CROSS IN HAND LAWN TENNIS CLUB - COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Held on Monday 4th January 2016 at 1900hrs
Present:- Chris Groom (CG), Paul Dent (PD) of South Coast Tennis (SCT), Colin Lockett
(CL), Rob French (RF), Corrie Huntley (CH), Martin Stringell (MS), and Massimo Brooks
(MB).
Apologies for Absence:- Apologies were received from: Bryan Hamblin (BH), Paul
Patterson (PP) and Izzi Lowe (IL).
Minutes Accuracy:- The Committee approved the Minutes of the last meeting. It was
agreed that in future CG will email a link to all Committee Members as soon as new minutes
are published on the CIHLTC Website. It will then be the responsibility of each Committee
Member to read and check accuracy of the minutes and report to MB any objections.
Members Raised Issues:- None were reported.
New Chairman:CG welcomed RF and Helen French as new joint Membership Secretary.
Hon Secretary Report:Bar Licence; CL reported that Wealden Council required a fee of £24 to issue a Bar
Licence. All agreed to spend the money. ACTION: CL to purchase.
Entrance Visibility; MB reported that he had not yet purchased reflective triangles. ACTION:
MB to purchase.
Floodlighting; MB reported that he is looking into alternative quotes for LED lighting.
Indoor Courts; MB reported that he will be looking into the viability of an indoor bubble over
the 2 clay courts.
Tennismark ; MB reported that he had received a certificate from the LTA and would be
putting this up in the Clubhouse. ACTION: MB to purchase frame and install.
Wimbledon Ballot; MB reported that only 97 CIHLTC Members had opted-in and that he
would be sending out e-mails to encourage members to Opt-In. PD would also assist in
informing Juniors of the need to Opt-In. ACTION: MB & PD to inform Members.
Treasurers Report:CL gave his report to the Committee, confirming that the Club’s
Opening bank balances 1st December: £45,438
Closing bank balances 31st December: £43,763. This showed a deficit of £1,675.
Income for the period was reported as £409, which was made up of the following:
Bar sales
216
Memberships
121
Match Fees
48
Other
24
The Club’s Expenditure for the period was reported as £2,084:
Grounds maintenance:
695 (June to Dec 2015)
PRS Licence:
476 (£77 to be paid by SCT for Cardio)
Electricity:
196
Premises Licence to sell alcohol: 180
Bar Expenses:
173
Improvements:
142 (Leaf Blower)
Cleaning:
107
Other:
115
CL made a comparison to last year:
There has been a deficit for the 3 months to December of £2,887, compared to last year’s of
£409 for the same period. We are almost £2,500 behind.
Timing differences account for most of this - £2,156 (Licence £180, PRS + TV licence £621,
LTA fee £660, Grounds maintenance £695)
We are down on:
- fundraising - zero compared to £318 last year
- subscriptions - £312 this year compared to £691 last year
Fundraising; CL’s figures generated a ‘round the table’ discussion about generating revenue.
No conclusion was reached but all agreed that this item would be central to future
discussions.
- MS reported that Darius Malkham expressed an interest to install a pool table at the Club,
all thought that this could be a good source of income: ACTION MB to liaise with Darius and
table at next meeting.
- MS also thought that a 5-a-side option could generate fundraising. Generally there were
concerns about removal of nets, potential damage to courts and goalposts but did not rule
out the possibility. ACTION: MS to liaise with Phil Little and report its viability to the
Committee.
- MB tabled a letter from Senior Ladies Tennis Sussex who had asked if we were interested
in hosting league matches. All agreed that this was worthwhile pursuing. ACTION: MB to
respond after obtaining potential court charges and court availability from PD.
TV Licence & PRS; The Committee agreed to keep these as essential items.
Maintenance Fees; RF challenged the high fees. CL reported that no breakdown of services
was given on the invoice and all agreed that the fees should be justified. ACTION: CL to
challenge fees with supplier.
Coaching Report:Coaching; Ed has left SCT and moved to Horam, PD will start interviewing for a new
Coach during February.
South Coast website; PD showed us the ‘new look’ SCT website that has just gone live with
a running calendar and asked the Committee for any feedback.
Coaching notice-board; PD to update following coaching changes.
Junior Xmas Party; PD reported that it had been successful with 18 juniors and 20 parents in
attendance.
Junior Friday Evening; PD suggested a trial run on Friday 29th January to gauge response
from both Juniors and Parents. The Committee asked for all costs to be monitored and
agreed that Ben’s wages of 1.5hrs would be funded by CIHLTC. ACTION: PD to feedback at
next meeting regarding trial success and ways forward.
Sweatshirts; PD suggested that sweatshirts would be better for Juniors than T-Shirts and
that the cost per sweatshirt would be between £16-18. All agreed to this. ACTION: PD to
finalise both artwork and cost and present at the next Committee meeting.
Junior Representative Report:- No update was tabled.
Membership Secretary Report:Membership Numbers; No update was presented.
Membership Fees & Forms; MB tabled updated forms to reflect new fees. ACTION: CL &
CG to agree new fees. MB to issue agreed forms to Dropbox and print hardcopies for
Clubhouse.
Dropbox; CG to introduce RF to Dropbox with any passwords etc.
Keeping Our Members; MB tabled PD report following LTA Marketing workshop which focus
on the retention/contentment of existing Club membership. All agreed that this was vital and
RF suggested that he & Helen would examine this. MB to forward report to RF. ACTION: RF
to table suggestions at the next Committee meeting.
New Members; General discussions were held relating to new members and coaching
incentives. Usually the first person a new member will encounter at the Club will be a coach.
ACTION: RF to review and make any recommendations.
Follow Up Calls; RF suggested follow up calls to any potential new member, as experienced
by himself. ACTION: RF to make proposals at next Committee meeting.
BTM’s; MB advised that all CIHLTC members should become BTM’s. ACTION: PD to text
junior members to encourage them into becoming BTM’s.
Information Managers Report:Facebook; CG reported that currently 3 pages exist and that he had spoken with Darius
Malkham who would rationalise to just the 1 page. ACTION: CG to follow up with Darius.
Club Website; CG reported that everything is up to date but that he would update the Social
pages and add a general, seasonal front welcome page. ACTION: CG to update.
Membership Page; ACTION: CG to update membership fees to reflect new fees and to
download new Membership Forms onto CIHLTC Website.
Maintenance Managers Report:- There was no report.
Court Maintenance; General discussions were held about the maintenance of the courts. PD
stated that SSP would be in contact with him in January regarding court maintenance and
would provide a detailed quote which would provide the basis of CIHLTC’s own maintenance
schedule for all courts.
Tractor to Clay Courts; PD advised that the triangular brush and tractor should be used (as
advised by SSP) ideally every 2 weeks. ACTION: CG to contact PP to arrange a ‘tractor
party’ (all were willing to help).
Would be Social Secretary Report:Xmas Party; CG reported that the Xmas Party was well attended, some 25-30 people.
American Tournament; MB reported that all 8 attendees had fun.
Burns Night; The Committee decided that the Club should have a Burns Evening celebration
of some sort. ACTION: MS to ask Linda McNamee to run the evening and suggest a date.
Match/Tennis Secretary Report:Report; MB read out BH Report which stated:
Tennis Balls; The new ball rotation has now been introduced. It was agreed that CG, MS &
PD would sort the balls from the Match Box and put them into the Club Box.
Team Captains; A Ladies Captain is needed for Ladies 1 Team in the summer leagues. June
Peck and Tracey Boorman to cover until a new captain has been found. Likewise, MS to
cover as captain for the Mens 3 Team until a new captain can be found.
Wilson Sandford Summer Doubles League; BH will enter all teams by the closing date of 31st
January 2016.
Sussex League Singles; BH reported that there has been no interest in playing singles.
Les Dart Mixed Summer Leagues; Anne Horsfall-Turner will run a team for the over 40/45’s
and Steve Godfrey will run the over 50/55’s. ACTION: BH to advise on progress at next
Committee Meeting.
Court Bookings; All courts have been booked for remainder of Winter League matches.
Welfare Officers Report:Parent incident; PD reported that he had seen 2 incidents of the same parent using
excessive force on their child in public. The Committee felt that CH should look into LTA
policy regarding this matter and to forward her findings to PD for him to have an informed
discussion with the parent. All felt that the Club had a duty to protect and that this was the
best way forward before any further action be taken, it would also inform the Committee of
what to do in the future. ACTION: CH & PD to liaise and report to Committee.
Provisions Manager Report:-
Bar Provisions; MS reported that he was happy with products ordered with the help of Trish.
New Tennis Balls; MS discussed with PD best suppliers and advised that he would compare
prices and order new balls at the best price. ACTION: MS to order.
Artificial Clay; It was agreed that MS should order 20 bags of artificial clay for use on the
courts. ACTION: MS to order.
Chairman’s Report:Bar Provisions; CG asked if we could stock take what was selling well. All agreed that Trish
and MS were in a good position to know this and that, apart from buying an expensive till,
the hands on approach seemed best at the moment.
Sponsored Club Shirts; CG stated that he was progressing the designs and format/colour of
the shirts with Kirsty Chambers and would report to the Committee at the next meeting.
ACTION: CG to progress.
New Club Sponsorship; CG agreed to review the current 4 Club sponsors as they have now
sponsored the Club for 2 years. CG also felt that the Club should have a particular goal in
mind for any incoming sponsorship, all agreed. ACTION: CG to liaise with CL & Steve
Godfrey to establish exact date of contact renewal & contact each of the 4 sponsors and
report back to the Committee.
Banner Sponsorship; All agreed that this would be a useful form of income, MS was
particularly supportive and would sponsor a banner if actioned. ACTION: CG to investigate
further and report back to the Committee.
Any Other Business:Unreturned Clubhouse Keys; CL reported that he had asked Chris Hutchinson to return the
Clubhouse keys. CL read the response from Chris where he proposed to send the keys to
the LTA with a full report. NO ACTION.
Next meeting is scheduled for: Monday 08th February 2016 at 1900hrs.
The Meeting closed at 2130hrs.