £100. She thanked
all of the coaches who had helped her and Erica for taking care of the admin for the adult coaching
courses.
Finally she said how much she had enjoyed being at and working at the Club.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2001
Martin Lewis seconded by A1an Carey, proposed adoption of the report and all were in favour.
8. Development Officer's Report:
Martin Lewis said that the Clubhouse project negotiations were ongoing with the Receiver and that
he hoped that a conclusion would be reached in a few weeks. He thanked Karen for the role she had
played in junior development. He hoped to stand down as Development Officer when the Clubhouse
project was complete and said he thought that the role of Development Officer should be redefined
for the future.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Karen Clark, seconded by Erica Bealey and agreed by all.
9. Subscriptions:
Ross said that the Executive Committee proposed that the subscription be increased to £140.00. The
subscription compared very favourably with other clubs, as we did not charge extra for the use of
floodlights.
All were in favour.
10. Executive Committee recommendations for changes in Club Rules:
The recommendations were put to the meeting.
10.1. The Executive Comrnittee recommends that the joining fee currently payable by all players
joining as Full Playing Members be abolished from the start of the new subscription year.
Members felt that the extra £20.00 was a lot to ask for when the subscriptions were also going up
regularly and that it did not really act as an incentive now to retain membership.
The recommendation was accepted unanimously.
10.2. The Executive Committee recommends that members whose subscriptions are unpaid by the
1st May shall be deemed to have resigned from the Club.
Members felt that this would be easier from an admin point of view as long as we ensured that a true
record of who had and who had not paid was kept.
The recommendation was accepted unanimously.
10.3. The Executive Committee recommends that players of the Improver Category be entitled to
vote at the A.G.M. and E.G.M. and be eligible for selection to the Executive Committee.
The membership telt this would help the 'Improvers ' feel part of the Club and was in keeping with
our image of being a friendly club.
The recommendation was accepted unanimously.
10.4. The Executive Committee recommends that no one person should hold the same Committee
post for more than 3 years, with the proviso that whenever possible the Offices of Chairman,
Treasurer and Secretary should not change hands in the same year.
The members discussed the need for such a change and the actual wording of the recommendation
which some felt was too rigid. The aim of the proposal was to open up the Committee to more
members and to ensure that the composition of the Committee reflected the current membership at
any one time.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2001
A vote was taken on the proposal and 14 were in favour and 11 were against. Members were
encouraged to put their own suggestions to the new Committee.
10.5. The Executive Committee recommends that the number of Committee members can be
increased, where this is necessary for the proper administration of the Club, providing the nominees
are properly elected at the A.G.M.
The recommendation was accepted unanimously.
10.6. The Executive Committee recommends that any sub-committee set up by the Executive
Committee shall have the authority to act and make decisions on matters specified by the Executive
Committee.
The recommendation was accepted unanimously.
Ross said that the wording of the Club Rules would be changed to reflect the accepted
recommendations.
11. Election of Officers:
Ross Hughes, Alan White, Chris Webber and Karen Clark were not desirous of re-election.
Nominations had been received as follows: Chairman, Ken Griffin; Men's Captain, Adam Wild; Bar
Chairman. David Standingford and Junior Representative, Kerris Weatherley. Nominations had also
been received for the other existing Office holders.
These were therefore offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
12. Election of Executive Committee:
Sue Lovell and Karen Becker were not desirous of re-election. Nominations had been received for
Chris Webber, Kevin Lovelady Carol Weeks, Adam Biscoe and Carol Weatherley
There were no other nominations so these were offered en bloc for election. All were in favour.
13. Election of Auditor:
No auditor was elected. The executive Committee would find someone to audit the accounts next
year.
Jeff Clapp closed the meeting by thanking all of the Committee on behalf of the members for the
work they had done over the last 12 months. He particularly thanked Ross who was standing down
from the Committee. In his time on the Committee Ross had seen the building of the 4th court, the
resurfacing of courts, more floodlights, the website, and most recently the rebuilding of the
Clubhouse. In his role as Chairman Ross had been involved with many of these projects and it was
thanks to all the efforts that the Club was so well known now both locally and nationally. In fact
Ross was the Chairman who had brought the Club from the 20th century and fitted it into the
challenges of the 21st century.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2001
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on THURSDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2002 at 7.30pm
Present:
Ken Griffin (Chair), Barbara Carey, David Standingford, Carole Smith, Darren Lloyd, Erica Bealey,
Julian Steed, Lauren Shillaber, Karen Becker, Chris Webber, Alec Davies, Alan White, Sue Lovell,
Adam Wild, Oliver Wild, Kerris Weatherley, Mike Chant, Paul Henley, Tony Male, Eleanor Ferris,
Brian Godding, Carol Weeks, John Skinner, Martin Lewis, Ross Hughes, Adam Biscoe, Ken
Webber, Dave Banwell, Steve Hall.
1. Apologies:
Annie Griffin, Carol Weatherley, Alan Carey, Sue Standford, Katie Webber and Catherine
Warburton.
2. Minutes of the AGM held on 6th December 2001:
These were agreed as correct.
C Weeks, seconded by Martin Lewis proposed the adoption of the minutes. All were in favour.
3. Chairman’s Report:
Ken welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave special thanks to Jeff Clapp who following the
last AGM had decided to step down as President. It had been decided that for time being the
position would not be filled. This year had seen our 70th anniversary party at which an old video of
the Club provided by Mary Groves had been screened, and completion by Martin Lewis of the
dealings with the liquidators of Spillers, which had left us with funds in hand. We could now look
at improving facilities such as the garden, the floodlights and fencing. There had been a small
increase in membership this year and Ken thanked Erica for her work in this area. Kevin Lovelady
had started a new Club website, and there had been initiatives on the social side of things attracting
more members to Club play and the running of Social Tournaments on Saturdays. On the playing
front we had Juniors coming through the ranks thanks to Kerris, a Kids Zone was under discussion
and we would be holding an LTA sponsored event at Easter. Finally he gave thanks to all of the
Committee members especially those who were not standing for re-election, Barbara, Martin, Erica
and Alec.
Ross Hughes, seconded by Sue Lovell proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer’s report:
Alec issued the accounts. He reported that it had been a good year financially and that we had a
healthy bank balance. Agreement of the final amount due in respect of the work done by Spillers
had been reached and paid to the liquidators and the last payment in respect of the electricity arrears
had also been made. Next year the electricity bill should be in the region of £1500 compared with
£4700 this year. Installation of new floodlights should further reduce the amount. Income from
subscriptions and coaching was up, but income from investments down due to the low interest rates.
The best news was that the settlement with Spillers had left the Club with sufficient funds for new
floodlights and we now could proceed to find a suitable contractor. The BCTC Club 2000 project
would not proceed at present as Kevin Lovelady had left the Club. All cheques would be returned to
members. Finally, he thanked John Skinner for auditing the accounts.
John Skinner asked why the amount paid into the sinking fund had increased. This was because the
Club could afford it, and we needed to ensure we had funds to cover the cost of replacing courts etc.
Darren asked why there was no amount shown for court letting. Alec said that we would be paid an
amount but it would be outside the period of these accounts. Alec also confirmed that the cost of
new floodlights was not shown in these accounts but assured members that funds were held.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2002
Chris Webber, seconded by Adam Biscoe proposed the adoption of the report. All were in favour.
5. Captain’s Reports:
Ladies: Adam delivered the report on behalf of Jill Carr. In summer league the 1st and 4th teams had
gained promotion. The standard had been high and we had benefited from being able to include
some talented juniors in our squads. We had fielded two summer veterans teams again and this had
given many ladies the opportunity to play even if in some weeks it had been difficult to put a team
out. Winter leagues had started and Jayne Warburton had started to organise match practice on
Monday evenings, which helped to include new junior and senior members. Summer match fees
had largely been collected and the winter fees would be collected at the end of the season in March.
She thanked everyone who had helped with organisation and all those who had played.
Mens: Adam reported that of the 4 teams the second team had gained promotion, but no team had
been demoted. He had withdrawn one of the Veterans teams because of lack of interest in the
competition. He was hoping to get some competitive play going for those who wanted it, in the
form of singles boxes, possibly extending to doubles at a later date. He thanked everyone who had
supported him throughout the year.
Darren Lloyd seconded by Lauren Shillaber proposed adoption of the reports. All were in favour.
6. Bar Chairman’s Report:
On behalf of the Bar and Social Sub-Committee David Standingford reported that the bar profits
this year were up on the same level of turnover as last year. Food related events on Wednesday
evenings had proved popular and helped the bar profits. Carole Smith and Darren had run Social
Tournaments on Saturdays, which had been a great success. Other social events included a bowling
night and Christmas party.
Ross Hughes, seconded by Martin Lewis proposed adoption of the report. All were in favour.
7. Junior Representative’s Report:
Kerris Weatherley reported that a larger than ever number of kids had taken part in her Easter and
summer courses and that many of them now went to Club Squad sessions. She had received help
with coaching from Sam Williams and Ben Harvey. She was trying to encourage the better juniors
to play on Club nights. The juniors were not very interested despite her best efforts, in competitive
play, but enjoyed the social side of things. She was still hoping that we could develop a Kids Zone
by court 4 with Avon LTA and was liasing with the County Development Officer about this. It was
hoped we might receive funding for balls, racquets and coaching qualifications. The juniors had
taken part in a fancy dress event to raise money for Sport Relief.
The adult Improver courses had run again and Kerris thanked Erica for organising the courses.
Carole Smith, seconded by Karen Becker proposed adoption of the report and all were in favour.
8. Subscriptions:
Ken said that the Committee proposed that the subscription increase in line with inflation to
£143.00. This was in accordance with our LTA loan agreement.
All were in favour.
9. Executive Committee recommendations regarding Club Rule changes:
The following recommendations were put to the meeting:
9.1 To amend Rule 6.1 to exclude ‘Development Officer’ from the list of specified posts on the
Executive Committee.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2002
9.2 To abolish Rule 6.2 which states that ‘No one person should hold the same Committee post for
more than 3 years, with the proviso that whenever possible the Offices of Chairman, Treasurer and
Secretary should not change hands in the same year’ and insert a new Rule number 7.4 stating that
‘The executive Committee will actively encourage members to stand for nomination for Club
Office and Committee member positions.
9.3 To abolish Rule 6.4, which states that the Bar Chairman has the authority to co-opt members to
form a Committee as necessary.
9.4 To amalgamate the last two bullet points of rule 7.1 to indicate that the Executive Committee
shall ensure the names of the Executive Committee and the amounts for Club subscriptions, fees etc
are made available in the Clubhouse.
9.5 To abolish Rule 9, which states that the Trustees of the Club shall be the President, Chairman
and Hon Treasurer and they shall have the power to administer invested funds and may, without
calling a General Meeting of the Club, make such deposits to, or withdrawals from these funds, and
are empowered to borrow money on behalf of the Club for whatever purpose they consider
necessary in the interest of the Club from time to time.
9.6 If the changes are accepted it is also recommended that the wording and numbering of the
Rules be amended to reflect the changes.
Ross asked if the terms of the LTA loan agreement required that we have a Development Officer.
Ken said that, as the role had been included in the remit of the Admin, Finances and Resources
Sub-Committee, we still satisfied this requirement.
After discussion about recommendation 9.2, Adam Biscoe proposed that the current rule should be
kept largely intact, but that the time limit be extended to 5 years. A vote was taken on the counter
proposal, but it was defeated. After discussion, it was agreed that the wording of the rule should be
left as recommended by the Committee and that further suggestions be put to the Committee in the
New Year.
There being no other objections the recommendations were put to the meeting en bloc and were
unanimously accepted.
10. Election of Officers:
Barbara Carey, Alec Davies, Erica Bealey and Martin Lewis were not seeking re-election.
Nominations had been received as follow: Treasurer, John Skinner and Membership Secretary,
Carole Smith. Nominations had also been received for the other existing Office Holders.
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour. This left the Office of Secretary
vacant but the duties could be split between the sub-committees for a temporary period.
11. Election of Executive Committee:
Kevin Lovelady was not seeking re-election. Nominations for the other existing Committee
Members had been received as well as nominations for Jan Poltock, Lauren Shillaber and Catherine
Warburton.
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
12. Election of Auditor:
Chris Webber proposed that Ross Hughes be elected as auditor. Adam Biscoe seconded this and all
were in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2002
13. Trophy presentations and Club Award:
Ken presented trophies to and congratulated the following:
Mens Doubles – Adam and Oli Wild.
Mixed Doubles (The Bicknell Bowl) – Chris Webber and Kerris Weatherley.
Mens Singles – Oli Wild
The ladies events had not finished yet.
He then introduced a new Club trophy, the Central Cup that would be awarded on an annual basis,
not necessarily for playing ability, but for an exceptional contribution to the Club. It was awarded at
the discretion of the Chairman. This year’s contenders had been Carole Smith for the running of the
social tournaments, Darren Lloyd for the Club photos, Dave Banwell for maintaining our
floodlights, Ken Webber for donating the Club shed that had done us proud for many years and
Martin Lewis for his work on the Club Development Project. In the end he had awarded the trophy
to Martin for his determination and perseverance with the liquidators. Unfortunately Martin had had
to leave the meeting so he would have to receive his trophy at a later date.
Ken then closed the meeting.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2002
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on THURSDAY 4th DECEMBER 2003 at 7.30pm
Present: Adam Biscoe, Jill Carr, Eleanor Ferris, Ken Griffin, Adrian Henley, Paul Henley,
Lauren Shillaber, John Skinner, David Standingford, Catherine Warburton, Carol Weatherley,
Kerris Weatherley, Chris Webber, Carol Weeks, Ross Hughes, Neil Pirie, Erica Bealey, Julian
Steed, Barbara Carey, Tony Male, Julie Smith, Morris Williams, Eleanor Ferris, Alec Davies, Alan
White, Rob Davies, Martin Scudamore, Sue Scudamore, Lucy Clark, Dennis Flook, Anthea
Johnson
1. Apologies:
Sue Lovell, Louise Spencer, Bruno Grasso, Chris Potts, Mary Groves, Carol Weatherley, Katie
Webber, Harry Webber, Julia Dalby, Annie Griffin, Karen Becker, Julia Richmond, Alan Carey,
Chris Rose, Jan Poltock, Ruth Hughes, Maureen Morgan
2. Minutes of the AGM held on Thursday 28 November 2002
Ken Webber raised the matter of Club Rule changes as stated in the 2002 AGM minutes, with
particular reference to item 9.2 (the recommendation of the abolition of Club Rule 6.2, stating that
’No one person should hold the same Committee post for more than 3 years, with the proviso that
whenever possible the Offices of Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary should not change hands in the
same year’ and the insertion of a new rule 7.4 stating that ‘The executive Committee will actively
encourage members to stand for nomination for Club Office and Committee member positions’. At
the 2002 AGM, Adam Biscoe’s proposal that the current rule should largely be kept in tact but that
the time limit should be extended to 5 years was defeated and it was agreed that the wording of the
rule should be left as recommended by the Committee and that further suggestions should be put to
Committee in New Year.) The minutes stated that the recommendations were unanimously
accepted. Ken Webber proposed that the term ‘unanimously’ be erased from the minutes.
Barbara Carey proposed adoption of the revised minutes and Dave Standingford seconded. All were
in favour.
3. Chairman’s Report
Ken welcomed everyone to the meeting and began by thanking all members who have contributed
to a successful year at BCTC. In particular, thanks were accorded to Committee members and those
who are standing down – Jill Carr, Carol Weatherley and Carole Smith. Special thanks also went to
Carole Smith and Darren Lloyd for their invaluable contribution to the club, and to Sue Lovell and
Alec Davies for organising the club’s tournaments throughout the year.
Ken outlined the club’s achievements during the past year:
i)
Promotion of men’s third team
ii)
LTA tournament: a huge achievement for the club and good to see BCTC represented in
the final with the appearance of former members Paul Martin and Nicky Giles. BCTC
has bid to host the tournament again at Easter 2004.
iii)
Garden development & BBQ
iv)
Progress on floodlights – work should be undertaken early in the new year.
v)
Court cleaning – to be undertaken after the floodlighting work.
vi)
Fencing repairs
vii)
Club still importantly enjoying tennis: junior squads (Kerris thanked for her continued
and constant hard work in this area), Wednesday evenings & Saturday social
tournaments continue to be popular, and future devt. of a Kids Zone.
viii) Plans to develop the garages: Adam Biscoe is investigating to ensure the club is
maximising it’s revenue potential.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2003
ix)
Brian Golding memorial trophy: Ken shared the sad news of the death of former member
Brian Golding. It has been proposed that a memorial trophy be purchased and competed
for by BCTC and King’s Club, the latter of which has responded favourably. Ken to
follow up.
Barbara Carey proposed adoption of the report, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer’s Report
John Skinner issued the accounts and reported that it had been a good year financially for the club.
In his report, he made the following points:









This year we are showing the last three years of accounts helping to show the stability of our
position.
Income from subscriptions was up a little compared with inflation, and membership is
holding up well thanks to vigorous recruiting by Carole Smith and stirling efforts with
improvers by Kerris and the other coaches.
Court letting income is looking good - mostly from UWE, also from Colstons Girls.
Bar and food income remains healthy.
Expenditure on the new garden layout has been in excess of £2000 over two years with most
of the outgoings this year. Hence club house and garden maintenance has been quite high.
This has also included purchase of the new sofas and a few other items for the club house.
Bottom line from I&E account is that we have an operating surplus of £7,600 this year on a
turnover of £22,000.
In spite of this surplus, our total Current Assets are declining. This is because we have to
pay off £2,500 each year to repay the LTA loan, and in addition we have already incurred
£7,600 expenditure against the new lights.
Due to the uncertainty over future spend on lights, fences, etc., no monies have been added
to the court-replacement sinking fund. It is important therefore that next year, we review
where we are with this fund.
Many thanks for a very thorough audit by Ross Hughes!
Adoption of the report was proposed by Barbara Carey and seconded by Erica Bealey. All were in
favour.
5. Captain’s Reports
i) Ladies - Jill Carr
Jill outlined how the 4 ladies summer league teams had encountered varying fortunes. Like the men,
the thirds secured promotion. Two teams were fielded on Friday nights for summer veterans, one
team finishing top of the division. Jill reminded members that Central were fielding 3 ‘ordinary’
teams and 1 vets team for Sunday morning winter league matches.
Referring to ladies Monday night practice, Jill outlined that it had been fairly well supported
throughout the year. Sue Carver has now kindly offered to organise play at these sessions.
Jill relinquished the position of Ladies’ Captain, wishing her successor, Eleanor Ferris, every
success. Jill was thanked for her efforts in this capacity.
ii) Men - Chris Webber
Chris found himself rather unexpectedly taking on this role sometime towards the end of February
this year. We were moving towards the end of the winter league season at the time so he could take
BCTC AGM Minutes 2003
no credit, or blame(!), for our results which left the men in the same divisions. He stated that the
main focus of the captain is towards the competitive side of club play; trying to improve the quality
of play, fielding the best teams possible and trying to make the whole experience enjoyable for all
involved (tricky on a Sunday morning in driving rain and sub-zero temperatures!) The Tuesday
night practice sessions have been mainly well supported throughout the year with three full courts
still being used at present. He’s putting his mind to some suitably silly handicap schemes for 2004
to keep winning pairs on their toes!
The summer saw Central playing in the Peugeot National Tournament, the Avon inter-club singles
and mixed tournaments as well as the Avon summer league. He congratulated and thanked
everybody who took part in these events. Re Central’s performance in the summer league, Chris
thanked all the players involved for accepting the sometimes difficult (and apparently bizarre) team
selection decisions which had to be made. The aim at the start of the season was to defend our
places in the various divisions as best we could and to try to get at least one team promoted. The
firsts were hampered by injury and critical players having left the club so were always going to find
it difficult. A number of different pairs supported Paul and Ross (not least Dave Standingford and
the irreplaceable Darren) but the outcome was almost inevitable. The first team went down with
dignity! The seconds took it to the wire but with good results in the last two weeks managed to
finish safely in the middle of their group. The fourths had a very varied group of players, many of
whom were playing league for the first time (and Chris suspected perhaps had the most fun of all
the teams. They always returned laughing!) and were not far off getting promotion. Chris saved the
best until last and congratulated the thirds for their superb performance in gaining promotion to the
6th division. The mainstays were Tony Male, Rob Lewis, Chris Rose and Ken Griffin1 who had a
near perfect record in their matches. As a result of our teams' performance, summer 2004 will see
Central with one team in the 5th division, two in the 6th and one in the 7th, which should mean that
no-one is going to be playing as cannon fodder! The other highlight of the Summer was Kerris
Weatherley and Nick Giles winning the Avon inter-club mixed tournament in a final that was held
at Central and watched by a completely neutral (not!) and appreciative audience.
Chris concluded with a quick word about the mixed winter league, in which Central have entered
three 'normal' teams and one vets. At the time of meeting, the points scored are as follow: 1st
30/40, 2nd 28/30, 3rd 15/20 and vets 12/40. A closer look at which part of the mixed team is
amassing the most of these points will reveal that the men have a lot to learn from the ladies!
1 Recently recovered from his shoulder/knee/neck/back/hip/little finger/big toe injury (please delete
as appropriate!)
Ross Hughes proposed adoption of the Captain’s reports which was seconded by Alec Davies. All
were in favour.
6. Bar Chairman’s Report
The BCTC bar operated well in 2003, turning over approximately £3200, and generating
approximately £1100 in profit. Some of this was used to purchase items for the clubhouse,
including 2 sofas (thanks to Carol Weeks). Social events on Wednesday nights have been quite well
attended,
and the bar also supported club events such as the LTA tournament (thanks to Lauren Shillaber) and
the doubles tournaments. At the end of an enjoyable 2-year term as Bar Chairman, David
Standingford is standing down, to be replaced by Adrian Henley.
Adoption of the bar report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Paul Henley. All were
in favour.
7. Junior Representative’s Report
BCTC AGM Minutes 2003
Kerris reported that the junior section has continued to make good progress, with 70-80 junior
members. She explained, however, that Central juniors are not amongst the most competitive and
with many having other interests, uptake for participation in junior tournaments has been lacking.
Kerris did highlight the achievements of Helen and Jo Kevallik, who both more than hold their own
in adult play and league matches!
Kerris reported that Central had successfully provided two coaching courses during the summer and
accorded thanks to the other coaches for their help with these. In addition, juniors had participated
in charity tennis mornings, e.g. Children in Need Appeal.
Members were updated on the development of the Kids Zone, for which there is a sum of £500 for
the painting of the court area. Kerris to meet with the development officer shortly and expressed
hopes that the zone will be in place by the time of the AGM next year.
Kerris publicly thanked Carole Smith for her work as membership secretary, specifically for her
efforts to recruit new members. She outlined that there had been interest in court use expressed by
local schools and concluded her report by encouraging members to come along pre-club play on
Wednesday evenings to help support and encourage the juniors.
Ken recognised the time and energy Kerris continues to dedicate to the club and thanked her on the
club’s behalf.
Adoption of Kerris’ report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Catherine Warburton.
All were in favour.
8. Subscriptions
Ken explained the LTA requirement for the increase in subs by at least the rate of inflation. This
means a rise in full adult member subscriptions from £143 to £146 per annum.
All were in favour.
9. Election of Officers
Jill Carr was not seeking re-election. Nominations had been received as follows:
Chair: Ken Griffin (existing)
Hon Treasurer: John Skinner (existing)
Hon Secretary: Lauren Shillaber
Membership Secretary: David Standingford
Bar Chairman: Adrian Henley
Men’s Captain: Chris Webber (existing)
Ladies’ Captain: Eleanor Ferris
Junior Representative: Kerris Weatherley (existing)
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
10 . Election of Executive Committee
Carol Weatherley was not seeking re-election. Nominations for the existing Committee members
had been received (Carol Weeks, Catherine Warburton, Jan Poltock and Adam Biscoe) as well as a
nomination for Paul Henley (clubhouse maintenance).
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
11. Election of Auditor
BCTC AGM Minutes 2003
Lauren Shillaber proposed that Ross Hughes continue as auditor. Chris Webber seconded this and
all were in favour.
12. AOB
i)
Tony Male proposed that the Brian Golding memorial tournament against Kings Club
(item 3.ix) take the form of a charity tournament. This was felt to be a good idea. Ken to
propose this to Kings Club.
ii)
Chris Webber thanked Carol Weeks for organising the purchase of new sofas for the
clubhouse.
13. Trophy presentations & Club Award
Ken thanked Alec Davies & Sue Lovell for organising the club tournaments throughout the year.
Alec congratulated and presented trophies to the following:
Event
Trophy recipients
Club singles – men
Winner: Paul Henley
Runner-up: Chris Webber
Winner: Ruth Hughes
Runner-up: Jo Kellavik
Winners: Paul Henley & Adrian Henley
Runners-up: Chris Webber & Diego
Winners: Ken Griffin & Russell Bing
Runners-up:
Winners: Chris Webber & Kerris Weatherley
Runners-up: John Skinner & Jo Kevallik
Winners: Tony Male & Julie Smith
Runners-up:
Club singles – women
Club doubles – men
Club doubles plate - men
Club mixed doubles
Club mixed doubles plate
*No club ladies doubles tournament was played
this year.
Ken presented the club trophy (given for contribution to the club at the chairman’s discretion)
jointly to Carole Smith and Darren Lloyd for their enormous efforts as members of the club,
including the organisation and photographic records of the popular ‘First Saturday’ tournaments.
Thank you to both of them for all their hard work, time and energy and good wishes from all at
BCTC.
Ken closed the meeting (& instructed members to party!) at 8.45pm.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2003
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
Held on WEDNESDAY 13th OCTOBER 2004 at 7.30pm
Present: Ken Griffin, John Skinner, Lauren Shillaber, Dave Standingdord, Chris Webber, Eleanor
Ferris, Lucy Clark, Rachel Eddy, Dennis, Anthea Johnson, Daniel Abblett, Alison, Ed, Pauline
Voted by proxy: Carol Weeks, Katy Walsh, Louise Davison, Julia Dalby, Di Harrison, Anna
Chambers, Barbara Carey, Sue Lovell, Sue Carver, Jayne Warburton
Apologies: Catherine Warburton, proxy voters
Action
1.
Changes to club rules
Central's club rules needed to be amended for 2 purposes:
i) licensing
ii) CASC status
i) Licensing
The key changes needing to be made for bar licensing purposes:

the requirement for membership applications to be displayed on club
noticeboard for 2 days prior to election by the Exec Committee,
before any rights granted (rule 4.1 - application for membership amended)
Membership secretary to email Exec Committee members when an application for
membership is received. Application to be displayed on the club noticeboard.
Committee members to confirm (email) to m/secretary satisfaction for admission
of applicant. Applicant to be 'admitted' to the club (at the earliest) two days later
& then to be 'elected' at the next meeting of the Ex Committee. Membership
secretary to add 'admitted' & 'elected' columns to the membership spreadsheet to
show when member admitted & when elected to the club as a member.
Only full members are entitled to full club privileges.
 the requirement for members to be elected to membership by an elective
committee (rule 4.1 amended, as above)
 deletion of the Bar Committee as a non-elected committee (rules already
provide for elected sub-committees as required)
 restriction of non-playing membership to a non-significant proportion of total
members (rule 4.7 amended)
*For full changes, please consult revised rules.
These changes were proposed as a resolution, seconded & accepted - all were in
favour.
ii) CASC
The Executive Committee had agreed to register the club as a Community
BCTC EGM Minutes 2004
Amateur Sports Club (CASC) to give us mandatory rates relief of around £1,000
p.a. This requires tightening of rules regarding:

objects of club to be amateur tennis (rules 2.1 & rules 2.5 amended)

membership open to all (explicit non-discriminatory rules - rules 4.1 &
4.2 amended)

membership refused or terminated by Exec Committee only for good cause,
and with right of appeal to entire membership (rule 8.2 amended)
Rule 17.1 re alteration of the club rules was also amended.
These changes were proposed as a resolution, seconded & accepted - all were in
favour.
2.
Other matters:
i) Visitors book
Given the changes, above, to applications for membership, improvers are to be
considered 'guests' & are to be recorded in the Visitors Book.
ii) Floodlights
Floodlight work to commence Mon 25 October. Ken to email members to keep
them informed of this & expected disruption to play. Lauren to post notice in
clubhouse.
Ken
Lauren
iii) Court cleaning
Courtstall to undertake court cleaning once floodlighting work complete. Chris
Webber overseeing this project.
Chris
iv) Friday club play
Two courts are now bookable & two assigned for club play on Friday evenings.
Lauren to promote via email.
v) Match fees
It was agreed that the club would fund winter league match fees 2004/5.
Club coach (Kerris) to be exempt from paying match fees all year.
Meeting closed at 8.20pm
Next Executive Committee meeting: Thur 11 Nov 2004, 7.30pm
AGM & Xmas Party: Thur 9 Dec, 7.30pm
Lauren Shillaber
8 December 2004
BCTC EGM Minutes 2004
Lauren
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on THURSDAY 9th DECEMBER 2004 at 7.30pm
Present:
Daniel Ablitt, Dave Banwell, Jill Carr, Mike Chant, Alec Davies, Eleanor Ferris, Dennis Flook, Annie
& Ken Griffin, Ross & Ruth Hughes, Anthea Johnson, Helen Kallevik, Sue Lovell, Will Meadows, John
Skinner, Lauren Shillaber, Patrick Simmonds, Richard Simon, Pauline Simpkins, Dave Standingford,
Ian & Lois Thorn, Roberta Walker, Katy Walsh, Catherine Warburton, Carol Weatherley, Chris
Webber, Ken Webber, Carol Weeks, Morris Williams
(Thanks to Sue Lovell & Carol Weeks for co-ordinating refreshments for the AGM & Xmas party!)
1. Apologies:
Erica Bealey, Alan & Barbara Carey, Julia Dalby, Louise Davison, Rachel Eddy, Mary Groves, Robin
Leveridge, Martin Lewis, Darren Lloyd, Colin Otridge, Chris Potts, Carole Smith, Julian Steed, Kerris
Weatherley, Harry & Katie Webber
2. Minutes of the AGM held on Thursday 4 December 2003
All were happy with the minutes of the 2003 AGM. Lauren Shillaber proposed adoption of the minutes
and Dave Standingford seconded. All were in favour.
3. Chairman’s Report – Ken Griffin
Ken welcomed everyone to the meeting and began by thanking members who had contributed to
organising the AGM & Xmas party. Thanks were also extended to members who have contributed to a
successful year at BCTC, in particular to Committee members, & those especially who are standing
down: Adam Biscoe, Catherine Warburton & Carol Weeks.
Ken outlined the club’s achievements during the past year:
i) Floodlights: at a cost of £33,000, the floodlights have been replaced. Ken thanked Jan Poltock & Tony
Male for their efforts with this project. Thanks also to Ken for co-ordinating this development!
ii) Court cleaning: the courts are being cleaned, including the painting of non-slip lines. Thanks to Chris
Webber for organising this.
iii) Brian Golding Memorial Tournament: the inaugural Kings Vs. Central tournament, in memory of
former member Brian Golding, successfully took place in October, with a decisive victory for Central.
Central was represented by Darren Lloyd & Carole Smith, Tony Male & Eleanor Ferris. Thanks to the
latter pair for organising the event. It is hoped that next year (to be hosted by Kings), the tournament
will be a charity event.
iv) LTA tournament: Central again successfully hosted the LTA singles tournament at Easter. Former
Central junior Tim Marcle was runner-up in the mens singles event. Ken thanked all those involved in
organising the tournament. It is hoped that Central will again host the tournament next year & that more
Central members will be encouraged to take part in the tournament. It was suggested that perhaps the
club singles tournament could be combined with the LTA tournament?
v) Bar license: the 10 year bar license expired during the past year but was (eventually!) renewed in
October for one year. Thanks to Lauren & P. for their persistence & efforts in this matter & happy
drinking to all members!
vi) Inter-club mixed doubles tournament: congratulations to Nicky Giles & Jo Kavellik who retained
this title for Central.
vii) Garages: thanks to Adam Biscoe for co-ordinating management of the club’s garages. The rental
income from the garages is expected to increase. Despite standing down from the Executive Committee,
Adam will continue as member with garage portfolio!
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004
viii) Club sign: the club has a new sign! This will be mounted for all to see. Thanks to those involved in
securing this, including Carol Weeks & Dave Standingford.
ix) Fencing: this is to be repaired following completion of floodlighting & court cleaning work.
x) Kids Zone: despite Kerris’ best efforts, the Kids Zone has still not yet materialised. (See Kerris’
report below for further details). It is hoped that it might appear in the spring - watch this space!
xi) CASC status: it was decided at the EGM in October that, as non-profit club, Central should apply for
CASC status (Community Amateur Sports Club). This will enable the club to secure rate relief of
£1,000 annually. Ken explained that Central would be registering through the Inland Revenue route, not
through the Charity Association.
xii) Injuries: Ken wished Alec & Ross speedy recoveries from their respective injuries, & Julie Smith
from her illness. It is hoped that they will all be back on court in the near future!
Ken concluded by reminding all members that they should feel free to contribute to the club in any way
they feel able to do so.
Ross Hughes proposed adoption of the report, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer’s Report – John Skinner
The finances of the club remain in an excellent condition with a slight increase in income and a
significant decrease in outgoings. In more detail:
i) Surplus of income over revenue expenditure is up this year by £4k; from £8k to £12k. The reasons
are:
 Income up slightly, mainly due to increased revenue from two of our garages.
 Revenue expenditure down substantially for a variety of reasons. These include:
a) A reduction of £2k on club maintenance much of which was due to the large spend in last
years account on garden development
b) Reduction of £200 in the cost of tennis balls
c) Considerable reduction in sundry and other costs
ii) The revenue surplus of £12k is offset as follows:
 £7.3k set aside for major future club renovations; especially for the eventual replacement of the
court surfaces. This ‘sinking’ fund now stands at just over £20k after 5 years of contributions. The
intention is that this will increase by £4k per year, but from time-to-time it may be used to finance
smaller club renovation projects.
 £2.5k to pay back the LTA loan for the club house rebuild. The outstanding loan now stands at just
over £16k, so that one third of the original loan is now discharged.
 Circa £2k profit goes into the club accounts and is available for smaller projects. In the near future
these smaller projects include court cleaning, a major garage refurbishment, and improvements to
the fencing.
iii) The various bank accounts contain circa £64k. This is made up of:
 £34k which is owed for the new lights, now installed
 £20k for the ‘sinking’ fund for long-term major refurbishment work
 £10k for short term improvements and for working capital
iv) Notable changes expected next year:
 A very large reduction in our council tax bill as a result of a change in status to CASC
 Increased income from our garages if we succeed in repairing and then renting a third garage
 Reduced maintenance costs on the lights, at least in the short-term, but …
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004

Increased electricity bills as a result of higher energy charges.
John thanked Ross Hughes for another thorough audit of the accounts.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Anthea Johnson and seconded by Ken Webber. All were in
favour.
5. Captain’s Reports
i) Ladies – Eleanor Ferris
Eleanor explained that, new in the ladies captaincy role last year, she had decided to run the summer
league teams on a squad system, with four squads competing in various divisions. There had been mixed
feelings about this method of organising league team selection. Each squad had been allocated a captain
rd
st
(Eleanor captained the 3 team) who co-ordinated each team. Eleanor thanked Kerris (1 ), Annie Griffin
nd
th
(2 ) & Sue Carver (4 ) for their help with this.
On balance, the ladies teams had mixed fortunes during the 2003/4 summer season (but no teams were
demoted!):
st
1 team: stayed in division
nd
2 team: won division & gained promotion* - hurrah!
rd
3 team: stayed in division
th
4 team: second in division & gained promotion – yippee!
st
nd
(*Next summer league season will see the 1 & 2 teams competing in the same division, which could
be interesting! )
Eleanor invited others to stand for the position of ladies captain. She explained that if she continued in
this role, she would continue the squad policy for ladies summer league play.
ii) Men - Chris Webber
Unedited, in Chris’ own imitable style:
During the last year, we’ve seen a number of established players leave and a number of new players
establish themselves … and some super seniors have found an appropriate competitive level for their
skills (e.g. racing to get the last bottle of Old Peculier out of the bar cooler!) The Tuesday night practice
sessions have been mainly well supported throughout the year, with often all four courts being used.
Regarding Central’s league performance, the last year has been very successful.
st
rd
We had 3 ‘normal?’ teams and 1 vets team in the 2003-4 winter league. The 1 and 3 teams both won
their divisions and therefore gained promotion to Divisions 1 and 4 respectively. The 2nds only just
missed promotion whilst the vets did moderately well (if you only count number of games lost …)
Unfortunately, there were even fewer games won and hence we remained at the bottom of that division
(there was very strong competition!) Flipping through the team sheets shows that Kerris, Jo Kallevik,
Karen Becker, Nikki Giles and Paul Henley were stalwarts for the Firsts, whilst Eleanor, Lauren and
Dave Standingford appeared most regularly for the Thirds .. and Dave also appears to have played
several times (but less than 4!) for the 2nds, alongside Adrian, Jill Carr, Carol Weeks and, err, Jo
Kallevik (again!)
The summer saw Central playing in the Peugeot National Tournament, the Avon Inter-club Singles and
Mixed Tournaments as well as the Avon Summer league. Congratulations and thanks to everybody who
took part in these events. Firstly, our performance in the summer league: because the 3rds gained
promotion in 2003, summer 2004 saw us with one team in division 5, two in division 6 and one in
nd
division 7. The 2 team won their division, 4ths narrowly missed promotion and the other two teams
th
finished comfortably in the middle of their divisions. So next year, there’ll be two in the 5 , one in the
th
th
6 and one in the 7 . We are gradually working our way up. I hesitate to pick out any particular players
because everyone who played did a magnificent job. It would, however, be remiss not to mention the
bursting onto the scene of Chris Pace and Alex Chalmers, and I will probably be run down by a BMW if
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004
I didn’t also mention that a player who helped get the 3rds promoted in 2003 also played in the
nd
promoted 2 team in 2004 … but I can’t remember his name (err .. oh yes, Tony Male!)
The other highlight of the summer was Jo Kallevik and Nikki Giles retaining the Avon Inter-club Mixed
title (ably assisted in earlier rounds by Kerris). This was actually a repeat of last years’ final against
Knowle and was an excellent fight back from a set down.
Finally, a quick word about the current winter league, which is, of course, mixed. This year, we have
st
nd
entered four ‘normal’ teams and one vets. Currently the points scored are as follows: 1 12/40, 2 27/50,
rd
th
st
3 14/50, 4 2/30 and vets 26/30. I’ll not make any comment apart from noting that the 1 team are
playing in a very competitive division 1 and that the vets are magnificent! Anyway, nothing more to add
… I’m always interested in hearing of anyone who wants to play league!
Jill Carr proposed adoption of the Captain’s reports which was seconded by Anthea Johnson. All were
in favour.
6. Bar Chairman’s Report – Adrian Henley
This year the profit on sales was 29%, compared to 30% for last year.
Our sales were, however, down by about £1000.00 on last year’s. This was expected, firstly due to a
couple of bar regulars no longer being members (Karen Becker being one!), and secondly, due to the
temporary lack of a bar licence, during which time the sale of alcohol was suspended.
Nevertheless, there was still a healthy profit of £616.
st
The bank balance as of 31 October 2004 was £1721.57.
Finally, concerning the bar stock, if there is anything else anybody would like stocked, Adrian should be
informed & he’ll see what he can do.
Adoption of the bar report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Catherine Warburton. All
were in favour.
7. Junior Representative’s Report – Kerris Weatherley
Chris Webber delivered Kerris’ report in her absence. Being a highly amusing account of the past year
in the life of the junior section, here follows her unedited report in all it’s glory:
The junior section has increased. I think I'm right in saying that there are approximately 70/80 kids who
are coming regularly, who are all paid up junior members. I am now up to 10 squads going on
throughout the week - some containing 8 kids, more containing bloody loads (20+). As we probably
know, many are not the most suitable for the game
of tennis but, who am I to send them away and tell them that they are not allowed to play, restricting
them from playing a game that has bought so many pleasures to all our lives, a game that we have learnt
to love and have met some lovely people through, so, they have been made welcome.....hopefully?
However, I do have a couple of groups which
have progressed so much with maturity - maybe we will make some good club players out of them yet?
The elder group who still come on a Wednesday evening are beginning to stay for club play (through
their shyness) and thank you to all who have helped to encourage and guide them through some
matches. They do need help but I'm working on the basis that the more they play with you guys, the
better they will become!! (Te he he!) They are nice players though erratic - just a little more patience,
please.
When it comes to match play, I still have the same old problem that: 1) parents do find it difficult to
travel as there are usually more than 1 child at home; 2) the kids are doing so many other activities and
therefore struggle to fit it in; and 3) especially with my better children, they just aren't interested in
playing competitively - something to do with the fear of failing, I reckon. So, I am still reluctant to put
them into any junior club leagues and would rather them play because they enjoy the game instead of
not because they cannot handle the pressures - still working on this one!! I'm just hoping that they will
mature and maybe, one day represent the club alongside some of you. It is not all bad though - more of
the younger, more competent players are playing in the Avon Box League, playing many of their
matches at Central, helping us put the club on the map with other families and children.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004
Personally, I would like to say how lucky I feel when coaching juniors at Central. Yes, I know they can
be loud and sometimes silly, but honestly, they are the most fabulous and funniest kids around. They
never fail to make me laugh and even though some are never going to be great tennis players, they are
still so dedicated, turning up in all weathers week after week, and mostly year after year. Some of the
older ones are now helping me with the groups and hopefully, I'm helping them gain experience (in
coaching!) and of course financially. Funny how this club works in cycles (I was in a group once!) More
are playing summer league which I love to see as at the end of the day, that is all they are going to be,
good club players - why push them anymore?
Kids zone – well, what the blinkin blimey!!!! After last year, when I said it was going to be done and
dusted, it’s still not done. To recap, Barry Tugwood (County Development officer) has offered to give
us £500 to get the painting on the ground, to have little targets and whatever else pinned on the fences
and some great equipment supplied, and so on. He told me about a couple of firms to look at to get some
quotes - Avon Road Mark being the cheapest. For just the simplest, simplest of designs, they quoted
£561. This was back last November. I cleared everything with Barry, him still only giving £500. Avon
Road Mark came back saying that it wouldn’t be done until at least the summer. Summer came and
went - no road mark. So I called back in September: “Yes, we’ll call you. You are on the list”.
September went by, I rang again. “Yes, later on next week, I will call you”. No call. I called again in
early October, gave a bit of “so if you don't want the contract then, fine, I'll go else where”. In my mind
though, I still only have £500 and they still are the cheapest. So all the excuses came and went, the
weather etc. It probably won't be done until early spring 2005. So, I have a meeting with Barry next
week to discuss other plans........ Balls!
Some concerns: kiddies playing when I'm not present or parents are not with them. Well 1) they cannot
get in if no one else is there. Sometimes they do climb, that's all kids in general I think. How can we
stop that? 2) the parents and kids are told that they are responsible for whatever happens when they are
at the club by themselves. If other adults are present, it’s up to the individuals present whether you let
them in or not. They have no key but as part of their membership they are entitled to play when the
courts are not in use (parents are advised to be with them). Could signs be put up like 'enter at your own
risk', 'You are responsible for...' etc.?
Balls: whatever balls are on the side, kids will automatically pick them up and, yes, they can get
muddled with mine, but as we all know, my balls are pretty rubbish anyway. If they are not intended to
be picked up by anyone, then perhaps they could be stored elsewhere? Not in full view?
Ken thanked Kerris for her continued pivotal contribution to the club.
Adoption of Kerris’ report was proposed by Carol Weatherley and seconded by John Skinner. All were
in favour.
8. Subscriptions
Ken explained the LTA requirement for the increase in subs by at least the rate of inflation. This means
a rise in full adult member subscriptions from £146 to £149 per annum. Subs for other membership
categories will also be adjusted accordingly.
All were in favour.
9. Election of Officers
Nominations had been received as follows:
Chair: Ken Griffin (existing)
Hon Treasurer: John Skinner (existing)
Hon Secretary: Lauren Shillaber (existing)
Membership Secretary: David Standingford (existing)
Bar Chairman: Adrian Henley (existing)
Men’s Captain: Chris Webber (existing)
Ladies’ Captain: Eleanor Ferris (existing)
Junior Representative: Kerris Weatherley (existing)
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004
10 . Election of Executive Committee
Adam Biscoe, Catherine Warburton & Carol Weeks were not seeking re-election as ‘ordinary’
members. Nominations for Mike Chant, Will Meadows, Colin Otridge, Jan Poltock (existing), Pauline
Simpkins (P.) & Roberta Walker (Bert) had been received.
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
11. Election of Auditor
Ross Hughes was thanked for his efforts as account auditor. He was proposed to continue in this role.
Eleanor Ferris proposed & Catherine Warburton seconded this. All were in favour.
12. Trophy presentations & Club Award
Ken thanked Alec Davies & Sue Lovell for organising the club tournaments throughout the year, &
Carol Weeks for organising the ladies doubles competition. Ken congratulated and presented trophies to
the following:
Event
Club singles – men
Trophy recipients
Winner: Patrick Simmonds
Runner-up: Will Meadows
Club singles – women
Winner: Ruth Hughes
Runner-up: Mary Morgan
Club doubles – men
Club doubles – ladies
Not yet played
Winners: Lauren Shillaber & Katy Walsh
Runners-up: Eleanor Ferris & Di Harrison
Club mixed doubles
Winners: Chris Webber & Kerris Weatherley
Runners-up:
Club mixed doubles plate Winners:
Runners-up:
Ken presented the club award (given for contribution to the club at the chairman’s discretion) to Kerris
Weatherley for her continued & unwavering efforts at Central both in coaching & playing capacities.
Thanks Kerris!
Ken closed the meeting (& instructed members to party!) at 8.30pm.
Lauren Shillaber
January 2005
BCTC AGM Minutes 2004
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 9th DECEMBER 2005 at 7.30pm
Present:
Ken Griffin, Lauren Shillaber, Dave Standingford, Denis Twomey, Carol Weeks, Eleanor Bird,
Dennis Flook, Mike Chant, Catherine Warburton, Neil Pirie, Ross & Ruth Hughes, John Skinner,
Carol Weatherley, Ken Webber, Bert Walker, Hilary Bryant, Anthea Johnson, Chris Webber, Hilary
Woodward, Richard Simon, Kerris, Andrew & Fleur Weatherley, Lois & Ian Thorn, Hilary Bryant
1. Apologies:
Apologies were received from a number of members, including Erica Bealey, Steve Silver, Colin
Otridge, Alan & Barbara Carey, Pauline Simpkins, Will Meadows, Chris Potts, Mary Morgan,
Carols Smith, Darren L1oyd, Andrew Cox, Adam Biscoe, Tony Male, Julia Dalby, Hen Ridgeon,
Sue Lovell, Jayne Warburton, Jacqeline Sexton, Louise Davison, Rachel Eddy, Sue Carver,
Caroline Wort, Annie Griffin, Harry Webber, Olive Brown, Steve Truscott, Mary Groves
2. Minutes of the AGM held on Thursday 9 December 2004
All were happy with the minutes of the 2004 AGM. Catherine Warburton proposed adoption
of the minutes and Dave Standingford seconded. All were in favour. Ken Griffin signed off.
3. Chairman's Report - Ken Griffin
Ken welcomed everyone to the meeting and began by thanking members who had contributed to
organising the AGM & Xmas party. Thanks were also extended to members who had contributed to
a successful year at BCTC, in particular to Committee members. Kerris & Andrew were
congratulated on their new arrival, and a special welcome was extended to Fleur!
Ken outlined the club's achievements during the past year:
 Fencing has been repaired and replaced where necessary; new disabled access gate fitted to
court 1
 Kids Zone completed
 Courts cleaned and lines repainted
 Garages repaired and 4th garage rebuilt, now providing a good source of income
 New bar license obtained
 Brian Golding Memorial Trophy retained against Kings Club
 Membership numbers up and club finances in good health
... and a few disappointments:




Initial CASC application rejected, requiring further minor amendment to club rules
Very low entry to LTA Open Tournament, which BCTC will not continue to run in 2006
Low entry level to Club Tournaments, although 'First Saturday' tournaments are still
proving popular
Lack of new members volunteering to help with running of the club, which may result in
the need for the Club to employ a paid administrator

Ken concluded by reminding all members that they should feel free to contribute to the club in
any way they feel able to do so.
Ross Hughes proposed adoption of the report, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer's Report - John Skinner
The finances of the club remain in an excellent condition with a slight increase in income,
BCTC AGM Minutes 2005
enabling us to spend more on facilities maintenance and improvement. In more detail:
 Significant increase in income from garages now we are collecting 4 sets of rent
 Subscription income up by around 5%
 Increase in profits from bar and catering
 Tennis ball spend down as we have not yet had to restock for the winter
 Significant increase in maintenance costs due to work on fencing and court cleaning
 Cash surplus of £7,100 for the year, which is £600 more than the amount needed to cover
sinking fund requirement of £4,000 p.a. and LTA loan repayments continuing at £2,500 p.a.
 Court replacement fund now standing at £24,000, matched by cash on deposit
 £4,500 unappropriated cash balances to tide us through to next subs renewal
John thanked Ross Hughes for another thorough audit of the accounts.
Ross Hughes proposed adoption of the report, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
5. Captain's Reports
Captains reports were presented by Eleanor Bird for the ladies & Chris Webber on behalf of
the men.
Eleanor reported the following:
There were 4 ladies teams in Summer League 2005, arranged into squads of 6 or so players per
team, with teams then arranged by the squad captains (with Eleanor captaining the 3rds, Sue
Carver captaining the 4ths, and Annie Griffin, captaining the 1st and 2nds, who were in the
same division!) Due to a combination of teams going up a division last year and being without a
number of women since last year, the teams did not fair well, We welcomed Caroline Wort into
the club and into the 2nd team part-way through the season, which helped our numbers. Regret
was expressed that this season did not see more fresh blood in the teams, e.g. from juniors and
improvers.
One ladies team was entered in the Summer Vets League in 2005. This was one less than last year
but with the general lack of women available combined with summer holidays and injury, we still
failed to be able to field a team on occasion. Many thanks to Carol Weeks for organising this, with
assistance from other Vets.
Club tournaments - there were only 4 entrants for the Ladies Singles tournament, which was won
by Ruth Hughes, with Jo Kallevik as runner-up. The Ladies Doubles tournament was won by
Eleanor Bird and Catherine Warburton, with Julie Smith & Annie Griffin as runners-up. Pairs were
able to sign up together or individually & pairs drawn out of a hat (which was in fact how all 4
pairs taking part were formed). The tournaments were enjoyed by all who took part though the low
numbers involved could hope to be improved on in future. The doubles tournament particularly
suffered from being scheduled for September holiday period and was rearranged once due to low
numbers and late organisation.
Eleanor thanked everyone, but particularly the other league-playing ladies and Chris Webber as
men's captain, for their support, whilst she had been ladies captain.
Chris Webber reported to the AGM on the fortunes of the men's teams.
Adoption of the captains' reports was proposed by Dave Standingford and seconded by Catherine
Warburton. All were in favour.
6. Junior Representative's Report - Kerris Weatherley
Kerris reported that the junior section of the club continued to thrive, with busy Saturday morning
BCTC AGM Minutes 2005
pay & play coaching, and after-school squads during the week in term time.
BCTC has over 100 junior memberships most of who are in at least one squad a week, making it
enough youngsters to break up squads into 3hrs a night. Sadly court time and finances hold them
back.
The next generation of juniors are coming through, being encouraged to play club play and club
tournaments to mix with the craftiness of adults, couple of boys played summer league with
hopefully a few more next year including at least 5 girls.
Kerris has spoken about entering a junior league but not much response from parents or kids. She
usually advises kids to enter the Avon box league to encourage more competitive play outside
BCTC. The kids are still very shy and sometimes lack the confidence to stay and play with the
adults. Kerris asked adult members to please encourage younger players to join in.
Mini tennis is still strong, with two pay and play sessions being held each week.
Kids zone down but still not fully finished as only received £500 from LTA while it cost closer to
£700 to finish. Some extra money needed to buy equipment such as skipping ropes, targets, etc. to
make the area more appealing. Intention of holding an open day one Saturday morning in the
spring time.
Parent memberships introduced. This generates extra cash and also encourages parents to be
with their kids when coaches are not around (for insurance purposes).
ADULTS - large improver groups, thanks to Dave's efforts! Women encouraged to come up early
on Mondays and Wednesdays to see the standard and have a game with the non league players.
Numbers tend to come and go. Need more encouragement and understanding of the game. Extra
sessions required but cannot force them into paying for extra coaching. Any ideas gratefully
received!
Thank yous were extended to Sam Drowley, Jo Kallevik, Mhairi Pickersgill and Harry Szur for
all their hard work.
Special thanks were extended to Andy for covering Kerris and for his help and support during her
maternity period.
Future plans - to continue to develop our juniors, encourage to keep playing with no pressure, to
keep tennis fun so that they join in with adult play and want to represent the club now and in the
future. Extend the Kids Zone to encourage new junior members, offering a trial run in conjunction
with an open day. Kerris also thinking about holding an unofficial junior tennis tournament around
Easter time, maybe in conjunction with an adult one. More competition in general. Need to fill the
gap for the less confident improvers to make them into club players without forcing them into
paying loads!
Adoption of Kerris' report was proposed by Catherine Warburton and seconded by John Skinner.
All were in favour.
7. Bar Chairman's Report
Adrian was absent from the meeting but had sent apologies. John reported back on his behalf with
an increase in bar profits from £616 to £1,195. It was agreed that Adrian had done an excellent job
and that the bar had remained comfortably in profit, averaging nearly £800 per year in recent years.
Thankfully, the actions taken by previous Bar Stewards (Chris and Dave), plus the continuing care
of Adrian, seemed to have banished the long run of losses that we were making. The bar had been
BCTC AGM Minutes 2005
operated smoothly and without fuss as a result of Adrian's efforts, and of the efforts of Lauren
Shillaber and Pauline Simpkins, who combined to ensure continuity of the club's bar licence amid
all the new regulations. The introduction of bottled real-ales continued to be a success, although,
from a personal perspective, John would like to have seen a greater supply of one of them (Tangle
Foot - take note, Denis!)
Adoption of the bar report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Catherine Warburton.
All were in favour.
8. Rule changes
Ken explained that some further minor changes to the rules had been requested by the Inland
Revenue prior to granting CASC status, in order to clarify the disposition of club assets in the
event of a winding up of the club.
The proposed amendments to nJ!es 2.4 and 2.5 were unanimously approved by the meeting. The
Chairman noted that the meeting was quorate as required under rule 5.1 and the rule changes were
thereby adopted.
9. Subscriptions
Ken reminded the meeting of our commitment to the LTA to increase subs by at least the rate of
inflation whilst we remained a creditor of the LTA. However, recognising the healthy state of the
club finances, the committee had decided to recommend a minimal rise in full adult member
subscriptions from £149 to £150 per annum. Subs for other membership categories will also be
adjusted accordingly.
All were in favour.
10. Election of Officers
Nominations had been received as follows:
Chair: Ken Griffin (existing)
Hon Treasurer: John Skinner (existing)
Hon Secretary: none
Membership Secretary: none
Bar Chairman: Denis Twomey
Men's Captain: Chris Webber (existing)
Ladies' Captain: Sue Carver
Junior Representative: Kerris Weatherley (existing)
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
It was agreed that the Committee would continue to seek to co-opt volunteers to fill the vacant
positions of Secretary and Membership Secretary, but would consider employment of an
administrator if no other solution could be found.
11. Election of Executive Committee
Nominations had been received for ordinary committee member positions from the following:
Eleanor Bird, Mike Chant, Will Meadows and Colin Otridge.
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
12. Election of Auditor
Ross Hughes was thanked for his efforts as club auditor. He was proposed to continue in this role.
Chris Webber proposed & Catherine Warburton seconded this. All were in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2005
13. Trophy presentations & Club Award
Ken congratulated and presented trophies to the following:
Event
Club singles – men
Club singles – women
Club doubles – men
Club doubles – ladies
Club mixed doubles
Winners
Paul Henley
Ruth Hughes
Not yet played
Eleanor Bird & Catherine Warburton
Nicky Giles & Kerris Weatherley
Ken presented the club award (given for contribution to the club at the chairman's discretion) to
Dave Standingford for his continued efforts at Central first in the role of Bar Chairman and in
latter years as Membership Secretary.
Ken closed the meeting at 8.30pm and invited members to continue with the Club Xmas Party,
which this year doubled as a special birthday landmark for Chris Webber...
Lauren Shillaber
January 2006
BCTC AGM Minutes 2005
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 8th DECEMBER 2006 at 7.30pm
Present:
Ken Griffin (Chair), Colin Otridge, Ken McClure, Annie Griffin, Alan White, Carol Weeks, Lauren
Shilaber, Hal Canplin, Denis Twomey, Chris Webber, Jill Carr, Sue Carver, Ken Webber, John
Skinner, David Standingford, Lois Thorne, Ian Thorne, Hilary Bryant, Paul Underhill, Andy
Young, Ross Hughes, Paul Henley, Will Meadows, Eleanor Bird, Tony Male, Adrian Henley, Sue
Rowlands, Rob Douglas, Neil Pirie, Barbara Carey.
1. Apologies:
Mary Morgan, Olive Brown, Steve Truscott, Catherine Warburton, Adam Biscoe, Carol
Weatherley, Alan Carey, Kerris Weatherley, Anthea Nicklitsch, Bruno Grasso, Martin Brennan,
Dave Banwell, Ruth Hughes, Neal Holden.
2. Minutes of the AGM held on Friday 9th December 2005.
Everyone was happy with the minutes and they were adopted.
3. Chairman’s Report.
Ken thanked everyone for attending the meeting, which would be his last as Chairman. He had
taken on a great club 5 years ago with 90% of the modernisation programme already done. He had
overseen the completion of works on floodlighting, the garden and fencing and with these complete,
no major projects had been needed or undertaken in the last year. Membership numbers had fallen
slightly due to the lack of a membership secretary for part of the year. It was important for members
to be involved to keep the Club running. The junior section had been going from strength to
strength - a good sign for the future – and he gave a particular vote of thanks to Kerris for all her
work in this respect. He was also pleased that Sam Drowley had been nominated for the Junior Rep
position. With the Club in such a good position he felt it was time to hand on to new blood to plan
for the next stage of the Club’s future. He thanked all committee and all other members who had
helped him over the years.
Adoption of the report proposed by Ross Hughes, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
4. Hon Treasurer’s report.
John said that income from subscriptions was down and we had lost income previously obtained by
hiring out the courts to UWE. On the other hand income from garage rentals was up and would
probably go up again next year and now the Club had CASC status we were eligible for rate and
water rebates, which were 20%, lower than previously paid. There had been no big expenditure
projects this year. The amount outstanding amount on the LTA loan now stood at less than 50% of
the amount borrowed. We were still committed to an annual repayment of £2500 as well as an
annual saving of £4000 into to a sinking fund for replacement courts. This fund stands at £28000.
Although the figure of profit on the accounts shows as £7800 the real figure of profit is about
£2000.
He said that bar profits were down between £400 and £500. This was partly due to a
misinterpretation about bar account keeping, but the bar accounts still showed a profit of £230 this
year.
Ian Thorne asked if interest was payable on the LTA loan. John confirmed it was not. Eleanor
wondered if visitor fees should he dropped. After discussion it was agreed that this would be
decided by the new Committee who would need to take into account any implication of CASC
status which might also have a bearing on the bar licence.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Lauren Shilaber and seconded by Colin Otridge. All were
in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2006
5. Captain’s reports.
Ladies: Sue Carver reported that we had fielded 3 ladies teams in the summer league and 2 ladies
teams in the summer veterans. The 1st and 3rd ladies teams had done very well. Unfortunately we
had been unable to find enough players for all of the veteran’s matches and intended to enter one
team only next year. She thanked all those who had played and thanked Carol Weeks in particular
for helping with the organising of teams. Monday night coaching and play had gone well and she
was delighted to see new members getting involved in this and league. Julia Hassell had won the
ladies singles title with Ruth Hughes the runner up. Carol and Kerris Weatherley had won the ladies
doubles title with Julia Hassell and Carol Weeks runners up. She thanked Chris for setting up winter
leagues fixtures and Annie Griffin for helping to organise Friday night play.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Lois Thorne, seconded by Ross Hughes and accepted by
all.
Men’s: Chris Webber reported on the achievements of the Men’s teams and thanked everyone who
had played and helped with the organisation.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Will Meadows, seconded by Ross Hughes and accepted by
all.
6. Bar Chairman’s Report.
Dennis reported that regrettably bar stock seemed to be missing. This was a recent discovery. He
now had a better understanding of the bar accounting system. He would want the new Committee to
review bar security and the stocking of spirits in the bar.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Colin Otridge. All were in
favour.
7. Junior Reps report.
Chris read Kerris Weatherly’s report on her behalf. We now had well over 100 juniors from the
very young up to 18/19 year olds all regularly attending squads. She had made the groups as small
as possible to encourage greater progression. . She encouraged adult members to get involved to
help the transition from junior to adult play. Pay and play sessions were still very popular and we
had gained about 10 new juniors from an Open Day.
Junior Interclub competition had not been popular with most juniors opting to play in the Avon Box
League. New equipment had been purchased by the Club such as skipping ropes, a movement mat
and balance boards. She was hoping that the Club could develop a club/school link with Sefton Park
School, but there were insurance, health and safety and funding issues to be addressed before this
could be finalised. She asked that the Committee addressed the issue of adult supervision for juniors
whilst using the courts. She said that adult coaching courses were still popular. She thanked Sam
Drowley, Mhairi Pickersgill, Harry Szur and Louis Luscombe for their help and Ollie Wild who
was now assisting with coaching.
Ross asked who was funding the cost of splitting junior squads into smaller groups. Ken said that
this was self-funded. John said that some funds might be released to help Kerris with coaching. Hal
thought that it was essential for juniors to be involved in the adult play and thought the adults
should get involved in the junior groups.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Ross Hughes and seconded by Paul Henley. All were in
favour.
8. Rule changes.
Ken confirmed that none were necessary this year.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2006
9. Subscriptions.
Ken said that the Committee was recommending that the full adult subscription remain at £150. It
was felt that although there was an LTA requirement to increase the subscription in line with
inflation, the club finances were strong enough to support no increase. It was hoped that we would
be able to continue with no match fees, introduce free Saturday tournaments and provide more
balls.
Ross wondered if the low expenditure this year gave a false impression of the strength of finances
and wondered if we were still considering employing an administrator. Ken confirmed that we were
not expecting to do so this year and John pointed out that we did not expect to make £5000 profit
every year.
Adoption of the recommendation was proposed by Carol Weeks and seconded by Ross Hughes. All
were in favour.
10. Election of Officers.
Nominations had correctly been made for the following:
Chairman
Hon Treasurer
Hon Secretary
Membership Secretary
Men’s Captain
Ladies Captain
Club Coach
Junior Rep
Denis Twomey
John Skinner
Barbara Carey
Annie Griffin
Colin Otridge
Sue Carver
Kerris Weatherley
Sam Drowley
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
11. Election of Executive Committee.
Nominations had correctly been received for Mike Chant, Will Meadows, Chris Webber, Ken
Griffin and Hilary Bryant.
These were offered en bloc for election and all were in favour.
12. Election of Auditor.
Ross Hughes had audited the accounts this year.
John Skinner nominated Ken Griffin. Chris Webber seconded this. Ken was in agreement. All were
in favour.
13. Trophy presentation and Club Award.
Ken congratulated the winners and presented trophies to the following.
Event
Club Singles - men
Club Singles - women
Club Doubles - men
Club Doubles - women
Club Mixed Doubles
Winners
Paul Underhill
Julia Hassell
Paul Underhill and Andy Young
Kerris and Carol Weatherley
Andy Young and Annie Griffin.
Ken said that there were many potential candidates but this year presented the Club award (given
for contribution to the Club at the Chairman’s discretion) to John Skinner who had not only done all
the Treasury work this year, but had also given support to the membership secretary.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2006
Ross gave a vote of thanks to Ken for a job well done over the last 5 years. Everyone agreed with
this.
Ken closed the meeting and invited members to continue with the Xmas party.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2006
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on THURSDAY 6th DECEMBER 2007 at 7.30pm
Present:
Dennis Twomey (Chair, John Skinner, Neil Pirie, Anthea Johnson, Jill Carr, Jayne Warburton, Paul
Underhill, Andy Young, Kerris Weatherley, Julia Hassell, Annie Griffin, Ken Griffin, Peter
Caldwell, Eleanor Bird, Hilary Bryant, Chris Blake, Sue Carver, Paul Henley, Jan Clench, Cas
Brooks, Dee Northover, Carol Weeks, Sue Lovell, Chris Webber, Di Harrison, Katy Walsh, Nicky
Giles, Claudio Furet
Apologies:
Barbara Carey, Alan Carey, Olive Brown, Mary Morgan, Ian Thorn, Lois Thorn, katherine
Warburton, Dennis Flook, Ruth Hughes, Ross Hughes, Lauren Shillhaber, David Standingford,
Becks Reece, Sam Drowley.
Minutes of the AGM held on Friday 8th December 2006
Everyone was happy with the minutes and they were adopted.
Chairman's Report.
Dennis welcomed everyone and thanked so many for turning up. The major achievement of the
year was the repainting of the courts with special thanks to John Skinner for overseeing it.
The issues to be tackled in the next year include problems with cats and foxes, the repainting of the
club house and supervision of juniors outside formal coaching with regards to safety.
The new committee will look at ways of trying to increase participation in all club events, interclub
tournaments, social and club play.
The Brian Golding memorial Trophy was retained by BCTC. Thanks for all who took part and
Ollie for the acceptance speech. Next year it will be held at BCTC.
The interclub finals on 20th October saw some exiting play with 3 of 4 matches going to 3 sets.
.Thanks to Neil Holden for very successful 1st Saturday tournaments. Overall winners were Neil
Holden and Sue Carver with Ed James as runner up.
Adoption of the report proposed by Chis Webber, Seconded by Ken Griffin. All were in favour
Hon Treasurers Report.
John reported that income increased by about £1,000, including a small increase in bar profits. The
major expenditure was over £8,000 for the court painting and after the LTA loan repayment left a
'profit'of £900. The LTA zero interest loan has reduced from £25,000 8 years ago to £9,000.
The fund for court replacement is over £32,000, it is hoped this may rise to approx £70,000 by the
time the courts need replacing in 8 to 12 years. The savings have been transferred from Lloyds TSB
to Alliance and Leicester. Electricity supplier has also been switched.
No large maintenance costs are anticipated this year, although the C/H system is a concern and the
club house may need attention.
John thanked Ken Griffin for auditing the accounts and Denis for keeping the bar going.
John was asked if money could be put into an ISA, he does not think companies or charities can
hold ISAs. Neil asked re cost of replacement flood lights(American). John said they should last
about 4 years and with the current dollar/sterling exchange this was advantageous. John confirmed
to Eleanor that cost of Saturday tournaments was in the accounts. In answer to the difference in
current accounts, John said this was a time factor.
Adoption of the report proposed by Carole Weeks, seconded by Kerris Weatherley
BCTC AGM Minutes 2007
Captains Reports:
Ladies: Sue Carver reported that three teams were fielded for summer league. Sadly some regulars
were no longer available, but new players were welcomed. The first team did well winning most of
their games with Kerris and Karen Clarke (a big thank you Karen for the huge round trip each
week) and Julia and Bex. The second and third teams also did well, winning around half their
matches. A big thank you to all involved.
Monday nights have been a mixture of organised play and just turn up with a generally good turn
out. Kerris reports more good juniors who would be welcome monday evenings and maybe league.
We need to encourage new members.
Only one team were entered in summer vets. Thanks to Carole Weeks for organising all the
matches and everyone who stepped in at the last minute.
4 ladies entered the singles tournament, won narrowly by Bex versus Julia. 6 pairs entered the
doubles (aided by plenty of tea and cake), the finals yet to be played.
Thanks to Chris for general match organising, booking courts, supplying tennis balls etc. Finally a
big thank you to everyone who has contributed to club play and league during my time as captain, it
has been an enjoyable two years and I have greatly appreciated all the help and support.
Mens: Chris Webber (acting captain!) reported the enormous strength in the top teams, in
particular, but not in order, Fred A, Andy Y, Nick G, the two Pauls and Ollie, also Sam and Ken G,
as well assome very promising juniors. There are too many others to name who have also played
brilliantly.
In summer league the firsts won their group and promotion into division 3. The seconds held the
middle of their group in div. 5 and the thirds just missed promotion to div. 6. The 4ths and 5ths
fought valiently and the veterans (against younger opposition) were brave.
In the current winter league we have four 'normal' teams and one vets. Current points scored are :
1st 28/30, 2nd 20/20, 3rd 16/40 4th 12/20, vets 0/10.
Adoption of the reports proposed by Andy Young, seconded by Paul Henley. All in favour.
Bar Chairman's report:
Dennis Twomey reported a bar profit of about £400 despite a decline in drinking especially after
league on fridays.
Adoption of report proposed by John Skinner, seconded by Eleanor Bird.
Junior Reps report:
Kerris Weatherley reports huge numbers of juniors, increasing parent members, some becoming full
members. There are groups nearly every night of the week for 2 hours plus. Standards are rising,
encouragement to play more than once a week plus some individual lessons. We would like to see
the 5,6,7 year olds having half our individuals with Sam. 10 – 15s should be joining in more with
adult play, those who do are enjoying it – thanks to you for patience. Talked to Chris Webber on
ways to encourage youngsters to socialise more at club, suggestions are table tennis, cards, more
competitions, youth club, mini inter-club tournament (a weekend after easter hols). Possibly
Wimbledon trip, hiring mini-bus and getting ground tickets. May need membership cards to help ID
ing all the kids.
Have written letter t[ local primary schools advertising taster sessions, not sent as not sure needed,
also question of insurance. Have been in contact with SSCO regards funding for extra coaching.
Mini tennis court finished, used every Saturday a.m. pay & play, nearly 40 depending on weather.
No courts free 1030 – 1130. New county Dev Officer – Julie Jones.
Improvers: brilliant numbers, great advertising from Annie, some quite good should be mixing with
club play. Thanks to full members coming to play with and encourage them.
Thank you Mhairi, Harry and really big thank you to Sam and Ollie.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2007
Neil P asked what was problem with insurance. Kerris said head was querying health & safety re
insurance. Dennis said the new committee can look at this. John thanked Kerris for work with the
improvers.
Subscriptions:
The committee proposes to hold subscriptions the same as last year ie £150 for a full member.
Other subs are always set by the committee.
Adoption proposed by Annie Griffin, seconded by Hilary Bryant
LTA Advantage Membership
Carole Weeks reported that the LTA is changing the way clubs get Wimbledon tickets. Every club
member who want them have to sign up to British Tennis membership – free this year, future years
will be about £6. Whoever wants tickets in 2008 must register asap – go to LTA website and click
onto Wmbledon. Carole suggests that if not many register, we may not be allocated many tickets,
she also offers to go to LTA meetings if no one else can. She will liase with Annie to email the
membership.
Adoption proposed by Neil Pirie, seconded by Sue Carver
Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chairman.
Hon Secretary
Membership Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Mens Captain
Ladies Captain
Bar Chairman
Junior Rep
Dennis Twomey
no nominations
Annie Griffin
Chris Blake
Ollie Wilde
Julia Hassell
no nominations
no nominations
Proposed by Paul Henley, seconded by Hilary Bryant, all in favour.
Election of Executive Committee
Nominations had been received for Hilary Bryant, Mike Chant, John Skinner, Chris Webber.
Proposed by Eleanor Bird, seconded by Kerris Weatherley, all in favour.
Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin was nominated, proposed by Carole Weeks, seconded by Chris Webber, all in favour.
Dennis asked if anyone would like to fill the vacant positions, but no one offered. Someone is also
needed to manage website. Eleanor offered to help.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2007
Trophy Presentation and Club Award
Dennis congratulated the winners and presented trophies to the following:
Event
winner
Runner up
Club Ladies Singles
Bex Rees
Julia Hassell
Club Mens Singles
Paul Underhill
Ollie Wilde
Mens Doubles
Ollie Wilde, Sam Drowley
Paul Henley, Fred Ali
Mixed Doubles
Karen Clark, Ken Griffin
Julia Hassell, Paul Henley
First Saturday Tournaments
Ladies – Sue Carver,
Overall Runner up – Ed James
Ladies doubles
Mens - Neil Holden
Dennis has two other people to thank:
Thanks to Barbara Carey and her service to the club all these years as secretary, her organisational
skills at club events, especially days spent ensuring the smooth running of LTA tournaments and
working in the kitchen. As she is not here tonight, Dennis suggests she is invited to a Monday
ladies evening and presented with the trophy then.
The second presentation is to Ken Webber, who has been a member here for 37 years. He was
invited this evening and has been asked to continue as a social member.
The final presentation is the chairman’s presentation for outstanding contribution to the club. This
goes to the person who has put in a lot of time and effort in maintainance, managing the bar,
selection of teams – Chris Webber.
No other business, but Carole Weeks thanks Sue Carver for the excellent job over the last two years
as ladies captain.
Dennis closed the meeting and suggested we continue with the Christmas party.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2007
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 12th DECEMBER 2008 at 7.30pm
Present:
Denis Twomey (Chair), John Skinner, Anthea Johnson, Paul Henley, Julia Hassell, Annie
Griffin, Ken Griffin, Pip Morgan, Chris Blake, Carol Weeks, Sue Lovell, Chris Webber, Claudio
Furet, Barbara Carey (Hon.Sec.), Ollie Wild, David Standingford, Lauren Shillaber, Ian Thorn,
Dee Northover, Sarah Livingstone and Kerris Weatherley.
Apologies:
Olive Brown, Lois Thorn, Catherine Warburton, David Page, Julia Dalby, Eleanor Bird, Jayne
Warburton, Keith Thomas, Dennis Flook, Paul Underhill, Sue Carver, Carol Weatherley, Jill
Carr and Jeff Clapp.
Minutes of the AGM held on Thursday 6th December 2007
Proposed for acceptance: Lauren Shillaber. Seconded Ken Griffin. Everyone agreed. Minutes
adopted.
Chairman's Report.
Denis welcomed everyone to the meeting. There had been no major projects at the Club in the
last year, but the continued success of the Club had only been ensured by the hard work of
Committee members. He thanked Annie Griffin for her work in encouraging new members, John
Skinner for all work on the garden and maintenance and Kerris Weatherley and Ollie Wild for
their continuing coaching programmes.
He was pleased to report that the year had seen an increase of member participation in all Club
events. Sue Carver had asked members what could be done to increase participation in the 1st
Saturday tournaments and the Committee would take on board the findings such as the TV
reception being fixed, being more family friendly and keeping refreshments available.
The Brian Golding Memorial Trophy had not been played this year due to a misunderstanding
on the part of Kings Club.
Projects to be taken forward for the coming year were problems with cats and foxes, repainting
the Clubhouse and the question of the supervision of juniors under the age of 14 whilst at the
Club.
Adoption of the report proposed by Anthea Johnson, seconded by Paul Henley. All were in
favour.
Hon Treasurers Report.
Chris Blake presented the accounts to the meeting and thanked John Skinner for helping him
with the accounting system. Ken Griffin had audited the accounts.
There had been an increase in income received by way of subscriptions and coaching course
fees. In expenditure there had been an increase in gas and electricity charges, the Club had paid
for the removal of the practice wall and there had been significant expenditure on the provision
of keys for new members. £6000 had been transferred to the court replacement fund, as it was
likely that work would soon have to be done on courts 1 and 2. The Committee would consider
this next year.
In response to a question from Ian Thorne Chris confirmed that the LTA loan was interest free.
Adoption of the report proposed by Annie Griffin, seconded by Carol Weeks. All were in favour.
Captains Reports:
Men’s: Ollie Wild presented his report. He thanked all those who had helped him a lot by being
so reliable. In summer league the 3rd team had gained promotion, the second team had come
BCTC AGM Minutes 2008
second in their division, the 4th team had won most of their matches and the 1st team finished
second in their division. All the teams had been disrupted by injuries and absences for other
reasons and so all of them had done very well. He thanked juniors Jacob and Jamil who had
played in the first team several times and helped win points. In Winter League all the teams were
doing well.
He then explained that he was going away for a few months in January. He had really enjoyed
being at the Club over the last 2 years particularly his work with the brilliant juniors and was
looking forward to seeing everyone when he gets back.
Ladies: Julia Hassell presented the report. In summer league the 4th team had gained promotion,
the 2nd and 3rd team had come 4th, and the first team had come 3rd in their respective divisions.
Julia thanked Hilary for organising the summer Veteran’s team, which had come 3rd in the
second division. In the 07/08 winter league both the 1st and 2nd teams had won their divisions
and the 3rd and 4th teams had stayed in their divisions. The attendance at the Monday night
practices had been variable, but it was good to see new faces including juniors and members
from the improver groups taking part. There had been some doubles coaching in the year,
something that would be repeated in February and March 2009. Her aim was to increase
participation in Monday night play at all levels.
Adoption of the reports proposed by Paul Henley, seconded by Lauren Shillaber. All were in
favour.
Bar Chairman's report:
John Skinner presented the report. This year had seen a net profit of £551. He thanked everyone
who had helped with things like washing tea towels.
Adoption of report proposed by Anthea Johnson, seconded by Chris Webber. All were in favour.
Junior Reps report:
Kerris Weatherley presented the report. It had been another great year for juniors with squads
every night for 2 hours or more and older juniors coming through and playing with the adults
and in teams. She had organised the first club junior tournament. The younger ones had
participated well, but it had not been so well supported by the older juniors possibly due to
exams. As a consequence there had been no girls’ final. It may be that she needed to change the
date for next year. She wondered about holding junior social evenings and a parent/ child
tournament next year. She thanked those who had helped her with the coaching squads – Katie
Walsh and juniors, Rob, Jamil and Hannah. There had been a successful trip to Wimbledon.
John Skinner asked if there was anyone to fill in for Ollie while he was away. Kerris said that
initially she would cover his absence, but she hoped that a qualified coach Rob Clements would
be able to help.
Adoption proposed by Annie Griffin, seconded by Dee Northover. All were in favour.
Subscriptions:
Denis said that the committee was recommending an increase of £10 to the full playing senior
membership taking it, in line with inflation over the last few years from £150 to £160.
Ian Thorn asked how this was justified. Denis said it was necessary due to an increase in running
costs and the likely need for complete replacement or extensive maintenance of the courts.
All were in favour of the increase.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2008
Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chairman.
Hon Secretary
Membership Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Men’s Captain
Ladies Captain
Bar Chairman
Junior Rep
John Skinner
Lauren Shillaber
Annie Griffin
Chris Blake
Paul Henley
Julia Hassell
Claudio Furet
no nominations
These were offered en bloc for election. All were in favour.
Election of Executive Committee
Nominations had been received for Hilary Bryant, Ken Griffin and Chris Webber.
These were offered en bloc for election. All were in favour.
Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin was nominated, proposed by Chris Blake and seconded by David Standingford. All
were in favour.
Trophy Presentation and Club Award
Dennis congratulated the winners and presented trophies to the following:
Event
Club Ladies Singles
Club Men’s Singles
Men’s Plate
Ladies doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
Boys under 18
Boys under 14
Boys under12
First Saturday
Tournaments
Winner
Julia Hassell
Ollie Wild.
Ken Griffin
Not played
Andy Young and Paul
Underhill
Karen Clark, Ken Griffin
Jamil Choudhury
Michael Wright
Tom O’Keefe
Ladies – Eleanor Bird
Men’s - Neil Holden
Runner up
Ruth Hughes
Fred Ali
Ollie Wild and Jamil
Choudhury
Andy Young and Annie Griffin
The Chairman’s presentation of the Central Cup, for an outstanding contribution to the club over
a number of years, went to Ken and Annie Griffin; to Ken for his many years as Chairman and to
Annie for her enthusiasm and commitment as Membership Secretary. Additionally Denis
wanted to thank an outstanding Committee member for 2008 - John Skinner - to whom he
presented a Tankard.
John Skinner then said that he was sure the meeting would want to thank two other people in
particular. First he thanked Denis for his hard work as Chairman, and hoped his injury would
allow him to play tennis again soon. John also hoped that he would be willing to continue to
bring his expertise to committee by being co-opted in the New Year. Secondly, John
BCTC AGM Minutes 2008
commented how Barbara had stepped into the breach to act as Hon. Sec. once more, even though
chronic injury meant that she was unable to play tennis. She was not planning to take an active
role in the club in the future, but had been a truly outstanding servant to the club over such a
long time, a very good player, and liked and respected by all who knew her. John wished her
well for the future. The meeting strongly supported John’s comments.
Denis closed the meeting and suggested we continue with the Christmas party.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2008
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 11th DECEMBER 2009
Present: John Skinner (Chair), Lauren Shillaber (Minutes), Chris Webber, Ken Griffin, Julia Hassell,
Chris Blake, Kerris Weatherley, Carol Weatherley, Paul Henley, Dave Standingford, Pip Morgan,
Ken McClure, Nikki Giles, Sue Lovell, Jill Carr, Katy Walsh, Ian Thorn, Lois Thorn, Catherine
Warburton, Phil Renison, Marc Truscelli, Jo Kallevik, Alan White, Mary Morgan, Sue Roulstone,
Hilary Bryant, Dee Northover, Fred Ali
1. Apologies:
Annie Griffin, Dave Smith, Christie Nie, Louise Davison, Barbara Carey, Mike Chant, Mary Groves,
Robin Leveridge, Jeff Clapp
2. Welcome & Minutes of 2008 AGM (held on 12 December 2008)
John opened the meeting, welcomed everyone & thanked those who had helped make the meeting
possible. Minutes of 2008 AGM proposed for acceptance by Chris Webber, seconded by Nikki
Giles. All agreed. Minutes adopted.
3. Chairman’s Report
The club had had a good year. The club tournaments had gone well largely thanks to the Ladies and
Men’s Captains (Julia and Paul) who had done much of the organisation, and a fun Finals Day in
July included some well contested matches. John also congratulated Julia and her mother who had
retained the Mother and Daughter UK title. John continued his report with the First Saturday
Tournaments (FSTs) and thanked both Sue Carver for her help in overseeing the organisation of
these, and also the various people who had organised them on the day. The FSTs, this year, had
encouraged the introduction of junior and improver players to club play. Only one FST had not
taken place – due to snow. The year awards had been won by Ed James, a run-away mens winner,
and by Sue Carver who narrowly beat Anna Heath. John mentioned three inter-club friendlies;
versus Kings TC, the Brian Golding memorial trophy was retained by BCTC, and two friendlies
against Burnham (Darren Lloyd’s current club) were also won. On club projects, the year started
with a turn-out of more than 20 people to replace the loose chippings, adjacent the back fence, with
concrete, to reduce the health and safety risk arising from animal poo. However, the main
maintenance issue confronting the club had been the poor draining of courts 1 and 2. Pressure
cleaning of the courts in the spring, and recent chemical treatment had both been unsuccessful. As a
result both 1 and 2 were currently being resurfaced at a cost of about £17k. Challenges for 2010 are
to reduce the size of some of the trees behind court 1, perhaps to decorate the clubhouse, and, just
maybe, do something about getting a more efficient gas boiler. John finished by expressing his
indebtedness to all the Committee members and others for all the work that they have put into the
club: John also thanked the following for specific efforts:
Lauren (Secretarial duties, AGM organisation & bar license arrangements)
Chris Blake (Treasurer duties)
Chris Webber (all sorts including Match Secretary & maintenance duties)
Annie (Membership duties, PR & recruitment of new members)
Ken (auditing the accounts)
Eleanor Bird (website)
Julia & Paul (Captaincy duties)
Alan White (Vets)
Hilary (Vets & garden maintenance)
Kerris & the coaches
Claudio (for initial Bar Steward work & for making the bar fun with his exotic pasties & various
exotic concoctions!)
BCTC AGM Minutes 2009
Adoption of the report proposed by Chris Webber, seconded by Hilary Bryant. All were in favour.
4. Hon. Treasurer’s Report
Paper copies of Chris Blake’s report & specific account figures were delivered at the meeting, the
essential points of which were:
a) Subscriptions and coaching income has gone up, thanks to the efforts of Annie G and Kerris W.
b) Bar profits have gone up thanks to the efforts of Claudio and John.
c) Significant expenditure included plumbing works, electrical works, court cleaning, and
concreting.
d) Although electricity costs appear to have fallen this year, this is because the 2008 costs included a
significant sum prepaid to the previous supplier who went bankrupt.
e) The 'wealth' of the club has gone up by around £10k this year.
f) The liabilities of the club have again fallen due to loan repayment, but key deposits increased.
g) The court replacement fund has grown by £6,000 this year.
Additionally, LTA affiliation fees have increased this year – we are paying for all Junior & Student
members but Central not being charged for Improver members.
Ian Thorn asked whether the Club should not have more of its money in savings accounts. Chris
Blake explained that the current balances reflected anticipated expenditure on the court resurfacing,
but that savings accounts would be reviewed in the forthcoming year. ACTION: Chris Blake
Adoption of report proposed by Lauren Shillaber, seconded by Dave Standingford. All in favour.
5. Captains Reports
Men’s:
Paul Henley presented his report:
“This has been a pretty successful year for the men’s teams. At the start of the year in the 2008/2009
winter league season, the 2nd team managed to get promoted to the 1st Division, so we now have a
Central 1 v Central 2 fixture, which I don’t remember us having before!
In March this year, Nikki Giles very kindly agreed to come down on 4 Tuesday night’s before
summer league to coach people on doubles tactics, serve, volleys and to try and find any partnerships
for summer league, to try and give us an edge. This was very successful and I think all men enjoyed
something different on a Tuesday night.
During summer league my plans of having the same partners for matches changed as very few
people could make all 10 matches which benefited some of the juniors with valuable experience as I
played different juniors in the 2nd and 4th teams.
I want to thank Alan White and Chris Webber for organising the teams for the summer league vet’s
team and managed to achieve a 3rd place finish with the same points as the team that finished 2nd,
losing out only on games-won.
The final standings for the men’s summer league were all teams stayed in their divisions apart from
the unfortunate 2nd team who got relegated to the 5th division.
The current standings as at today for winter league teams is Central 1 are top of the 1st division,
Central 2 are 2nd in the 1st Division, Central 3 are top of the 4th division, Central 4 are top of the 5th
division and Central vets are 2nd in division 4.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2009
I also organised a mixed doubles format match against Burnham-On-Sea as Darren Lloyd who used
to be a member of Central contacted us to say that it would be good idea to play different teams
before league started. We played home and away and both matches were very enjoyable and, I am
glad to say, Central won both of them! Darren has asked if we can make this a yearly event, which
we will try and organise.”
Paul handing over the Captaincy to Dave Standingford.
Adoption of the report proposed by Ken Griffin, seconded by Carol Weeks. All were in favour.
Ladies:
Julia Hassell presented her report and thanked all ladies for their contributions.
Mixed fortunes to celebrate for the ladies teams in the summer league, but with some successes (the
1st team came 2nd in the top division – well done!). Unfortunately, though, the 4th team had to be
withdrawn as a result of difficulties getting 16 ladies out on a Friday night, but Julia hoped that
things would look up next year. The Ladies Vets had done well by coming 2nd in Division 2 of the
Summer league. As already mentioned by Paul, currently the winter league was going very well.
Julia handing over the Captaincy to Hilary Bryant until March, thereafter Jo Kallevik will be at the
helm.
Adoption of the report proposed by Ken Griffin, seconded by Kerris Weatherley. All were in favour.
6. Bar Steward’s Report
John delivered this report on Claudio’s behalf. He said that Claudio had been a very effective,
creative, interesting Bar Steward until June when other commitments required him to relinquish the
role, and John had filled in. Claudio’s mussels and his cheese pasties were particularly commented
on! Thanks were also extended to Wendell Hernandez for his Caribbean meal on the last night of
league.
The bar had again increased its profits to a relatively healthy £750. £3,000 went through the till this
year with a 25% profit on this through-put.
As of this AGM no-one had offered to run the bar next year, but John hoped that someone would
come forward before too long.
Report proposed by Catherine Warburton, seconded by Kerris Weatherley. All in favour.
7. Junior Rep’s Report
Kerris delivered her report. There are around 120 Junior members with 15 Full Juniors playing, some
of them with adult members at club nights, First Saturday tournaments, etc.
Congratulations to Dan Northcott who beat Tom O’Keefe in an exciting U-14s final. Kerris spoke of
the possibility of a Junior Premier League in the form of a round robin tournament taking place one
Sunday a month.
Coaching – Oli Wild had left to travel during the year but returned later. Nikki Giles had begun to
help with coaching along with Katy Walsh. In September, Nikki had begun some Performance
Tennis coaching, taking smaller groups & working across the board with different abilities to avoid
elitism. Youngsters doing 2 squads a week. Juniors Luigi, Rob, Hannah & Liam selected for extra
input.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2009
Saturday morning drop-in coaching sessions had proved popular with around 40 youngsters
attending at times!
The Wimbledon trip had been a great success.
Report proposed by Ian Thorn, seconded by Chris Webber
8. Rule Changes
No rule changes proposed
9. Subscriptions
Adult membership subscription to remain the same at £160 per year. Full Juniors £40, Juniors £20.
Proposed by Ian Thorn, seconded by Lois Thorn. All in favour.
10. Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chair
Hon Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Membership Secretary
(Match Secretary)
Men’s Captain
Ladies Captain
Bar Chair
Junior Rep
John Skinner
(No nominee)
Chris Blake
Annie Griffin
(Chris Webber)
Dave Standingford
Hilary Bryant / Jo Kallevik
(No nominee)
Kerris Weatherley
These were offered en bloc for election. Proposed by Paul Henley, seconded by Mary Morgan. All
were in favour.
11. Election of Executive Committee
Nominations had been received for: Hilary Bryant, Marc Truscelli, Phil Renison, Ken Griffin, Chris
Webber. These were offered en bloc for election. All were in favour.
12. Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin was nominated, proposed by Lois Thorn, seconded by Sue Roulstone. All were in
favour.
13. Trophy presentations & Club Award
John congratulated the winners & presented trophies to the following:
Event
Club Ladies Singles
Club Men’s Singles
Ladies Doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
First Saturday
Winner
Julia Hassell
Nikki Giles
Julia Hassell & Sue
Roulstone
Nikki Giles & Paul Henley
Nikki & Julia
Runner Up
Hannah O’Keefe
Fred Ali
Annie Griffin & Hannah
O’Keefe
Marc & Luigi Truscelli
Marc Truscelli & Dee
Northover
(Mens) Ed James
(Ladies) Sue Carver
BCTC AGM Minutes 2009
The Brian Golding Memorial Match was also played which this year was organised by Julia Hassell
& won by Central. Yey! Well done to all who took part.
Central also played a home & away friendly fixture against Burnham Club in liaison with Darren
Lloyd (former Central member) at Burnham. Central were victorious! It is hoped that this might
become an annual event.
John explained that the Club Award, introduced by Ken Griffin when Chairman, was a trophy,
known as The Central Cup, awarded for special service to the club over the year, or years. John said
how difficult the choice had been, and individually named all those, both on and off the Committee,
who had given so much essential support to the running of the club in 2009. In the end, however, it
was the actions of one person in pushing-forward the re-surfacing of the courts that had singled
them out for the trophy, and he congratulated Chris Webber on the honour of being the first person
to win the award twice.
It’s easy when you’re Chair to be the one to do all the thanking but a big thank you to John for all his
time, energies & continued efforts on behalf of Central. Thank you John!
Meeting closed at 8.45pm (a record…? )
Lauren Shillaber
November 2010
Quick message from Lauren: I hope you’re all well & still enjoying your tennis! I’ve moved on
(still haven’t found a club quite like Central…) but I still think fondly & frequently about all
you friendly folk at Central & wish you all well. x
BCTC AGM Minutes 2009
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Held on FRIDAY 10th DECEMBER 2010
Present: John Skinner (Chair), Chris Blake (Treasurer), Katy Walsh (minutes), Ken Griffin, Ken
McClure, Chris Webber, Jill Carr, Ian Thorn, Lois Thorn, Jayne Warburton, Phil Renison, Marc
Truscelli, Jo Kallevik, Kerris Weatherley, Nikki Giles, Julia Hassell, Carol Weeks, Hilary Bryant,
Dave Standingford, Pat Grant, Matt Hawthorne, Rob Weinstock, Liam Harrison, Martyn Lewis,
Wendell Hernandez, Tom Adcock, Catherine Warburton, Dee Northover
1. Apologies: Paul Underhill, Annie Griffin, Di Harrison, James Melvin, Jeff Clapp, Anthea
Johnson, Dennis Flook, Louise Davison.
2. Welcome & Minutes of 2009 AGM (held on Friday 11th December 2009)
John opened the meeting and welcomed everyone, thanking those who had helped make the meeting
possible. Minutes from 2009 AGM were proposed for acceptance by Catherine Warburton and
seconded by Ken Griffin, with all in favour.
3. Chairman’s Report
John thanked Katy Walsh who, in the absence of a Hon. Sec., had agreed to write the minutes. The
year had started with adverse weather conditions prolonging the completion of the resurfacing of
courts 1 & 2 – although started in December the work was delayed some weeks by snow, and the
courts were not painted until May. The details of the tennis would come later, but the special events
of the year seemed to involve births – 4 of our regular members had babies, but the big event, and a
truly 100% BCTC infant, was due to the efforts of Julia and Nikki. And we can’t keep the Hassells
out of the tennis-talk even when Julia didn’t get her name on a trophy this year – congratulations to
her mum, Joan, a country member here at Central, who won the UK 70s ladies-doubles grass-court
tournament, and was part of a UK team who came fifth in the world.
Here at Central the First Saturday tournament continues to reflect the best of BCTC. It has become
particularly good in encouraging Juniors and Improvers (plus the odd Veteran!) to participate in
competitive doubles play, along with league stalwarts. We are indebted to Ian Dunn for being the
overall organiser this year, and for organising the majority of the events on the day, including the
supply of some delicious home-baked cakes. Mention should also go to Ed James, who had
volunteered to organise the March event, and coped well with 21 turning out to play. However, the
1st Saturday tournament has seen a disappointing fall-off in ladies attendance this year. It seems that
the club is no longer as attractive to ladies as it once was, and no doubt the new committee will be
trying very hard to rectify this. Given that situation, special thanks are due to Jo Kallevik in her first
year as ladies captain, for “working her socks off” to get the teams out each week. Jo’s situation
prevents her continuing as captain, but she hopes she might do the job again, sometime. Let’s hope
that by then she will have an easier time filling team places. Having started by thanking Ian and now
Jo, this is a good time to continue my thanks to the rest of the team that have served the club so well
over the last year:
Annie Griffin for once again being a dynamic Membership Secretary, and for giving us a new-look
club house. The finances show the positive effect of her drive for membership.
Chris Blake an assiduous and careful Treasurer, ably assisted by Phil Renison.
Kerris Weatherley for all her efforts for the club, especially with the Juniors and the Improvers.
Recently she was seen on court 4 (snow preventing use of courts 1 and 2) it was COLD, as you can
imagine, she was still suffering flu, but in spite of the cold and the flu she was giving a special,
lengthy, additional, coaching to a young Junior – now that’s dedication !
Chris Webber for persevering with the court resurfacing and taking it through to a successful
completion, in spite of all that the weather could throw at him, and also acting as Match Secretary.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
David Standingford, Hilary Bryant, and Alan White, along with Jo, for their time and effort
(sometimes considerable) in keeping the league teams running, and to both Jo and Dave for
organising the various tournaments through the year.
Ken Griffin for once again acting as auditor, and Marc Truscelli for his help and effervescent
enthusiasm.
Eleanor Bird no longer a full member, for keeping our website running.
Wendell Hernandez for providing us with amazing culinary delights at the end of the league season
and again, tonight.
A few words about next year. I am not standing for re-election as Chairman and am looking forward
to taking a back-seat in the team next year. We have an ideal replacement, in Carol Weeks, who
brings many strengths to the position having sat on this committee in earlier years, and more recently
on the committee of her golf club, while also being a very competent tennis player. I wish her every
success.
So I will conclude now with some best wishes. Firstly to Chris Webber and to Pat Grant for their
birthdays, today. And secondly, wishing everyone here a very happy Christmas and lots of tennis in
the New Year.
Adoption of the report proposed by Dave Standingford and seconded by Chris Blake with all in
favour.
4. Hon. Treasurer’s Report
Chris Blake opened by thanking Ken Griffin for auditing the accounts and Phil Renison for advising
on bank accounts and utilities. The overall 'wealth' of the club fell by approx. £7k in the year after
costs of significant improvements taken into account - thanks to Chris Webber for managing the resurfacing of courts 1 and 2.
Income from subscriptions and improvers’ coaching courses increased thanks to efforts of Annie and
Kerris. Visitor fees income rose due to better enforcement of rules. Bar profits rose thanks to
drinkers and efforts of John Skinner. See separate report. Bank account interest fell in line with
interest rate reductions. Balls expenditure rose in line with member feedback requesting more new
balls for club play. Thanks to Chris Webber for procurement efforts. Club and Garden maintenance
costs rose, including tree-felling and new floor in clubhouse, thanks to Annie for arranging. Chris
added that he felt that the club is looking the best it ever has. Court maintenance costs fell but the
cost of capital expenditure on new courts 1+2 significant. Gas/electric costs rose due to a significant
underbilling in previous year. Now have new supplier and smart meter so should be cheaper and
correctly billed. No depreciation or appreciation charged against facilities/capital.
Dave Standingford asked whether this is the last year of the loan repayment - Chris responded that
there is one LTA loan payment (of £1250) to be paid in March 2011 after which the debt will be
cleared.
Ian Thorn asked whether subs would go down - Chris Blake and John responded that they would
remain the same. Chris added that the committee had discussed (later agenda item). There is still a
need to retain/build capacity to deal with future costs i.e. Court 3+4 resurfacing and current level of
subs did not appear to be a significant barrier to club accessibility. There may be merit in
investigating a new reduced subs category for OAP/Unemployed members?
There followed a brief discussion about floodlights which had been left on overnight on one
occasion. Chris Webber stated that the cost of running the lights is 20p per light per hour. It was
agreed that every effort must be taken to be economical however switching lights out and then on
again soon afterwards uses more energy, so a common-sense approach was needed.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
Adoption of the report proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Ian Thorn with all in favour.
5. Captains’ Reports
Ladies - Jo Kallevik
Jo thanked Hilary for all her support and help - they managed to get teams out for all except 1 match.
Results were as follows:
Winter League: 1sts won the 1st division, 2nds lost 1st division, 3rds came 2nd in division 4, 4ths
won division 5 and vets won division 4.
Summer League: 1sts won division1, 2nds won division 5B and 3rds finished 2nd bottom of
division 5A.
Summer Vets: ladies finished 2nd bottom.
Summer Mixed: both came top of divisions 2 and 3.
Jo and Hilary agreed to talk about how to improve attendance on Monday nights.
Men - Dave Standingford
Winter League 2009 – 2010
Dave opened by saying what a magnificent effort overall in the winter league. The firsts won the
first division, the seconds lost the first division, the thirds missed winning division 4B by 2 points,
the fourths won division 5C, and the Vets won division 4.
Summer League 2010
Unfortunately, the Mens first team were subject to a number of injuries, pregnancies and urges to
travel this year. Nonetheless there were occasional flashes of brilliance. Unfortunately nobody
flashed in the firsts or seconds, who held the rear in their respective divisions. The thirds were
within 12 points of winning division 8C and the fourths were a clear 14 points ahead of their rivals
for second place – from the bottom of division 8D.
Dave thanked Chris Webber, who assisted in negotiations with the LTA over our first team
population crisis, with some quantitative – if not qualitative – easing. We even won some points –
or the opposition lost them!
Late-Summer League (Vets and a newly-introduced mixed-format)
In the vets, the mens team performed well and held a central position in the field; the ladies vets
came second (from the bottom) of division II, and then in the mixed, Central 1 won division I and
Central II won division II. A stunning victory, clearly indicating that we are a rather social club,
where the chaps are best motivated by trying to impress the ladies on Sunday mornings !
Having won the tournament for several years beforehand, we gallantly lost to Kings at Kings in the
annual Brian Golding mixed tournament. They never suspected a thing! Their catering was
excellent, especially the scones, cream and jam.
Winter League 2010 – 2011 - Ongoing!
Captains’ Reports proposed by Jayne Warburton and seconded by Lois Thorn with all in favour.
6. Bar Steward’s Report
John presented the Bar Steward’s report, explaining that he had continued in this job in the absence
of any other volunteer. In spite of bad winter weather, which had reduced the extent of after-play
drinking-time for a couple of months at the beginning of the year, the declared profit had increased
slightly over the previous year, to just over £800. This was entirely due to a similar increase in turnBCTC AGM Minutes 2010
over; the mark-up was nearly unchanged at about 35% of cost price. John then explained that the
declared profit excluded hidden costs which he estimated to be around £400, so the net profit was
not £800, perhaps more like £400.
Furthermore, profit (and hence achieved mark-up) was less than that targeted, although there was no
evidence to believe that this was due to money being stolen from the till. There may be some loss
due to bar-keepers not being able to keep track of bar-sales especially when they, themselves, may
not be entirely sober. However, the main reason for the short-fall was that pricing did not always
follow the notional target. In particular, the best selling beer (Bath Ales) has never been priced at
target level, but when this was attempted there was a minor mutiny from the customers.
Realising that the committee had not set bar-profit targets for many years, this was discussed incommittee. This discussion coincided with other, quite separate, observations concerning the
excellent condition of the club’s finances, and so the question was asked “why did the bar need to
make a profit”. The committee agreed that the mark-up should be lowered so that profit was small.
Since John saw no strong reason for the club to subsidise the bar, he explained that he took that to
mean that the “declared profit” should be targeted at £400, the estimated hidden costs. As a result
the target mark-up has been reduced from 50% to 30% and a declared profit next year is expected
which will roughly just offset the hidden costs. But this is not an exact science, and there may be a
need to adjust the pricing further, during the year.
John asked for any comments from the floor. Chris Webber commented that the job of Bar Steward
is demanding and that the person in this role will find it hard to please all of the people all the time whilst important to make a profit, the size of the profit is a matter for debate and a matter for the new
bar person. John has brought a wide variety of beers and spirits and has taken care in sourcing these
at the best prices. The way the bar is run should motivate the person running it and also give
members value for money. Chris concluded by thanking John for having done a fantastic job.
Report proposed by Phil Renison and seconded by Kerris Weatherley with all in favour.
7. Junior Rep’s Report
Kerris opened by advising that it had been another very busy year with the Juniors generally. We
have maintained high numbers of junior members and more and more full junior members, some of
whom have been starting to mix in with adult club play in the evenings and also in the First Saturday
Tournaments.
Kerris said that she had also been keen to set up more competitions this year in the form of three
leagues, under 19’s, under 15’s and under 12’s - the two older groups starting enthusiastically but
under 12’s did not happen due to other commitments. The under 19’s did keep going - Ollie Martin
and Liam Harrison were there to the end so thanks and well done to them both, Liam was crowned
champion of the 2010 Premier League and Ollie was runner-up.
The Annual Club Tournament also took place with a good turn-out for the under 15’s and under
12’s, mainly boys, but no-one for the under 18’s. Kerris changed the format this year in that all of
the matches were played on one day to minimise chasing around - this proved successful with 3 out
of 4 finals taking place on the Club Finals Day - congratulations going out to the O’Keeffe family
who took a clean sweep across all 3 finals !! (and yes there is a fourth O’Keeffe coming up, so watch
out for him too!). Kerris hoped to carry on all of these next year and in addition she would like to
run a parent/offspring competition - any help with organising of this would be appreciated.....
Wimbledon trip did not take place this year but hopefully this may happen again next year...?
Summer courses were as popular as ever this year with over 40 local children attending.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
Ollie Martin is hopefully going to American Summer Camp next year - where Sam went last year
and Jo has also been before.
With regard to coaches Kerris thanked particularly Chris Counter who has held the fort with taking
the after-school squads on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and also has taken on individuals where Kerris
has not herself had the time. Also she thanked Katy who has been a huge help with the Improvers on
Thursday evenings and is also building up a group of parents on Friday mornings. We also hope to
hold some coffee mornings around Easter-time to try to encourage new women to the club.
Also thanks to Carlos who has given up a lot of time to travel from Clevedon to help with the
Improvers on Thursday nights - he does love our club; it is just a shame he does not live a little
closer. More thanks to Matt and Jo for their part in helping with the Improvers too. And to Nikki
Giles who was great at the beginning of the year taking on the small ‘performance squads’ - just a
shame he was not able to carry this on but more important things were going on at home - Kerris
sent her love to all three of them.
Kerris then talked briefly about her conversation with Julie Jones who is the Development Officer at
the LTA. It seems that the LTA are not currently able to offer us anything for the Juniors, other than
individuals can register /join the LTA and monitor their ratings. Getting them to go online and do
this may be more difficult than it sounds!
Plans for next year (in addition to all of those mentioned above) include:
Continue with links with local schools - Sefton Park and the new school on the old Fairfield site.
Katy to continue to help the Improvers and try to keep them with us after their 6-month membership
deal comes to an end. Also Katy to complete her Level 2 Coaching Certificate.
Also Kerris advised that she is delighted that Sam Drowley is intending to return to the club after he
finishes University in Plymouth this summer. Sam has shown a keen interest in getting involved in
coaching again at Central, and he now brings with him even more experience as a player and coach, plus of course his sports coaching degree!
Report proposed by Ian Thorn and seconded by Nikki Giles with all in favour.
8. Rule Changes - none proposed.
9. Subscriptions John said that the committee recommended that the Full Subscription should
remain unchanged at £160. This was proposed by Ken Griffin and seconded by Nikki Giles with all
in favour.
10. Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chair
Hon Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Mens’ Captains
Ladies’ Captain
Bar Chair
Junior Rep
Carol Weeks
John Skinner
Chris Blake
Ian Dunn
Matt Hawthorne and Chris Webber
Hilary Bryant
Patrick Grant
Kerris Weatherley
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
11. Election of Executive Committee
Phil Renison
Marc Truscelli
Martyn Lewis
Ian Thorn
Katy Walsh
Election of Officers and Ordinary Members proposed by Jayne Warburton and seconded by Lois
Thorne with all in favour.
12. Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin was nominated and agreed to carry on as Auditor and this was proposed by John
Skinner, seconded by Chris Webber, with all in favour.
13. AOB
Nikki Giles raised a question relating to the ‘healthy’ state of the club’s bank account and proposed
that we might consider investing some money in some sort of coaching package which could be
offered to all members free of charge, i.e. an incentive or bonus included in their membership fee.
He suggested that the coaching might be offered at all levels so that each member can access some
sort of lesson/session(s) appropriate to their own level of play. This would not only be beneficial to
all members, but would help in filling courts at quieter times and would also provide an incentive to
encourage new members to the club.
Chris Webber added that this was a good idea and although it had previously been suggested he felt
that now is a good time to re-consider. John agreed and advised that the new committee will take
this on for further discussion.
14. Trophy Presentation
John presented Kerris with a large trophy to mark the huge achievement of Central Ladies coming
top of (yes, winning!) the Summer Avon League.
The trophies for the following club tournaments were presented to the winners as shown below (or at
least would have been had John remembered to bring the First Saturday trophies to the proceedings
!):
Event
Ladies Singles
Men’s Singles
Ladies doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
First Saturday
(ladies)
First Saturday
(men)
Club Award
Central Cup
Winner
Runner up
(Not played)
Nikki Giles
Jo Kallevik & Hilary Bryant
Paul Henley & David Standingford
Matt Hawthorne & Kerris Weatherley
Fred Ali
Julia Hassell & Jill Carr
Nikki Giles & Chris Webber
Paul Henley & Jo Kallevik
Anna Heath
Eleanor Bird
Wendell Hernandez
James Melvin
Chris Blake
In presenting the Central Cup, John thanked Chris Blake for all his hard work as Treasurer over the
last three years, and for his thoughtful contributions to the committee.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
John partially compensated for his incompetence in forgetting to bring the men’s 1st Sat. trophy, by
presenting a small gift to Wendell for his great efforts in providing us with a Caribbean feast.
15. Address by new Chair
Carol thanked everyone for giving her this opportunity and said how honoured she was to be
following in the footsteps of previous Chairmen and she hoped that she could continue the great
work that they have done for the club over the years.
Carol talked briefly about her history with the club having clocked up 25 years as a member and also
having sat on the committee in various roles including ladies captain, bar manager and also looking
after press, PR and fundraising.
She went on to say that her immediate focus would be on playing matters, such as support for
evening play, commitment to teams and - where HAVE all the ladies gone ??
Carol handed out a prompt sheet and invited all to give their comments, ideas, or suggestions either
on the sheet or by email or phone. Deadline for these ideas is Wednesday 5th January. Then Carol
plans to meet up with Kerris, Hilary, Chris and Matt to formulate an action plan and communicate
this to all members via the notice-board, email and the website. Anyone else who would like to be
involved in this is welcome.
Carol said that she did not expect to solve everything overnight, but she wanted this plan to have an
immediate impact, with other ideas being rolled out by the time the better weather arrives. In
conclusion Carol said how much she was looking forward to her term as Chairman and that she was
sure that the job would be made easier with the support of “this fantastic committee” and everyone at
the club. The first committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday 13th January.
Meeting closed at 9.45 ‘ish’
Katy Walsh, December 2010.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2010
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Friday 9th December 2011
Present:
Carol Weeks (Chair), Chris Blake (Treasurer), Jill Carr, Kerris Weatherley, Pip Morgan,
Ken Griffin, Marc Truscelli, Matt Hawthorne, Martyn Lewis, Patrick Grant, Paul Underhill,
Peter Caldwell, Di Harrison, Chris Webber, Katy Walsh, Clive Lewis, Ian Thorn, Lois
Thorn, Rob Durbin, Louise Davison, Ian Dunn, Anthea Johnson, Catherine Warburton,
Hilary Bryant, Jo Kallevik, John Skinner (Hon Sec), plus some later arrivals including Nick
Banks, Marie Orchard, Ed Brooke-Taylor, Rich Brooks, and others.
Apologies:
David Standingford, Olive Brown, Chris Potts, Robin Leveridge, Dee Northover, Mary
Groves, Nikki and Julia Giles, Barbara Carey, Annie Griffin, Jayne Warburton, Paul
Bullivant, Jeff Clapp
Minutes of 2010 AGM (held on Friday 10th December 2010)
Carol asked whether there were any comments on the Minutes from the 2010 AGM.
There were none so she then invited the Minutes to be proposed and seconded from the
floor. They were duly proposed by Catherine Warburton and seconded by Chris Webber.
Chairman’s Report
Carol started by saying how quickly her first year as Chairperson had gone, how it had
been a steep learning curve, but how much she had enjoyed it.
She had declared last year that her focus would be on playing matters, and had asked for
input. The feedback received from members had helped provide ideas from which new
initiatives had been developed. As with all new ideas, some work and some don’t. Some
like them and some don’t – but the impact of “something new” seems to have helped
regenerate enthusiasm which she was sure would be reflected in the captains’ reports.
Recently, Wednesday night club play has been stewarded by Sam Drowley twice a month
when he also offers coaching to those seeking help in doubles tactics. Feedback from
regulars will now be sought to see whether the stewarding and coaching is something we
should consider again. A Wednesday night bar rota has been reintroduced, sometimes
with food provided.
Nikki Giles took on the role of Tournament Organiser and many events have taken place
over the year. His new Friday night sprint tournaments have been a great success. The
previous Friday 32 members took part and also enjoyed a quiz, and music and food. Nikki
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
also organised successful Singles and Doubles Tournaments within the club. Carol noted,
though, that unfortunately we have not been able to run the Ladies Singles for 2 years now
and her challenge for 2012 is to provide some opposition for Julia Giles (but not, she
hastened to add, personally!).
Ian Dunn continues to run the popular First Saturday Tournaments with prizes for the endof-year champions presented this evening. The support for this event has been terrific –
we even had junior boys making cakes for the afternoon tea – fantastic.
The committee gave much thought with regard to the Thursday night Autumn Improvers
course. Earlier, for the Spring Improvers course, both the number of people (69) and their
standard were unusually high, and an idea was formulated to “bring these people on in
their tennis” by offering an Autumn Progression Course instead. In addition, and
somewhat belatedly, it was decided to offer an Improvers Course in the hour immediately
before the Progressors. This initiative will also be reviewed before plans are set for 2012.
Our league teams had yet another successful year with an array of trophies and some
promotions. We also won the annual match v Kings for the Brian Golding Trophy. The
Committee are looking at how we might better display our successes in terms of honours
and trophy boards in the clubhouse.
We are extremely lucky to have Kerris and her team supporting the members with varied
coaching techniques and mechanisms for getting the best out of us all. Kerris will tell you
about junior development in her report but I am delighted that we now have a youngster
called up to County teams and County coaching – Blu Morgan. The club is assisting his
tennis with a small grant. Club vouchers have also been given to “senior” juniors to offset
the cost of taking part in the Intensive Tennis Programme and some others have been
assisted with the cost of LTA coaching courses.
Away from playing matters, much has been achieved around the club. Courts 3 and 4
have been resurfaced and Courts 1 and 2 cleaned. A new boiler has been installed and
the clubhouse exterior has been spruced up. The front gate has been made safer to
prevent accidents to children and improve security, and Martyn Lewis has been working
hard to come up with a solution to the puddling at the back of Courts 1 and 2.
Unfortunately we suffered a break-in with damage to the clubhouse door and the phone
being stolen.
There have been several social activities starting with the March event to celebrate our
final loan payment to the LTA, the “eventful” but fun coach trip to Wimbledon, regular postleague drinking and dining experiences and BBQ’s during the summer. A skittles night is
planned for Friday 10th February at the bowls club next door and it would be good to stage
an Olympic celebration during the summer.
Just as you think you are on top of everything, a new challenge appears – the LTA
requirement to re-visit the Club Rules being rather a large one – and handling the day-today running of the club and these new challenges wouldn’t be possible without the help of
the committee and many other volunteers at the club.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
Carol thanked the committee for their contribution during the year. Some retirements:
Chris Blake is handing over the finances with plans to take up a very important new role of
“Dad” in the Spring. He hopes to stay on the committee but with less time-consuming
responsibilities. Marc Truscelli, Pat Grant (Bar Steward) and Matt Hawthorne (Men’s
Captain) are standing down together with Jo Kallevik, who was co-opted to help Hilary with
the ladies captaincy. Thank you all for the time you have spent helping the club this year.
There are a number of new nominations this year which will keep the committee refreshed
with enthusiasm and ideas. We also have an ever growing army of volunteers and Carol
commented that she particularly wished to thank Nikki for his new Tournament initiatives;
Catherine Warburton for her work on the website; Julia Giles as Child Protection Officer;
Rich Shepperd who has recently provided some techie support: Georgiana Applegate and
Adam Adlkish for their design expertise; Ken Griffin as auditor; Wendell and Claudio for
their culinary expertise, and to all who have responded positively to pleas for help.
Looking ahead there are plans to update the website, improve the branding through a new
logo, develop a club clothing range and ensure an archive is maintained. Plans are in
hand to build a racquet-bag storage area in the clubhouse. Outside, we hope to improve
the garden seating and tidy up the bottom end of the garden to see if there might be space
for a ‘games’ area – petanque has been suggested.
The Club is financially secure with a solid membership base and, Carol thought, was sure
to continue to thrive and prosper.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Lois Thorn and seconded by Ian Thorn with all in
favour.
Hon. Treasurer’s Report
Chris thanked Ken Griffin for once again auditing the accounts, and Phil Renison for his
research and advice on club-accounts for savings, as well as on utility companies and
other financial matters. Chris also mentioned the efforts of all those who had helped make
the club run well and in a financially viable manner.
The biggest single project this year, by far, had been the resurfacing of courts 3 and 4, for
which Chris Webber had been project manager. There had also been a number of smaller
projects already mentioned by Carol. As a result of these one-off revenue investments in
the fabric of the club the overall net assets had fallen by approximately £13k for the year.
However, the surplus of income over expenditure (excluding resurfacing which is taken
from the sinking fund for this purpose) was healthy, nearly £12k, in spite of substantial
expenditure of £6k on club and garden maintenance. This £12k surplus was in line with
previous years in spite of the several smaller projects, and was helped by a continuing
steady improvement in subscriptions and Improver fees, which this year reached a record
£24k thanks to the efforts of Ian Dunn (Membership Secretary) and of Kerris and the other
coaches.
The success of the Spring Improvers was achieved in spite of a reduction in advertising
over the year (no advertising for the Autumn courses was undertaken), but was partly
responsible for an increase in coaching costs. Coaching costs also increased as a result
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
of other initiatives relating to both Juniors and to Adult group coaching during club-play.
LTA affiliation fees had fallen this year, due to a new, and thankfully simpler, charging
system where the club is now charged by the number of courts, rather than the number
and type of members. The absence in the accounts of any court maintenance cost, in
spite of court cleaning, new net posts etc., is because these has been subsumed into the
overall cost of the resurfacing contract.
Carol welcomed the report and asked for comments or questions. There were none, so
she asked for a proposer and seconder. Chris Webber proposed adoption of the report,
which was seconded by Anthea Johnson, with all in favour.
Captains’ Reports
Ladies Captain - Hilary Bryant
Monday nights. Hilary reported that Monday Ladies Club Play had been much more
successful this year. It was opened up at the beginning of the year to all lady members
and we had a great response from those who had previously done Improvers courses.
They have been able to get regular play with a variety of other ladies and as a result, have
been coming on in leaps and bounds. The Improver-standard ladies tend to come around
6.30pm, while league-standard ladies roll up from 7pm.
Usually only one or two courts had been in use after 8pm, so very recently it had been
agreed to open up a couple of courts for booking by any eligible Members from that time.
Hilary commented that although this initiative had only just happened it was good to see
that the option had immediately been taken up.
Winter league. The mixed teams were very consistent last Winter – the only problem was
that we did consistently badly! The First team was relegated from Division 1, the Second
team was relegated from Division 2, the Third team was relegated from Division 4A and
the Fourth team was relegated from Division 4C! However the trusty Vets steadied the
ship by staying in Division 3, hooray! This winter, Hilary was pleased to report that so far
all the teams are doing very well, so we hope to regain the ground that we lost last year!
Ladies Summer league. Hilary reported that in the Summer league the Ladies teams were
rather more successful than the Winter mixed teams. We put out 3 teams as usual - the
Firsts came second in Division 1, the Seconds came second in Division 4B, being beaten
by a ridiculously strong Bishop Sutton team, but securing promotion, and the Thirds came
top of Division 6B, so also to be promoted. Well done ladies!
Brian Golding Tournament. This annual match against Kings T.C. provided rather an
interesting afternoon all round, not uneventful, but generally good fun. Kings lost with
good grace by a ‘huge’ total of 5 games. Many thanks to Dee for her help with the catering
that afternoon.
Ladies Summer Vets – in August and September. We held our ground in Division 2,
finishing in fourth place despite struggling to get players, as strangely enough, people
seemed to think that the school summer holidays was a good time to go away! Similarly,
in the Mixed Doubles, held at the same time, having gained promotion into Divisions 1 and
2 last year, we will be going back to Divisions 2 and 3 next year. There were logistical
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
problems all round with getting players to turn-out, so we may need to review the number
of teams we put out during this period next year.
For next year, the committee discussed sharing the captain’s duties – it is a busy role and
as there is so much league-play all year round, it doesn’t give much of an opportunity to
have a break. So Anthea has agreed to help next year by organising people on Monday
evenings - she’s already getting the balls out as she arrives early, so many thanks for that.
Katy has offered to help out with league. Hilary said that she was not sure that a squad
system would work well for the ladies as we may not have sufficient numbers to support
that approach. Instead, she said, she and Katy might take it in turns; having a couple of
months organising the teams and then swap.
Hilary finished by thanking everyone who contributed to club play and league this year –
and said she is looking forward to more great games next year.
Mens Captain - Matt Hawthorne
Matt reported that Men’s night, as ever, had been popular throughout the year. He had
started by attempting to organise the pairings and having timed matches, but found it
difficult to organise consistent pairs. The much more structured approach taken by Chris
Webber in the last few weeks had been more successful.
Matt commented that the second half of the mixed winter leagues had been a difficult
initiation into league-team organisation. Lack of player availability and more than a few
wayward performances (including himself, he said) led to all four teams being relegated.
The Vets team managed to stay up in Division 3.
The break between the Winter and Summer leagues allowed time to introduce some
improvements for the summer. Again, however, availability was always an issue, but
fortunately was helped by several Juniors stepping up to higher teams and making regular
appearances in the fourth and fifth teams. Promotion was achieved by the 1st and 4th
teams to Divisions 2 and 8 respectively. The 2nd team missed out on promotion by 8
points, while the 3rd team came 2nd in Div. 8C, and the 5th team came 3rd in Div. 10.
The Mens Vets did amazingly well in the summer – they came third and remained in
Division 3, but without winning a set!! This was (possibly?) because two other clubs were
so intimidated by our strength that they withdrew from the league.
With only the smallest of breaks the autumn mixed leagues began. Unfortunately, as
already reported by Hilary, both teams were demoted, although the 1st team tied with
Bristol on points and failed to stay up only because of their fewer number of wins.
The mixed winter league has now started with really good results and with lots of people
keen to get involved.
Matt finished his report by thanking all who had helped him, especially Chris Webber for
arranging the fixtures and stepping in to organise teams when he, Matt, was working out of
Bristol. Matt hoped that the buzz around men’s tennis at the club will continue.
Carol thanked Hilary and Matt for their reports and asked for questions or comments.
Again there were none, and so she asked for someone to propose the Captains’ Reports.
These were proposed by Ken Griffin and seconded by Kerris Weatherley with all in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
Bar Steward’s Report
Patrick Grant presented the Bar Stewards report. He said that the profit had reached
nearly £900 this year, more than for many years. This was much more than targeted –
mostly because the turn-over had increased by around 60% from £3200 last year to £5100
this. The massive increase in turnover, in spite of a deliberately decreased profit margin,
was due to a near doubling of the consumption. Patrick said that a large part of this was
due to the great efforts of Ian Thorn. Disappointingly, it turned out that this was not
entirely due to Ian’s personal drinking habits. Instead, by his presence behind the bar, he
had encouraged the development of a very well supported social grouping on a Thursday
night following the Improver sessions.
Carol thanked Patrick for all his efforts during the year, and remarked that although he had
temporarily left Bristol for Gloucester, she was glad to hear that his disappearance had not
lasted long, and he was back in Bristol and playing tennis with us again. There were no
questions, so she asked for a proposer. Louise Davison proposed the report, which was
seconded by Anthea Johnson with all in favour.
Junior Rep’s Report
Kerris opened by commenting that as in previous years the Junior membership has been
strong. More Juniors had moved on to Full Juniors where they have continued to be
encouraged by the Club to join in adult tennis play whether it be the First Saturday or
Wednesday evenings and now more recently men’s and ladies nights. We probably had
our youngest ever Summer League player this year. She hoped that even more Juniors
would play league next year.
Since January, Kerris said, she had developed the Junior ‘Premier League’ in which they
regularly play singles against each other on the first Sunday of every month where they
play 2 to 3 matches in an evening. Special mentions must go to Zac Lewis, Tom O’Keeffe,
Josh Lanham for playing in most of the events with Matt Richmond never failing to turn up
the whole year. Well done to them.
Junior doubles tournaments for 10 and under and for 15 and under were held in April. In
May the 10&Us played a singles round robin event; Ben Wright and Anoushka Temple
were the Boys and Girls Champions. In another competition, later in the summer, the
Junior Singles Finals were held on the same day as the Adults: Tom O’Keeffe won the
15&U, Blu Morgan the 12&U and Alfie Lewis won the 10&U. Sadly it proved impossible to
get the 18/19/20 year olds to play a tournament, but “as long as they still come to squad
on a Thursday then so be it”. Kerris commented, though, that the funny thing was that 10
of the older lot found time to turn out one evening to Planet Pizza for a mini social. She
thought all enjoyed a lovely evening, but she still finds it a great sadness when most
eventually leave to go travelling and to Uni. They were a truly fab bunch of kids and
thankfully some are still with us! Liam Harrison got a special mention having obtained his
coaching Level 1 in the summer, with some financial help from BCTC.
At the beginning of July the Juniors had the first of what Kerris hoped will be a regular triclub competition with Downend and Fishponds, and Cleeve Hill. This was held at Central
and was a hugely successful afternoon with parents and children coming over to our club
where lots of tennis was played by all ages, with both boys and girls. BCTC donated some
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
food to feed the youngsters and there was a great atmosphere. Kerris expected that
Central Juniors (and parents) would be heading over to the other clubs in the New Year.
Sam Drowley, our ex-Junior and now coach (lovely to have him back), led a hugely
successful Intensive Tennis Programme praised by parents and kids alike. 20+ children
have been split into similar ability groups of 4 where they are receiving an extra 1½ hr of
tennis lessons a week. The club kindly donated a generous grant per child to help cover
the cost. Kerris noted that past Juniors had not received financial help from the club, so
this, she thought, was brilliant. She thanked the Club on behalf of the children and parents.
Next year Kerris said she expected to continue with the ‘BCTC Junior Premier League’,
annual club tournies and the tri-club festivals, but also, was considering entering the
Aegon Team Tennis league for Club Junior teams. She and Sam had been looking at this
and if not next year then possibly the following as there is a strong core of 16&U boys who
are giving the best impression that they are completely dedicated to playing this game.
Kerris moved on from Junior coaching, to describe two initiatives: Tots Tennis and Coffee
Mornings. Tots Tennis was successful with a really lovely atmosphere; the tennis being
followed by tea and cakes and with parents and kiddies staying most weeks. This will be
tried again in the summer, but possibly with better advertising. On a less successful note
the Coffee Mornings didn’t take off, maybe due to the timing or the day? It did generate
one new member, though, which was good. Again, better advertising might help. A
possible initiative in 2012 could be Cardio Tennis - some really physical tennis hitting to a
fast beat. There were murmurs of interest from the audience at this idea.
Kerris reported a hugely successful Adult Improvers this year! Nearly 70 people turned up
on the first night which was a little daunting, but we got through it by splitting the group into
3 sessions. Then came the question of whether to go, as normal, for a second Improvers
in September, or to do something different. It was decided that a Progression course
should be offered instead, targeted at the better of the summer Improvers with the aim of
integrating them better into Club Play. This worked too, although, being experimental,
there were some learning points, but overall Kerris thought it had all been great! Kerris
said that she also introduced the first full-scale Improver Tournament; Nigel Pollett and
Juliet Hopley were the eventual winners and well done to them and thank you to Chris
Counter for being the host of the final!
Kerris went on to mention some ‘wishes’ for 2012, e.g. more Junior team-building events in
the summer; to provide further club-coaching for adult team players which had been
successfully trialled for a few weeks this last year; to continue with some doubles coaching
on a Wednesday (mixed-play) night; to maintain our involvement with two of the local
schools who used our courts (Sefton Park Juniors and BHES on the old-Fairfield site).
Finally, Kerris said that there were so many people she would like to thank; “Ian Dunn for
dealing with not only the Improvers but also the many Juniors. Ian Thorn for entertaining
the Improvers on a Thursday evening. Carol for spending money on us all! Katy for all her
enthusiasm for the coaching and keeping the Improvers in the loop with things... Carlos
who has always been there for me should I need any help anywhere... Sam who is just
lovely to have back at the club and Chris who is just unflappable, give him 20 kids in a
group and he just gets on with it! Central’s great!”
There were no comments, so Carol asked for Proposer and Seconder for Kerris’ report:
Rob Durbin proposed the report and Matt Hawthorne seconded it, with all in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
However, there was one other item relating to Junior play. Prior to the start of the AGM a
further initiative had been tried; Kerris had arranged, with Carol’s encouragement, an
award ceremony for the Juniors. A large number of Juniors had arrived, and many
parents, too. These combined with Club Members arriving for the meeting, to give a great
start to the evening. The Juniors receiving awards were as follows:
Junior Winners and Runners- Up:
Mid- Year 10&U Boys winner:
Runner Up:
10&U Girls Winner:
Runner Up:
End of Year 10&U Boys Winner:
Runner Up:
Ben Wright
Sam O’Keeffe
Anoushka Temple
Lily Quinn
Alfie Lewis
Ben Wright
12&U Winner:
Runner Up:
Plate Winner:
Runner Up:
Blu Morgan
Ned O’Keeffe
Joe Higginson
Nathan Sutherland
15&U Winner:
Runner Up:
Plate Winner:
Runner Up:
Tom O’Keeffe
Zac Lewis
Natalie Persson
Tom Melvin
Doubles
12&U Winners
Runners Up:
Joe Higginson/ Ben Northcott
Ben Wright/ Ben Jarman
15&U Winners:
Runners Up:
Josh Lanham/ Matt Richmond
Tom O’Keeffe/ Dan Northcott
Premier League:
15&U Champion
12&U Champion
Tom O’Keeffe
Matt Richmond
Special Achievement Award for complete dedication to his tennis: Matt Richmond!
Rule Changes
Carol asked John Skinner to introduce this item. John explained that the Rules of this
Members Club are essentially its constitution. The Rules had been modified relatively
recently, in 2005, when the Club changed its status to that of a Community Amateur
Sports Club (CASC status confers a financial advantage, but imposes certain conditions of
operation). The need to revisit the BCTC Rules in 2011 had come primarily from both the
LTA and the Inland Revenue (HMRC). The former had changed their constitution in 2011
to become a Limited Liability Company with the knock-on effect that the Club is no longer
formally an Affiliate of the LTA, but is an Associate registered with Avon LTA. The LTA
required that our Rules be modified to recognise this change, but also that we are subject
to their Rules, Regulations and Disciplinary Code. HMRC (who control CASC status) now
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
require that Committee members, and others who have a financial or other role in running
the club must declare that they are Fit and Proper Persons to run such an organisation.
The necessity of re-writing the Rules (and getting them approved initially at a General
Meeting of the Club and then by various organisations) led John to suggest to the
Committee that a more thorough overhaul of the wording should take place, since much of
it was outdated. The process had included debate first in a small forum, then with the full
Committee. A draft that had been circulated to Members and placed on the Club
noticeboard – the LTA had recently commented on this draft; they required a few minor
changes, but nothing significant. No response had yet been received from HMRC. John
said that to avoid going through all 17 pages, clause by clause, he had made some notes,
which he had circulated to those present, of the more contentious changes that had been
made to the 2005 version. For the record, a slightly amplified version of those notes is as
follows:
Clause 2.2 Object of Club. The Object (purpose) of the Club used to be essentially “play
tennis”; it now includes 6 sub-clauses including the provision of facilities, coaching,
insurance, refreshments, and abiding by LTA rules and regs.
Clause 4.1 Membership Applications. The old Rules used to require posting of new
applications on the club noticeboard, election by committee, assessment of standard.
Now 6 sub-clauses in all; key features being membership open to all, committee may limit
membership numbers when facilities in danger of becoming overstretched, but to not less
than 100 Full Members; all Members must agree to follow the LTA code; Membership
Secretary empowered to accept applicants without committee vote; playing standard
assessment to distinguish between Improver and Full status now at committee discretion.
There was some debate about the new rule that provides for limiting the membership
when facilities are in danger of becoming overstretched, although there is no requirement
that the committee impose a limit at 100 Full Members and, currently, the Club is not close
to that number. Comments from the floor suggested that the committee might use this limit
to exclude someone that they preferred not to be a Member, and also there was some
concern that an existing Member might be excluded in favour of a new applicant. John
said that neither of these outcomes was the intention of the new Rules. It was agreed that
the modified Rule was acceptable as long as, if the committee needed to impose a
membership limit, the reason for a refusal of membership would be made clear to an
applicant, a waiting list would apply, the waiting list would be public knowledge, and it
would be made clear that people on the list would be very welcome once the space
became available.
4.2 Subscription payment date. Used to be by 1st May. Now, could be at any date
specified by the committee, with 1 month to pay, then an increase in subscription for late
payment, and after 2 months the Member is deemed to have resigned.
4.4 Juniors. A definition of a ‘Junior’, and of the difference between Full or not, now
included. Much debate within the committee, as to whether and how to try to protect
Juniors. Previously the Rules stated that a Junior must be 16 years of age to play
unsupervised; this has been reduced to 14, but the Rules now point out that for children of
age 14 and over the parent is ultimately responsible for deciding whether it is acceptable
for their child to play unsupervised.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
4.7 Improvers. This clause was much expanded to try to clarify Improver’s rights. Now
there are 5 sub-clauses including: 1night/week for Improver use, assessment of standard
may be at any stage, Improvers may be invited to other night or nights and to team play
(but none of this is theirs by right), once they have been designated as club-play standard
they are expected to upgrade to Full when their subscription is next due. In discussion
there was a comment from the floor (Rich Brooks) who explained that he was a Summer
Improver. He said that the overall experience was excellent, but he had thought that
communication before the start of the Progression course was not as clear as it might
have been. Carol thanked him for his feedback and agreed that some things could have
been done better. If this experiment was repeated in 2012 the committee would try to
learn from mistakes made. Other questions regarded clarification of the voting rights of
Improvers – John said that he had not commented on this here because there was no
change in the Rules; Improvers had full voting rights at General Meetings. This came as a
surprise to some: John said he thought it may have been a response to the CASC
requirements in 2005, but Ken Griffin (responsible for the 2005 update) said that this was
not the case and that they had had the vote before then. There was further comment
(Catherine Warburton, Lois Thorn) that the Rules now seemed to be overly prescriptive,
which could lead to a lack of future flexibility to respond to changing conditions. John said
he had been aware of the issue, and had tried to draft the Rules with this in mind, but
nevertheless feared that they might turn-out to be too prescriptive. However, the Rules
now allow for the possibility of lower tiers of documentation, although these do not really
yet exist, which could be adapted by the committee as and when they saw fit. Until those
lower tiers became available John felt it was useful for the Rules to spell out some of the
methods of operation that had evolved in recent years, and to formalise them while
retaining as much flexibility as possible. When it was pointed out by Carol that some of
the desired flexibility with wording such as ‘at the committee’s discretion’ already existed in
the revised Rules, it was agreed that no change was required.
5.1 AGM. A number of changes here. Subscriptions. John said that he could only ever
remember the AGM voting on the Full subscription, leaving the committee to decide other
subscriptions: this had now been formalised in the new Rules. Secondly, he had been
concerned that numbers attending the AGM had fallen a little over the last few years, and
had sometimes come within 5 of the present quorum of 20. To guard against situations
such as a bad epidemic etc., he felt it advisable to reduce the quorum from 20 to 15 voting
members present. The number of members required to call an EGM had also been
reduced to fifteen. There was some concern from the floor that 15 was not much larger
than the size of the committee, with the implication that the committee could vote for itself.
Further thought convinced the debaters that this was not a real hazard. John explained
that the LTA considered that the size of the quorum was for the Club to decide, but they
suggested that it might be around 10% of Members having a vote. Fifteen approximates
to 10% of the sum of Full, Honorary and Improver BCTC members, as of this time.
6.1 Committee composition. The Club Officer list has been expanded to include a Match
Secretary. The Bar Chair becomes Bar Steward. The new Rules state a maximum
committee membership of 14 (even at this level, John felt, it becomes a bit ponderous).
The old Rules state that the committee consists of 13, or more if required.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
6.2/6.3 Two new clauses have been inserted to include the HMRC requirement that the
committee members declare themselves to be Fit and Proper Persons, and that the
Committee be bound by the Rules of the LTA.
8. Authority of Committee. In addition to previous Rules, the committee can now (a) make
Regulations and Standing Orders (the lower tier documentation referred to by John in
discussion, above, of clause 4.7), (b) interpret the Rules, (c) expel members. John said
that the wording on the latter was very legalistic, but had been lifted directly from the LTA
‘sample rules’ for clubs. It was felt that the chance of it being required was very low, but if,
regrettably, it was required then the wording should be the best available.
10. Coaching. All coaches must agree to be bound by the Rules of the LTA and, if not
registered with the LTA, sign a document to this effect. The new Rules clarify a previously
grey area: coaching of non-members is now specifically allowed subject to payment of a
court (playing) fee.
11. Guests may purchase drinks, but, if they do, must be signed in as visitors. Guests
must agree to follow the Rules and Regs of the LTA. There was some discussion as to
the difference between a ‘Visitor’ and a ‘Guest’. John thought that these words had been
used in the past interchangeably, but from the point of view of the licensing laws a ‘Visitor’
could only drink at the bar if they were a ‘Guest’ of a Member. He thought that there was a
requirement to distinguish between a ‘playing visitor’, an ordinary (non-playing, nondrinking) visitor, and a ‘visitor purchasing drinks’. The recording of the latter’s name was a
licensing requirement.
14. Members must follow a Club Code of Conduct if/when displayed on noticeboard.
There were no further questions. Carol asked those present to approve the new Rules
subject to any amendments that the LTA, the HMRC, or the Licensing Authorities might
make. A vote was taken, and there were no votes against, and a large number
(uncounted) in favour.
Subscriptions. To murmurs of approval, Carol said that the committee recommendation
was that the Full Subscription should again remain unchanged at £160. This was
proposed by Jill Carr and seconded by Louise Davison with all in favour.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chair
Hon Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Mens’ Captain
Ladies’ Captain
Bar Chair
Junior Rep
Carol Weeks
Pip Morgan
Ian Thorn
Ian Dunn
Martyn Lewis and Chris Webber (joint captains)
Hilary Bryant
John Skinner
Kerris Weatherley
Election of Executive Committee
Chris Blake
Ed Brooke-Taylor
Phil Renison
Katy Walsh
Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin
Election of the above nominated Officers, Executive Committee Members and Auditor was
proposed by Paul Underhill and seconded by Anthea Johnson with all in favour.
AOB
Carol asked if there was any other business. There was none from the floor, but Carol
then said that she had an item she wished to introduce herself. She said: “The
constitution allows the committee to make recommendations for granting Life Membership
to anyone who has given exceptional service to the club. On behalf of the committee I am
pleased to propose that John Skinner be awarded Honorary Life Membership. Working
closely with John this last year I have witnessed first-hand his devotion and understanding
of the club, the time he spends on paperwork, researching information to advise the
committee on issues, and, getting to grips with requirements put to us by the LTA and
other authorities. Since joining the committee some ten years ago, John has worked
tirelessly as Treasurer, Secretary, Chairman and Bar Steward – very often doubling up on
the roles when there was no-one to fill them. He is also our ‘maintenance supremo’ and
will always drop everything to rush to the club – toolbox in hand – to sort out the door,
locks, gates, plumbing and, more recently, to meet the police when we were broken into. I
can’t think of anyone who deserves this more and hope you will agree with me.”
As writer of these minutes, John was somewhat taken aback and cannot remember what
he said next, but hopes that he thanked Carol for her kind words, and said that there were
many at the Club who put in a huge amount of effort, and he was not sure that he
deserved this accolade, but for once this was a decision into which he had been allowed
no input.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
Trophy Presentation
Carol then moved on to present the Trophies.
2011 Winners
Event
Ladies Singles
Men’s Singles
Ladies doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
First Saturday
(ladies)
First Saturday
(men)
Club Award
Central Cup
Winner
(Not played)
Nikki Giles
Julia Giles & Joan Hassell
Fred Ali & Matt Hawthorn
Kerris Weatherley & Paul Underhill
Runner up
Paul Underhill
Hilary Bryant & Katy Walsh
Paul Underhill & Andy Young
Nikki & Julia Giles
Anthea Johnson
Zac Lewis
John Skinner
To add to the honours already bestowed, Carol then handed John a bottle of his favourite
malt, neatly wrapped as a Christmas cracker. Delicious.
Carol said that the first meeting of the new committee would be on Thursday 12th January,
7.30 at the club, and an agenda will be circulated in the New Year together with minutes of
the last meeting for Pip and Ed as new members.
Finally, to prepare the way for the rest of the evening, Carol asked the assembled
company, “Did you know that there are several definitions of a committee: an entity that
keeps minutes and wastes hours! A group of individuals who can do nothing individually
and sit to decide that nothing can be done together! And a group of the unwilling, selected
from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.”
Carol finished by thanking all present for attending and wished everyone a Happy
Christmas and healthy and prosperous New Year. “I’ll be thinking of you from the beach in
Perth. Meanwhile, let’s enjoy our Christmas party.”
*****************************************************************************************************
Meeting closed at 9.15 ‘ish (??)
John Skinner, December 2011.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2011
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Friday 7th December 2012
Present:
Carol Weeks (Chair), Pip Morgan (Hon Sec), Kerris Weatherley, Ian Dunn, Chris Blake,
Katy Walsh, John Skinner, Ken Griffin, Sam Drowley, Lois Thorn, Hilary Bryant, Di
Harrison, Chris Webber, Rob Durbin, Catherine Warburton, Anthea Johnson, Jill Carr,
Clive Lewis, Patrick Grant, Dee Northover, Nigel Pollett, Sue Roulstone, Paul Underhill.
Apologies:
Ian Thorn (Treasurer), Marc Truscelli, Phil Renison, Martyn Lewis, Olive Brown, Chris
Potts, Louise Davison, Nikki and Julia Giles, Alan White, Paul Bullivant, Carol Weatherley,
Barbara Carey.
Minutes of 2011 AGM (held on Friday 9th December 2011)
Carol asked whether there were any comments on the Minutes from the 2011 AGM.
There were none so she then invited the Minutes to be proposed and seconded from the
floor. They were duly proposed by Pip Morgan and seconded by Catherine Warburton.
Chair’s Report
“Good evening and thank you for coming tonight – I hope you’ve all enjoyed the warmth of
some mulled wine and have found yourselves a seat.
“Most importantly this year, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank members for their
patience while Wessex Water worked in Happy Lane. As ever, it took longer than expected
but we were fortunate to have the option of access via the back of Court 1. Thank you
Chris W for making sure our League opposition and visitors to the club knew how to find
us, to Katy for organising a padlock at short notice and to John for putting up a light.
“I’m delighted the club continues to thrive in these difficult times. A solid set of accounts
will be reported by Ian and membership remains stable, although it would be good to
attract more league standard ladies to join us. During 2013 a small working group will
review the club’s business plan and longer term financial objectives. If there are any
improvements or changes you would like us to consider, please let me know.
“The Improvers and new Progressors courses continue to be popular. Thanks to Kerris
and her team for the coaching they provide and to the Ian’s – Thorn and Dunn – for their
administrative help. Many current league players have come through our grown up
“academy” and it continues to be a useful mechanism for adults to return to the game or to
take it up afresh.
“The committee continues to monitor court usage to ensure the relationship between court
availability and players allows members to play when they wish. Wednesday nightclub
play is well supported again. Thanks to Anthea, in particular, for her encouragement of
new members and those Improvers recommended to join club play by Kerris.
“Thanks also to the organisers of our tournaments – Ian Dunn and his supporting crew for
FSTs. Rob Durbin for his initiative on 3rd Saturdays and to Nikki Giles for the schedule of
events over the year. Unfortunately, some of these were cancelled due to poor weather
and lack of support and so we won’t be quite so adventurous in 2013. However, it is a
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
shame that club honours tournaments have failed – particularly the men’s and ladies
singles and ladies doubles. Kerris is revitalising the singles ladder and lots of people have
signed up, hopefully, this will encourage more participation next year. Of course, the
weather didn’t help as the ladies doubles was rained off twice!
“Improvements continue to be made to the club and you will see our new sofas and TV
which will complement the clubroom and kitchen redecoration taking place in the New
Year. Kitchen changes will also allow us a little more worktop and storage space. Please
look out for notice of a Spring working party to help decorate the changing rooms and tidy
up the garden – many hands make light work and it would be great to see new faces on
these occasions. Let’s hope the weather allows us to use the garden and we can improve
the seating, which didn’t happen this year. We also have our clothing range, well done
Katy – it’s great to see so many people flying the flag for Central in a T-shirt or hoodie!
“A full coach of members and friends enjoyed a great day out at Wimbledon – no wrong
turns this year – and, despite some drizzle in the queue, we had a full day’s tennis on one
of the hottest days this year. Locally, we recently joined the fundraising joint community
Ceilidh at St Barts and another skittles night is planned for early March at the bowls club
next door.
“For 2013 we plan to move into the modern age with electronic membership renewals for
full members. Wifi will be installed, our website overhauled and Sam Drowley has offered
to set up and manage club Facebook and Twitter accounts. To complement the club rules,
I plan to produce club Operating Procedures. These will include details about bank
accounts, the garages, waste and recycling collection costs/arrangements etc., which will
be a helpful point of reference for anyone taking over committee or voluntary work for the
club in the future.
“The LTA are also moving forward and the club Wimbledon ticket ballot will take place online for the first time. Don’t forget that to be included in the club Wimbledon draw for
tickets, you have to be registered with British Tennis Membership by the end of January
2013. Whilst talking of the LTA, our Honorary Member - Olive Brown – has retired as
President of Avon LTA after her involvement since 1976 – over 35 years, what an amazing
achievement. Olive has fond memories of Central, in particular coaching a 10-year old
Nikki Giles, and enjoys keeping up with what’s going on in the newsletters.
“I’m sure you all know that the club couldn’t exist without the committee and on your behalf
I’d like to thank them all for their contribution during the year. I’d also like to thank Carol
Weatherley for keeping the club clean and tidy; Ken Griffin for his audit of the accounts;
Catherine Warburton for keeping the website up-to-date and Louise Davison who is now
our Food Hygiene Officer.
“We have two retirements: Martyn Lewis as joint men’s captain. Thank you Martyn for your
contribution and I know you’ll be around to offer advice on building and maintenance
matters. Ed Brooke Taylor also leaves us as he is moving to Oxfordshire for an easier
commute to London. Thanks Ed for your input with particular reference to Improvers.
“The club has had a successful tennis year: A fantastic WELL DONE to Kerris and her first
team ladies who won the Summer League Trophy – I’d like to present this to her now.
“The ladies 3rd team also gained promotion to Division 4. The men’s 2nd and 3rd teams won
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
their divisions and are promoted to Divisions 5 and 7. Last winter our 1 st and 3rd teams
won their divisions and were promoted to Divisions 1 and 4 respectively. Our 2nd team
came 2nd and was promoted to Division 2. Hilary and I attended the Avon League
Presentation Evening and were delighted to feature so prominently in the receipt of
Central prizes – and having our picture taken!
“Earlier this evening Kerris presented some junior trophies. The juniors continue to flourish
and the committee have agreed to give financial help to some of them with their Intensive
Tennis Programme and in their personal development through the Tennis Leaders Course
– for those aged 13 years or above – and also pursuing the LTA Level 1 coach assistant
course.”
Adoption of the report was proposed by Anthea Johnson and seconded by John Skinner
with all in favour.
Hon. Treasurer’s Report
As Ian Thorn (Treasurer) was ill and unable to attend the meeting, but he submitted the
accounts and gave John Skinner some notes to read out:
Overall, the club is in a very healthy financial situation and will remain so, as long as Kerris
brings in improvers.
Income: The change in income in 2012, compared to 2011, was skewed because:
* Banking £3,164 of subs from 2011 was paid in 2012
* Key deposit forfeits amounting to £2,500 were added in 2012
* Sale of clothing to the tune of 3775 was balanced by expenditure of £800.
Expenditure: Regarding utilities, expenditure has risen compared to 2011 and I will try to
address this next year when new contracts are due. The club increased expenditure on
coaching for both juniors and adults, but paid less in advertising.
Regarding club and garden maintenance, expenditure was less in 2012 but more will be
spent in 2013. Expenditure on court maintenance increased (whereas in 2011,
expenditure on court maintenance was included in the sinking fund spend).
Adoption of the report was proposed by Jill Carr and seconded by Dee Northover.
Captains’ Reports
Ladies’ Captain – Hilary Bryant
“Just a quick rundown of things this year:
“Monday nights: A couple of courts are available for booking from 8pm.
“Winter league: Overall, a good set of results – the first team were promoted to Division 1,
the second team were promoted into Division 2, the 3rds and 4ths were promoted into
Division 4. The vets didn’t fare quite so well, however, and were relegated from Division 3.
“Ladies Summer League: A good year for the ladies – the first team took the trophy for top
of Division 1. The seconds finished 4th place in division 3, but they had been promoted the
last two years in a row, so we were happy to consolidate this year. The 3 rd team were
promoted – this was very close as we just managed to pip Knowle to the post as both
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teams finished on 63 points but we won on sets. This was very satisfying since there was
a little argy-bargy with them since they went to the wrong venue on the opening night of
the season. The 4ths were relegated from division 6, but this was a new team, and Katy
and I overstretched ourselves a little this year and a couple of matches were not able to be
played, due to lack of players.
“The committee had a chat around sharing out the captain’s duties – it’s quite busy and as
there is so much league all year round, it doesn’t give much of an opportunity to have a
break. So Anthea has agreed to help next year by organising people on Monday evenings
– she’s already getting the balls out as she arrives early, so many thanks for that. Katy has
offered to help out with league – I’m not sure that a squad system would work too well for
the ladies as we may not have sufficient numbers to support that, so we will have a couple
of months arranging and then swap.
“Brian Golding tournament: This was held in October – it’s a friendly-ish annual event
between us and Kings. An interesting event again this year, which took place at Kings, and
we managed to keep the opposition happy by losing gracefully. It’s held in memory of a
member of both Kings and Central, who dies of cancer a t a young age. We had won it
several times, and it was only fair that we let them keep hold of it for a while…
“Ladies Summer Vets: We did attempt to carry out this event, but the rain got the better of
us and it was called off several times.
“Captaincy duties: Many thanks to Katy for helping with the summer league organisation
this year. There is a lot to organise throughout the year, so I will be happy to continue with
the summer and winter league, but will not be running the summer vets and organisation
of Monday nights next year, so will be looking for somebody to take these over.
“Thanks to everyone who has contributed to club play and league this year – looking
forward to more of the same next year.”
The report was proposed by Di Harrison and seconded by Anthea Johnson.
Men’s Captain – Chris Webber
“Good evening…Martyn and I have shared the captaincy over the last year and we have, I
think, worked really well together... it is a great loss to the club (and to me) that he cannot
continue into 2013. More recently, we have been fighting over who should do the
captain’s report... but he’s younger and stronger than me so here I am!
“Overall, 2012 has been a good year for men’s tennis at BCTC. In terms of numbers we
have seen a steady increase in adult male membership, including some returning exmembers (I nearly said old faces but that might be misinterpreted!).
“In terms of competitive tennis, and particularly league, Central teams have performed
really well. Thanks must go to Matt Hawthorne (the 2011 captain) for agreeing to see
through team organisation until the end of winter league in March of this year... as Hil has
noted, the 2011–2012 winter league culminated in all four teams winning promotion with
the 1sts, 3rds and 4ths actually winning their divisions (1sts won their division and gained
promotion back into division 1, the 2nds came second and gained promotion into division
2, the 3rds won their division and gained promotion into division 4 and the 4ths won their
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
division and gained promotion into division 4). The vets didn’t do quite so well .. nuff said
(bottom of division 3 and demoted).
“Men’s match practice on a Tuesday night has been really well supported and in the early
part of this year was attracting 25–30 men whilst post-summer has been regularly getting
even more, 30–35 being the norm.
“We had five men’s teams in summer league and decided to experiment with multiple vicecaptains, each responsible for one or two teams. Thanks to Matt and Marc for their
commitment to this... it worked! Prior to summer league, we introduced a 3-week block of
doubles coaching... many thanks to Chris Counter... and this was followed by a further 3week block of match practice organised by the respective team vice captains.
“Summer league results were really pleasing... the 1sts held their place in division 2, 2nds
and 3rds won their divisions and gained promotion whilst the 4ths and 5ths held their
places in their divisions... next summer we will have teams in divisions 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9.
“A few comments re the players involved... Joe Day was awarded by Avon LTA as being
the 3rd most successful player in the whole of the summer league; we decided to include
two juniors each week in the 5ths... thanks to Tom, Zac and Alex who played at various
times throughout the season and taught me a lot! And great results with promotions
throughout…not sure on outstanding performance but think a special mention should
perhaps be made to Chris Blake.... always committed and dependable and maybe Charlie
Potter who was very active.
“Summer league overview... mention 5ths and juniors so many thanks to the talented
juniors who committed to 5th team and all of the above practice: Tom O' Keefe, Zac, Alex
...Great start to league with most teams showing excellent results in first half. Run-in was
difficult as we struggled with the availability of better players. Results mixed but positive
and something to build on. 1sts promotion-looking form in first half but faltered on run-in.
2nds promotion and 3rds promotion, winning divisions easily. 4ths, as above for 1sts. 5ths
staying? To conclude: given the availability of players the results this year in summer
league have led to quite a balanced representation across the 10 divisions so 1sts are
now in 2nd division, 2nds now in the 5th, 3rds now in the 7t, 4ths now in the 8th, and 5ths
now in the 10th. Outstanding performance in men’s league Joe Day was 3rd most
consistent player across all divisions.
“Mixed Summer: availability a struggle with this. Conclusion with Hilary is that maybe 1
mixed team and a vets might be a more sensible approach. Results: 1st team......
promotion easily and progress now to the first division. Many thanks on men’s side to
outstanding performance and commitment from Sam Drowley and Carlos. 2nd
Team....demoted. Vets demoted...not so great.
“Winter League, 2012 up to now: 1sts looking stable in a very competitive first division.
2nds looking very good in the 2nd division and if we continue results for a few more
matches will be promoted to first division! (Carlos and Sam). 3rds/4ths looking tough
through availability. Vets....not sure. Just a thought on this Chris: maybe we need a Friday
night mixed promotional/training night for 3rds and 4ths? I can help with this in new year.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
“Sam’s drill: thanks for support and patience! Aegon Tennis: many thanks to Nikki for his
time and effort in organising this...we’re staying in the same division next year. Thanks
again Chris – hopefully see you later on for drink!”
Carol added a note about the LTA and the advent of computerised results, and a
tightening up on monitoring and penalties.
The report was proposed by Katy Walsh and seconded by John Skinner.
Bar Steward’s Report
John Skinner gave a report about the bar:
“The turnover was around £5,200, up just a little on last year. Following a committee
decision of 2 years ago, the objective was to cover hidden costs (additional cleaning,
licence, glass recycling, cooler depreciation and running costs etc.), which are estimated
to be around £500pa. Prices were therefore adjusted down slightly this year to give a
mark-up of only about 14% (down from about 20% last year) and a profit (before hidden
costs) of about £630.
“Many thanks to all those who stepped in to help out while I was ‘down under’ for a couple
of months: Martyn, Katy, Carol, Chris and others all helped out and kept the beer flowing.”
The report was proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Chris Blake.
Junior Rep’s Report
Kerris Weatherley gave her Junior Representative’s report:
As with previous years we have another strong membership with the junior section. More
Juniors have been moving on to becoming Full Juniors where they have continued to be
encouraged by yourselves and us coaches to join in adult tennis play, whether it be the
first Saturday or Wednesday evenings and now more recently men’s and ladies’ nights.
More and more juniors were making themselves available to play league this year, with our
first and youngest girlie to rock up for the ladies 4ths. Many squads are bursting, with
some of them having to be split – shame we didn’t have more time! Holiday courses have
equally been very well participated, much credit to our team of coaches who make the
lesson fun and enjoyable.
Since January we have continued to develop the Premier League for the Juniors to
regularly play singles matches against each other. We have done this on the first Sunday
of every month where they had to play 2 to 3 matches in an evening. Special mentions
must go to Zac Lewis, Alfie Lewis, and Paul Truscelli for playing in most of the events, with
Josh Lanham and Matt Richmond (even when feeling poorly, never failing to turn up the
whole year). Well done!
In May, we held the Junior singles tournament for the 12 and under, and for the 16 and
under. Blu Morgan and Alfie Lewis have only just played their final where Blu Morgan
triumphed in only what could be described as a fantastic, high-quality final where both
boys where playing some great tennis. Great game. The Under-16 final was again a hardfought after affair between Zac Lewis and Saul Hinchcliffe. Saul eventually came out as
champion in 3 tight sets where many mind games and ‘hanging in there’ strategies
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
prevailed! In the plate event for the 16s Tom Melvin just about overcame Natalie Persson,
winning a very tight set.
Sadly ,due to the ridiculously bad weather we had back in the so-called summer, many of
the other competitions had to be cancelled, even though I remember turning up one
Sunday morning when it was black and chucking it down in gale forced winds, Matt and
Josh were still out there warming up for the doubles tournie! I was really pleased that they
are dedicated but told them they were mad and tried sending them on their way, but they
insisted on staying and practising (standing up, I think!).
So what I decided to do was to actually run the tournaments during the lessons for a
couple of weeks. My under-12 group on a Monday, of which there are 20+ in the group,
were mixed up and split into 2 boxes where the top 2 teams were put into the top tier and
the 3rds and 4ths into the second tier box. Again, I know sometimes I am quite hard on
this group where I feel little progress is being made, but in actual fact when you have 9 to
10-year-olds who are rallying consistently well from the back of the court, where points are
lasting 10/15 strokes, it’s made me realise just how well they really are doing!
Congratulations to Will Cook and Leo Arnstein, who won the group in a very close last
match over Sam O’Keeffe and Sam Northcott! Likewise, with my under-14 group on a
Thursday, we played a knock-out style format where we’ve managed to rank every pair
through first to eighth. Congratulations to Alfie Lewis and Finn Heath who beat Paul
Truscelli and Tif Pearcy in the final!
Another area that was forecast to be an annual thing was the Tri-angular festival with D
and F and Cleeve Hill. Sadly again, between Chris, Neil and myself and the bad weather
this was not held, such a shame as it was great fun last year! We will definitely get a
couple of dates in the calendar for next year!
Sadly again, this year I was hoping to run a Parent/child competition in the Autumn. The
first date, I had one couple sign up – yes, Matt Rich and his dad – so we postponed and
then the second date was again just one couple of Gwin and Rosie Lloyd Owen. This
tournament will run next year as I am sure there are so many parents and children who
would love to come up and have some fun tennis with their families! Even more advertising
next year to be done and a different time of year!
The other area that we haven’t spoken about is the hugely successful Intensive Tennis
Programme, which is being coached by Sam. 20+ children have been split into similar
ability groups of 4 where they are receiving an extra one-and-a-half hours’ of tennis
lessons a week. BCTC and I have picked out 20 promising Juniors to receive this
coaching, with the club kindly donating a very generous grant per child to help cover the
cost, for which we are hugely grateful! Thank you on the children and parents’ behalf. We
now have 20+ Juniors playing two-and-a-half hours’ of tennis a week, which makes a huge
difference to the usual one hour, especially when you have the likes of Tom O’K, Alex, Zac
and Natalie P, who have all played for the club during summer league with the like of Matt,
Josh, Blu, Alfie, Paul being ready for next year! Brilliant!
Thoughts for next year are to continue with the premier league, annual club tournies and
the tri club festivals, but also, hopefully, a few friendlies with some of my school kids too. I
have been taking Luigi and Hannah over to Clifton for a session with some of my arrogant,
but maybe have a little to be arrogant about Russian, German, French, Spanish school
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
kids for a session every Wednesday and already they feel as though their standard has
risen. Now, whether that has anything to do with the fact that they do not know them as
well and taking them out of their comfort zone a little, so they want to perform better I do
not know, but nevertheless, if it’s helping psychologically then all the better for Central!
Other areas we have looked at is Tots Tennis and Coffee mornings. Tots Tennis was
relatively successful in the rubbish summer, with a really lovely atmosphere being created
with teas and cakes being bought and parents and kiddies staying near enough every
week. On a more unsuccessful note the Coffee Mornings haven’t happened, maybe due to
the timing or the day. Cardio Tennis has taken off a little better, with our old faithful rocking
up most weeks... If anybody would like to come and have a go, then please do, I think it is
a great thing to have at a club!
Adult Improvers and Progressors...finally, there are so many people I would like to thank:
Ian Dunn for dealing with not only the Improvers but also the plenty of Juniors who are
always handing their memberships in. Ian Thorn for putting up with my moans and groans.
Carol and the committee for spending money on us all! To Katy for all her enthusiasm, for
her coaching and keeping the Improvers in the loop with things...Sam who is just great to
have around the place and Chris who is just unflappable, give him 20 kids in a group and
he just gets on with it! Central’s great!
Junior Winners and Runners- Up:
Mid-Year Under 10 Boys winner:
Runner Up:
Ben Wright
Sam O’Keeffe
Under-10 Girls Winner:
Runner Up:
Anoushka Temple
Lily Quinn
End of Year Under-10 Boys Winner:
Runner Up:
Alfie Lewis
Ben Wright
Under-12 Winner:
Runner Up:
Plate Winner:
Runner Up:
Blu Morgan
Ned O’Keeffe
Joe Higginson
Nathan Sutherland
Under-15 Winner:
Runner Up:
Plate Winner:
Runner Up:
Tom O’Keeffe
Zac Lewis
Natalie Persson
Tom Melvin
Doubles
Under-12s Winners
Runners Up:
Joe Higginson/ Ben Northcott
Ben Wright/ Ben Jarman
Under-15 Winners:
Runners Up:
Josh Lanham/ Matt Richmond
Tom O’Keeffe/ Dan Morthcott
Premier League:
Under-15 Champion
Tom O’Keeffe
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
Under 12 Champion
Matt Richmond
Special Achievement Award for complete dedication to his tennis:
Matt Richmond!
The report was proposed by Dee Northover and seconded by Catherine Warburton.
Subscriptions
Carol announced that the management committee has decided to maintain the Full
Subscription for club membership for the year April 2013 to April 2014 at £160.
Nigel Pollett asks about family membership, to which Carol replies that the committee will
be discussing this at our first meeting in the new year.
This report was proposed by Lois Thorn and seconded by Jill Carr with all in favour.
Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chair
Hon Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Membership Sec
Men’s Captain
Ladies’ Captain
Bar Chair
Junior Rep
Carol Weeks
Pip Morgan
Ian Thorn
Ian Dunn
Chris Webber
Hilary Bryant
John Skinner
Kerris Weatherley
The meeting stressed the need for a joint men’s captain. Catherine Warburton
recommends that incoming captains should come in after the Winter League finishes in
March, so that there’s continuity and provision for working with the outgoing captain. This
would be considered.
Election of members without portfolios
Chris Blake
Phil Renison
Katy Walsh
Marc Truscelli
The elections for the nominated officers and members without portfolios were proposed by
Rob Durbin and seconded by Sue Roulstone.
Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin
The election of the above nominated auditor was proposed by Chris Webber and
seconded by Chris Blake with all in favour.
Trophy Presentation: 2012 Winners
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Event
Ladies Singles
Men’s Singles
Ladies doubles
Winner
Not played
Not played
Not played
Men’s Doubles
Oli Bynoth & Nikki Giles
Mixed Doubles
First Saturday (ladies)
First Saturday (men)
Club Award
Central Cup
Nikki & Julia Giles
Anthea Johnson
Zac Lewis
Runner up
Chris Counter & Martyn
Lewis
Chris & Steph Ward
Anthea Johnson
“I’d like to present the Central Cup to Anthea Johnson. Anthea is a true club member and,
in particular, a great support to Monday ladies night and Wednesday club play. Not only
does she ensure balls are available and groups get out on court, BUT she warmly
welcomes our improvers and newcomers and makes them feel part of the club. She’s a
keen participant (and winner) in the FSTs and is happy to raise issues on behalf of
members – we welcome those views as we know they come from a great understanding of
the club and its ethos. Thank you, Anthea!”
AOB
Carol asked the meeting if there was any other business. There was none from the floor,
so Carol introduced the following:
“With the agreement of the committee I’d like to propose that Chris Webber be awarded
Honorary Life Membership.
“I am not sure when I first met Chris, but it must have been at least 20 years ago and since
then he hasn’t stopped working for the club, taking on pretty much every role on the
committee with enthusiasm and commitment. His knowledge and history of the club is
hugely valuable and he is always prepared to drop everything (well not literally) to sort out
a problem that has occurred.
“More recently he has set up a fantastic Tuesday men’s night of tennis. I recently played
with a new member in a league match who has joined Central solely because of Tuesday
night. He is a member of another club and had heard on the grapevine that quality men’s
tennis was available at Central. He was warmly welcomed and is now venturing to play
matches for us as well.
“This is an honour Chris well deserves and I hope you will agree with me.”
Chris Blake thanked Carol and the meeting was then closed.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2012
BRISTOL CENTRAL TENNIS CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Friday 13th December 2013
Present:
Carol Weeks (Chair), Pip Morgan (Hon Sec), Kerris Weatherley, Lucy Cory, Peter
Caldwell, Ian Dunn, Chris Blake, Katy Walsh, John Skinner, Ken Griffin, Lois Thorn, Hilary
Bryant, Di Harrison, Chris Webber, Rob Durbin, Catherine Warburton, Anthea Johnson, Jill
Carr, Dee Northover, Nigel Pollett, Alan Douglas, Jo Kallevik, Marc Truscelli, Finola Austin,
Louise Davison.
Apologies:
Ian Thorn (Treasurer), Jane Williams, Steve Draper, Olive Brown, Chris Potts, Robin
Leveridge.
Minutes of 2012 AGM (held on Friday 7th December 2012)
Carol asked whether there were any comments on the Minutes from the 2011 AGM.
There were none so she then invited the Minutes to be proposed and seconded from the
floor. They were duly proposed by Pip Morgan and seconded by Chris Webber.
Chair’s Report
“Good evening and thank you for coming – we postponed the junior presentations until
the new year as many were not able to come this evening. However, at this stage I’d like
to thank Kerris and her team of coaches for their hard work and commitment to the club.
Once again we have agreed to give financial help to some of the juniors for their Intensive
Tennis Programme and in their personal development through the Tennis Leaders Course
and the LTA Level 1 coach assistant course.
“I hope you will all agree that the club looks in good shape with the redecoration of the
clubhouse, kitchen and front entrance and we have also installed WIFI. We now plan to
brighten up the changing facilities and create more storage in the disabled toilet. Outside it had to happen - a bulb eventually blew on the floodlights – not bad after many more
years than their anticipated life– and the committee had agreed to replace ALL the bulbs
when this happened thus ensuring continuity of light coverage and just a one-off visit by
the contractors. So, it has been done and we hope to have many more trouble-free years.
“We still need to be vigilant about club security with regular attempted break-in damage to
the front and rear doors. Recent graffiti on the Happy Lane side of our wall resulted in a
police prosecution. The club has been financially reimbursed by the offender.
“Working parties just don’t seem to attract more than 3 or 4 attendees and so we are
actively looking for an odd-job-person cum gardener to be on call to help maintain the
club. If you know anyone who might be interested, please let me know.
“Usual activities ran through the year with adult coaching for Improvers and Progressors,
First and Third Saturday tournaments, Wednesday night bar opening with occasional
“Tombola” tennis and Friday supersprints. Thanks to everyone who has organised or
helped with these.
“Wednesday night club play is well supported and Tuesday nights the club is packed out
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
with guys. After a slow start, ladies night on Monday is gathering momentum and we have
gained several new lady members during the year. Thanks again to Anthea for her help on
Mondays.
“Once again club honours tournaments have not been supported. I have cleaned all the
trophies – to look good even if not presented – and only the mixed doubles tournament
took place. The men’s singles is under way but, unfortunately, playing deadlines haven’t
been met and, as yet, there is no winner. The trophy is ready however.
“Wimbledon this year was disappointing – on two fronts, the lowest number of seat tickets
allocated to us by the LTA due to our poor number of British Tennis Members, and the
unfortunate coach trip. We are working to sign up ALL members to BTM to improve our
allocation for 2014. Should we consider going for Club Mark status an application can be
made to take a large group of club members to Wimbledon and No 1 court tickets for the
final weekend are available for them to purchase. Something to consider for the future.
“Some of our plans for 2013 will be rolled into 2014 and they include the website overhaul
(currently underway), management of Facebook and Twitter accounts and club Operating
Procedures.
“As ever, the committee have worked extremely hard over the year to ensure the smooth
running of the club and I thank them all on your behalf. We have 4 retiring members and
I’d like to ask Ian Dunn, Hilary Bryant, Chris Blake and Marc Truscelli, to receive a small
thank you gift.
“It is always difficult to attract new members to what is a hugely rewarding and worthwhile
role and I am delighted to see 4 new names for nomination tonight.
“While discussing these vacancies with members it seems that many of you perceive the
roles to have grown and, as a result, changes will be made to make them more
manageable.
“Full junior and junior memberships will be separated from the membership database and
Caroline Pollett has agreed to be Junior Memsec. They renew in September and will now
be able to pay their club membership electronically, or by cash/cheque, straight to the
club.
“Ladies and Men’s captains will be representing their sections at committee meetings but
will be sharing the tasks of managing leagues and organising practice nights with others.
So, I hope these “bite sized chunks” will appeal to more of you and that you will put
yourselves forward to help out more readily.
“League tennis this year has been a challenge. The Winter Vets were promoted to Division
3 but 3 of the 4 other teams were relegated. There were no promotions in the summer
league, 2 out of 3 ladies teams were relegated and 4 out of 5 men’s. However, much of
this was due to changes at the top which have a knock-on effect down the teams and our
rightful place standard-wise will eventually be found.
“In the late summer league we fielded 2 mixed, 1 ladies vets and 1 men’s vets teams with
NO relegations – whoopee!
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
“It’s been a challenge for the captains to find available players and the number of teams
entered for 2014 will be given serious consideration.
“Our men’s Avon AEGON team did well coming 2nd out of 6 in the Open Division 1. 7
players participated and they had successes against Weston and DL Westbury with a
close loss to Cotham Park.
“Nikki Giles captained the Over 40's England team in the 4 nations championships in
Ireland and is currently playing National tournaments in the hope of being selected for
Great Britain one day. Sadly he's missed out for the 2014 championships but that’s hardly
surprising as he's changed jobs and had another baby!
“The club continues to do well. The accounts will shortly be presented and I’m sure a lot of
small businesses would be delighted to report the figures that we do. Our Treasurer has
seen fit to pop off to Australia to watch another great sporting fixture and sends his
apologies, but John and Ken will be able to answer any questions that you may have. I’d
like to take this opportunity to thank Ian, in his absence, for managing the accounts over
the year, and John and Ken for checking the numbers ready for tonight.
“It has taken a while for the club to move to electronic banking for membership
subscriptions, but this was successfully trialled this year for full members and Ian has
agreed to run it out to all other membership categories for 2014.
“Last year my report mentioned a working group that would review the club’s business
plan and longer term financial objectives and this became our “Blue Sky” project. All
members were invited to join the discussion and make suggestions of ways the club could
improve. A wide-range of topics were proposed – some were passed immediately to the
committee to discuss and others have been allocated to committee members to look into
in more depth. These will be brought forward at our meetings during the early part of the
year and the feasibility discussed.
“The future looks rosy and I look forward to 2014 and the continued success of the club.”
Adoption of the report was proposed by Rob Durbin and seconded by Lois Thorn with all in
favour.
NB: To a question from Lois Thorn about the Blue Sky meeting, Carol elaborated on the
details. Dee Northover mentioned that the green paint coating the roof is peeling off.
Bar Steward’s Report
John Skinner gave a report about the bar:
“Bar is estimated to have made £418 this year. This profit estimate is based only on the
excess of sales over the purchasing cost of goods sold. This was close to the target level,
it having been agreed a few years ago that the bar should be essentially not-for-profit.
“The target of around £400 allows for the possibility of missing the target (under no
circumstances do we want the bar supported by subscriptions). The £400 target also
allows for bar-related costs which are not associated with the purchase of drinks or food,
and are therefore not included in the profit calculation. Such costs include depreciation
and running costs of the cooler, extra cleaning costs, breakages of glasses, bar licence
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
etc. None of these are included in the profit calculation.
“The calculation of profit is complicated, too, because the bar-till and the bar-bank-account
provide a ready source of cash and cheques to aid the running of the club. It is necessary
to track these costs in order to calculate the profit, and more than £1600 was spent on
club costs from the bar account (4 times the profit), with this spend off-set slightly by some
non-bar income going into the till (ball purchases, some visitor fees, some subs, etc).
“The out-turn mark-up on stock costs is similar to last year at around 12%. However, there
is a reduction in profit this year because overall turnover was down significantly (23%)
from last year when it was the highest for many years.
“Turnover does fluctuate very greatly from year to year, no doubt reflecting the ability of
the club to generate a friendly atmosphere around the bar. Turnover is also affected by
changes in membership, especially of a small number of people who enjoy a regular drink
(or drinks). I could name a few such people who have been missing from the bar
community for all or part of this last 12 months.
“There have been no major dramas, fortunately, but a couple of minor mishaps. One of
the ‘bar community’ was testing the strength of the shelf holding the wine glasses late one
night, and discovered it was even less strong than he thought. Well, we needed some
new wine glasses, I suppose... And then there was the incident with the glass shelves
behind the shutters that support the weight of many beer bottles. It seems that the glass
was not toughened, and, because of being chipped many times as the shelf was
restocked, one shelf finally collapsed, a few bottles broke and tipped their contents into the
till. Hence the till now has sticky keys! Both glass shelves were replaced and are now
thicker than the originals, and are toughened – but at further cost outside of the profit
calculation. So we need that £400 to cover such minor contingencies.
“There has been continued pressure on stock costs over the year, with the preferred white
wine increasingly expensive as the NZ dollar strengthens against the pound. On the bestselling beers I now make only 5p per bottle. A situation not helped by the difficulty of
keeping track of complex orders, when the bar-person may have already consumed the
odd bottle or two of the same beer. So expect some price increases in the New Year.
“Thanks to all who have assisted in the stocking of the bar when I have been away, and
others who have opened it on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and please note that if
anyone feels that the bar is missing some vital ingredient, I am always open to
suggestions for improvements.”
The report was proposed by Chris Blake and seconded by Katy Walsh.
NB: Chris Webber questions the inclusion of “non-bar transactions” in bar profit
calculations.
Hon. Treasurer’s Report
As Ian Thorn (Treasurer) was ill and unable to attend the meeting, but he submitted the
accounts and gave John Skinner some notes to read out:
“In the absence, down-under, of our hard working Treasurer, Ian Thorn, I have
agreed to try to explain the accounts this year.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
“Before considering the accounts themselves, though, I would like to mention a
couple of changes that Ian has made to our financial process this last year. Firstly,
our current account was with Lloyds, but when they announced that they were
going to introduce transaction-charges he decided that the Co-op bank offered a
better deal. In addition to no charges, the Co-op allowed on-line access and
operation of the account.
“Somewhat reluctantly, this, plus other pressures, persuaded Ian into his second
change, which was to allow electronic transfer from Members of their subscriptions.
I am not familiar with the detailed pros and cons that have been revealed
concerning this change (there have certainly been some of each), but it has clearly
not been disastrous, and has shown some benefits both to us and to Members. No
doubt it is the way forward, and it is for us to make it work to our mutual
advantages.
“Regarding the change of bank for our current account, Ian has had trouble in
winding up the Lloyds account because of a recalcitrant garage rentee who refused
to change his standing order payment of his rent. I believe that that may have
recently been resolved.
“Turning now to the accounts themselves:
Income and Expenditure Account
“Subscriptions appear to have fallen significantly this year (£33.5k to £28k). In fact
the fall is lower than it appears since £3k, or more, of last year’s figure should have
been credited to the 2011 accounts, so the real fall is about 8%. This reduction is
due mostly to a small drop in Improver numbers.
“Three other changes from last year, forfeited key deposits, club-clothing sales, and
Wimbledon income, are entirely artificial in origin, and should be ignored. The keydeposit change is an accounting artifice, the second and third changes are matched
by similar falls in the Expenditure column, and do not reflect any real change to
Income.
“Together these 4 effects suggest, at first sight, a fall in Income of around £10k (see
the bottom line), whereas the true reduction is more in the region of £3k.
“In the Expenditure list, apart from clubclothing and Wimbledon costs which match
the changes to the Income entries, the main change from last year is in
Maintenance activities.
“Maintenance this year included replacement of all the floodlight bulbs (this is
needed on a roughly ten-year cycle), and decoration of the interior and exterior of
the clubhouse with a new TV and a new freezer. The total expenditure on
maintenance was nearly £8k more than last year, but at £10k was high, but not
abnormally so.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
“The small reduction in income and the substantial increase in maintenance costs
resulted in the surplus for the year being much less than last. Nevertheless the
surplus was still healthy, at £9k, leaving £3k increase in spending power for the
future after £6k has been allocated, as is standard practice, to the sinking fund for
major work, such as court resurfacing.
“The sinking fund (a rather notional entity) now contains £26k, enough to resurface
2 of the courts.”
Balance Sheet
“Within the Balance Sheet, the only items of significance to the club’s operation are
the Current Assets. These are probably the most significant of all the figures in
these Accounts. They show that, after liabilities, the club’s bank accounts contain
around £60k of available cash, an increase of around £9k on last year.
“One way of interpreting the £60k net asset-value is to say that £26k has been set
aside for court resurfacing, leaving £34k, approximately, for other spend.
Notes to Accounts give further detail, but do not need further comment here.
The conclusion is that the Club remains financially in very sound condition, with a
substantial excess of spending power over that which is required to maintain the
status quo. This excess is currently around £34k and is likely to continue to
increase steadily as long as membership remains at around the present level.
As always, thanks are due to Ken Griffin for providing the auditing of the accounts.”
Adoption of the report was proposed by Dee Northover and seconded by Catherine
Warburton.
Captains’ Reports
Ladies’ Captain – Hilary Bryant
Monday nights
“These tend to organise themselves – people turn up and mix in. Attendance still varies a
fair bit from week to week. We have tried some coaching with Kerris, but after discussion
it was felt that the way forward would be for those ladies interested in having some
coaching on Monday evening, would be to organise a small group and contact Kerris
directly. Anthea arrives early and helps to organise, by getting the balls out. Thanks to
Anthea for doing this.”
Winter league
“Results for last winter were mixed. The teams seem to have developed a yo-yo pattern
over the last couple of years – 2 years ago, all four teams were promoted; and last winter
3 of the four teams were relegated. At present we have 2 teams in division 2 (2A and 2B),
and 2 teams in division 5 (5A and 5B). The first team are currently top of their leader
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board and the other three are doing well, 2 in second place and the fourths in 4 th place.
The vets are in division 4, and haven’t yet found their form, 2 points from 2 matches so
far.”
Ladies summer league
“Last year we fielded four ladies teams. This was reduced to 3 teams this year, to reflect
the lack of first team ladies. The first team finished in 4th place, despite a shortage of first
team ladies – Steph carried on as long as she could, playing with a very large bump! This
lack of players impacted on the lower teams, as players had to be pulled up to plug the
gaps in the first team. Seconds finished 5th of 6, and the thirds finished 6th of 6.”
Ladies vets
“We anticipated a shortage of players, but decided to try to run the ladies vets – Carol took
on the organisation and struggled on a few occasions, but managed to persuade ladies to
play. We finished mid-league in Division 2.”
Late summer mixed doubles
“Thanks to Carol for organising the ladies for the two mixed teams. The first team was in
Division 1 and finished 5 of 6, and the seconds were in Division 4, and finished 4 th of 6.”
Brian Golding Tournament
“A friendly memorial tournament between ourselves and Kings, held every year to
remember a player who had been a member at both clubs. Despite being friendly, it is
very competitive, and the afternoon ended with both teams having the same number of
points! So the trophy was going to be engraved to reflect this.
“The captaincy duties are to be subdivided next year – Anthea will continue to assist
Monday evenings, and the format of these will remain fairly unstructured and may be
reviewed in a few months’ time. The organisation of different leagues throughout the year
is to be shared around – volunteers required to assist!
“Generally numbers of ladies have been stable – some have taken family time out but we
have gained others during the summer
“Thanks to everyone who has contributed to club play and league this year.”
The report was proposed by Di Harrison and seconded by Ken Griffin.
Men’s Captain – Chris Webber
Chris delivered his report from memory and so a written report remains unavailable.
The report was proposed by Chris Blake and seconded by Nigel Pollard.
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NB: John Skinner raised the issue of BCTC having too many teams in too many
tournaments. Chrris Webber replied that 5 teams in summer league is OK. Late summer
league, we only run two mixed teams, but have vets playing at same time, which CW says
is a nice format. Catherine Warburton chipped in that ladies seem overstretched, to which
Carol said we’d discuss at next committee meeting in January.
Junior Rep’s Report
Kerris Weatherley gave her Junior Representative’s report:
“Well, it has been a relatively quiet year on the Junior front which is partly due to my other
engagements of having another child! See it as an extended, half maternity???
“The numbers are still good going through the ages, with a constant flow of very interested
and talented youngsters. We are slightly down on girls which to be honest, seem to be a
general feeling around Bristol??? It could be that the weather conditions that put them off
once they get to a certain age or the fact that there are plenty of other activities on offer
these days? We do have a new crop of 15/ 16 year olds who are ready for league next
summer should the Men, in particular, wish to use them and they decide to head up on a
Tuesday should there be space?
“I decided that I was not going to hold Day long tournaments as in years gone by... you
would arrange a day for a tournament to be held on, giving up days out and sacrificing the
nice things in life to get here for only a couple of entries? Instead, the matches were going
to be held within a couple of lessons. Back in the summer, we held the highly competitive
Under 12 singles tournament. After a very close and even match, Sam O’Keeffe (carrying
on the O’Keeffe legacy) beat Connal Heath 7-5. It was a fantastic match to watch with
some great and very lengthy rallies. Brilliant. In the Autumn, we held the doubles
equivalent. All names were put in a hat and pairs were drawn randomly. In the end,
Sammy Holland and Finn Clark beat Eddy Corey and Sarah Walsh in very close fought out
final.
“We have a couple of tournies that have yet to be completed. In the Under 14’s, the
doubles tournament was ran on a similar basis as the under 12s, randomly and similarly
with the under 16s although they are more of a similar standard.
The Under 16’s played their singles tournament recently where I must say, some fantastic
tennis being played. One girlie Natalie Persson competed against the boys where she
completely held her own.
“As far as the Premier League has gone, we had a break from it this year through the fear
of the kids becoming bored with playing the same people on a regular basis. It will be
organised again next year as the new crop of youngsters are at a standard now that they
will benefit from more competitive play. I will have to put my thinking cap on for the older
lot and knowing how we can make the whole thing more exciting???
“Sam has been running the IT again this year. The club are kindly entrusting me to help
out some of the youngsters by partly, financially supporting their tennis sessions (these are
the children who are showing keenness to learn and progress their skills hopefully making
them the future for league teams etc). The children chosen have been great and quite
frankly, we can not keep them off the courts. Next term, we are going to take a break from
IT, 1) because Sam is away... 2) Because I do not want the children to begin taking things
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for granted 3) the club funding is not happening that term... Instead I would like to hold a
Club Evening type of thing where the children can come up and play some singles or
doubles just to keep playing more than just once a week. I just need to find a good
evening to do it on and also a way of energising the different age groups to come along
without thinking that they may well end up playing against someone older or younger than
themselves???
“We took an enforced break from Cardio Tennis also this summer through lack of interest
which is a shame but may well fight it again for Easter time next year.
Tots tennis has been continuous and am still having a steady flow of enquiries. I have
recently stopped it as it is becoming colder and I do think it is one for the warmer months
so have told people that it will be on again around Easter.
“With regards to the Holiday courses, they have all been really well received, I think the
minimum we had was 28 in the summer which was great. The courts were a hive of
activities with lots of noise and laughter from the children and also a really good way of
providing casual work for all the youngsters who are now ready to give back what they
know. We have had 3 chaps from the club completing their Level 1 Coaching
qualifications (Zac, Josh and Matt) just recently and another 2 (Lottie and James) in
February/ March. Its brilliant that they are so keen to do it and obviously help me out when
I need those extra pairs of hands with the ickle ones. Other youngsters that help from time
to time and I need to say a ‘thank you’ too are Tom Ok, Matt Richmond, Natalie Walsh,
Finn Heath, Nicole, and Blu.
“A special congratulations goes to Sam also who has just completed his Level 3 coaching
qualification.... and a special thank you to Central Tennis Club who are incredibly
generous in helping everyone in the club who are qualified, get their qualifications, without
their help I’m not sure if half of the people would even consider paying out such a fee?
“Adult Improvers and Progressors.... Busy April, quieter September (first time in a couple
of years, it was lovely coaching a small number). Progressors are still busy although I do
feel that some of those Progressors have been repeating the course one, two, 6, 7 times
over? Perhaps we are doing something wrong???
“So, for the immediate future, a Junior Club Night proposal and Premier League. Medium
future, I still like the thought of doing the tri- angular festivals with a couple of other clubs
and return of the IT, cardio and tots? Long term: more girlies are required!
“Big, Big Thank you’s of course go to my main coaches. Sam and Katy for covering my
ickle maternity that I took (think it almost finished Sam off) and for generally being there
when I need them. Chris for being a rock, Central for their generosity with the kids and
coaches and being so open minded with things. And lastly and more personally, to all of
you for all your warm wishes when Betsy Boo was born and your kind thoughts and gifts
when she was poorly! We/ you have donated money to NICU and in return, we have a
Balloon with Boo’s name on it on a board outside of NICU, so thank you again!”
The report was proposed by Anthea Johnson and seconded by Catherine Warburton.
Subscriptions
Carol announced that the management committee has decided to maintain the Full
Subscription for club membership for the year April 2014 to April 2015 at £160.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013
This report was proposed by John Skinner and seconded by Louise Davison with all in
favour.
Election of Officers
Nominations had been made as follows:
Chair
Hon Secretary
Hon Treasurer
Membership Sec
Men’s Captain
Ladies’ Captain
Bar Chair
Junior Rep
Carol Weeks
Pip Morgan
Ian Thorn
n/a
Peter Caldwell
Lucy Cory
John Skinner
Kerris Weatherley
Elections proposed by Chris Webber and seconded by Chris Blake
Election of members without portfolios
Phil Renison
Katy Walsh
Rob Durbin
Alan Douglas
Elections proposed by Anthea Johnson and seconded by Lois Thorn.
Election of Auditor
Ken Griffin
Election of nominated auditor was proposed by Kerris Weatherley and seconded by
Louise Davison with all in favour.
Trophy Presentation: 2013 Winners
Event
Ladies Singles
Men’s Singles
Ladies doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
First Saturday (ladies)
First Saturday (men)
Club Award
Central Cup
Winner
Not played
Not completed
Not played
Not played
Hilary Bryant and Marc
Truscelli
Anthea Johnson
Rob Durbin
Runner up
Max Meredith and Dee
Northover
Catherine Warburton
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“I’d like to present the Central Cup to Catherine Warburton. Catherine is one of our longest
serving members, she won the Bicknell Bowl mixed doubles trophy in 1985, and her name
SHOULD appear on this trophy as she has worked tirelessly for the club over the last 30
years.
“Whilst unable to play as much tennis as she would like, Catherine is a regular at FSTs
and other events helping serve teas and keep the kitchen clean and tidy. But, more
importantly, there is a job that she does that many of you may not be aware of and that is
to maintain our website.
“She has regularly pestered me to agree improvements to the current site which, I think we
all agree, is somewhat outdated. Meanwhile, new information appears, updates are made
and newsy items head up the front page - all organised quietly in the background by
Catherine.
“More recently she has put together a dummy site which is currently being edited. We
hope to make the switch-over next year.
“Don’t forget that the website is for all our members as well as people interested in the club
from outside, several people email me to ask about the date of something – visit the
website – it’s all there.
“So, a BIG thanks to Catherine.”
AOB
Carol asked the meeting if there was any other business. There was none from the floor,
nor from Carol.
Chris Blake thanked Carol and then Carol declared the meeting closed.
BCTC AGM Minutes 2013