Huntingdon & Peterborough Tennis Association
Minutes of Annual General Meeting
held at Huntingdon Tennis Club, Huntingdon
on Thursday 29th November 2012
Kath Marshall, Chairperson of Huntingdon & Peterborough Tennis Association, welcomed everyone to the
meeting.
Kath thanked everyone for attending and hoped that everyone had an opportunity help themselves to the
refreshments. She mentioned the difficulties the wet start to the season had created for clubs with regard to
fixtures and also recruiting new members. Fixture cancellation and rearrangement, together with conceded
matches had been discussed by the Committee and the League Secretary had been asked to look at the
league rule structure. During the meeting a number of changes and penalties are being proposed and Kath
hoped that clubs would discuss these and suggest amendments if considered necessary. She thanked
Huntingdon Tennis Club for once again allowing the use of their pavilion for the AGM.
1.
Present
Kath Marshall - Chairperson (Hemingfords)
Steve Spilka - Secretary/League Secretary
Brian Brown - Treasurer (St. Neots)
Dennis Vincent - Committee Member (St. Neots)
Marie Skinner - Committee Member (Houghton)
John Whitaker - Buckden
Andrew Stanley - City of Peterborough
Brian Marshall, Merrill Windle, Chris Young - Hemingfords
Kurt Cambridge, P. Horrocks - Houghton
Caroline Clifford, Nick Clifford, Rachel Wisby - Huntingdon
Jim Wheeler, Harry Robinson - Ketton
Liz Norfolk, Jill Buxton - Longthorpe
Jim Hunter - RAF Brampton/Wyton
Esmond Edwards - Ramsey
P. Smith, Karin Hinshelwood, Margaret Rose - Spalding
Neville Burnett - Stamford
Jane Page, Sue Tolliday - Wisbech
2.
Apologies
Geoff Smith (Committee Member/City of Peterborough), Jane Gilmore (Oakham)
3.
Minutes of last AGM
These were accepted as a true record.
4.
Proposed: Jim Wheeler
Seconded: Caroline Clifford
Matters Arising
None.
5.
Secretary’s Report
A copy of the Secretary’s report was circulated at the meeting.
Steve reported that despite the wet start to the season, there were no major issues althouth a few
Mixed matches had to be completed once the Men's and Women's leagues had finished. It was
disappointing that Mixed 6 and Ladies 5 had only 6 teams in them and providing only 5 matches for
the teams is not really acceptable. However, trying to accommodate 6 additional teams in higher
divisions is impossible, there simply aren't enough weeks available to extend play in these divisions.
Some teams in these two divisions had complained about the reduced number of games they had,
but unfortunately unless additional teams enter, there is little that can be done.
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During the season there were 27 conceded matches, the highest ever number. Men's 1 was the
worst offender, with 6 matches conceded. There really isn't an excuse for the top teams in the lague
to concede, they should have sufficient players who are capable of playing up if there are players
away or injured. In a number of cases matches were clearly conceded because teams realised they
were unlikely to win and players did not want to travel. The problem of conceded matches was
discussed at length at a Committee meeting and it was decided penalties needed to be much stricter
to ensure matches were played rather than conceded. The stricter penalties would act as a
deterrent, hopefully clubs would use the threat of a financial penalty as a means of ensuring team
captains made certain all matches were played. Whist adding the penalties to the rules, the
opportunity was taken to simplify or clarify rules that were slightly ambiguous.
Steve commented he was disappointed that some team captains took a hard line with opponents
requesting a change of date, even when plenty of notice was given. He urged team captains to be
more helpful if there was a genuine reason why an opponent was unable to raise a team on a
certain date. The league is about providing opportunities for teams to play matches, not claim them
without giving due consideration to the reason for the request.
As Kath had prepared a report on the Don Brace Cup, Steve stated he would leave it to her to report
on the competition.
Steve thanked all club fixture secretaries and team captains for ensuring that the majority of
matches were played as scheduled or, where necessary rearranged. He congratulated all teams who
won their divisions and those teams who were promoted. Commiseration was expressed to those
teams who were relegated.
The electronic match result system on the website continued to be the main method now for most
teams to enter their match scores, with over 85% results entered electronically. It is hoped that
within a few years we can go fully over to electronic match score entry, particularly as postal costs
were spiralling. Steve mentioned that he hoped to update the Association website before the start of
the 2013 season, as the existing site was now looking very tired and not user friendly to those who
use tablets or smart phones to access the site.
Steve finally thanked all the committee members for their support and hard work during the season.
Kath thanked Steve for his report and for his work during the season.
6.
Treasurer’s Report
Brian Brown circulated the accounts of the Association.
Over the year income received was £1,370, with expenditure amounting to £1,609 resulting in a
deficit of £239 over the year. Brian stated the reserves remain fairly consistent and at year end the
funds held amounted to £4,838.
Brian once again commented that the cost of running the Don Brace Cup and Plate finals on the
indoor courts at Huntingdon continued to be a major drain on funds.
At the last Committee meeting it has been proposed to make no change to the rates for expenses
agreed at last year’s AGM. These are as follows:
Travel costs - Reimbursed at 40p per mile
Meeting Hosting Fee - £10
Refreshment Allowance - £5
Brian thanked Esmond Edwards for once again inspecting the accounts at the end of the year.
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The Chairwoman thanked Brian for his financial report and asked for a proposal that this be
accepted.
Proposed: Nancy Riach
Seconded: Laurie Finch
Carried unanimously.
7.
Publicity Officer’s Report
In the absence of Geoff Smith no report was given. Kath asked clubs to send any interesting
information about their club to Geoff who would try to get it published in local newspapers.
The Chairwoman thanked Geoff for his report.
8.
Don Brace Cup
Kath reported that after seeking acceptance from Audrey and Jeremy Pepper the Plate trophy would
now be named The Maurice Pepper Plate as a lasting tribute to Maurce who had passed away during
last year.
She commented that the weather had not helped the organisation of matches during the season and
that a quarter of the fixtures did not get played. This was a shame for clubs who got knocked out in
the first round, particularly when their opponent conceded in the next round. She hoped that this
was a once off situation and that in following years most of the matches would be played.
The Finals day on 7th October at Huntingdon had been an enjoyable day. Huntingdon continued their
domination of the main competition, defeating Deeping 8 - 0 to record their 6th consecutive win.
In the Plate competition, Stamford won this for the 3rd consecutive season, defeating Ramsey 5 - 3,
with the final result resting on the last match of the day.
Brian Brown asked Kath about reverting to the old format of competition. Kath stated that she felt
clubs were quite happy with the current system and that unless more clubs requested this there was
no plan to change.
Finally, Kath thanked all the teams who had taken part in the competition for their cooperation. She
also thanked Huntingdon Tennis Club for allowing use of their courts and clubhouse to host the
event.
9.
Presentation of Trophies
Kath invited Nancy Riach to presented trophies to this season's divisional and Don Brace Cup and
Plate winners.
The following trophies were presented to the winning clubs.
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
1
2
3
4
5
6
-
Stamford "A"
Stamford "B"
Hemingfords "A"
Longthorpe "C"
Stamford "D"
Ramsey "D"
Mens
Mens
Mens
Mens
Mens
1
2
3
4
5
-
Huntingdon "A"
Stamford "A"
Houghton "A"
Needingworth "C"
Longthorpe "C"
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Ladies
Ladies
Ladies
Ladies
Ladies
10.
1
2
3
4
5
-
Virgin Active Thorpe Wood "A"
Huntingdon "A"
Hemingfords "A"
Virgin Active Thorpe Wood "B"
Longthorpe "C"
Don Brace Cup -
Huntingdon
Don Brace Plate -
Stamford
Top Club Award -
Hemingfords
Changes to League Rules/Fees 2013 Season
A paper had been circulated regarding the rationale behind the addition of a fine structure for
indiscretions by teams/clubs. There were also a number of rule changes proposed, which were made
mainly to clarify or simplify rules.
The League Secretary opened discussions by explaining that the changes were not intended to be a
revenue stream for the league, in fact if they proved to be, then the changes proposed would be a
failure. The intention of the fine system being proposed was to act as a deterrent to stop teams
conceding matches. Having the fine system in place would give clubs a legitimate reason to insist
that team captains and players complete all their fixtures
The League Secretary read out each proposed change to the rules and asked for comments.
Generally most of the rules were accepted without amendment, however concern was raised that
having a fine system in place could deter clubs from entering the number of teams they normally
would do. It was agreed to review the proposed changes at the end of the season to see what
impact they had had during the season.
After lengthy discussion, the Chairwoman asked for a vote to accept all the proposed rule changes.
The meeting approved all the rule changes by a majority decision.
Secretary's Honorarium - £400 No Change proposed.
11.
Election of Officers
Chairperson:
Kath Marshall
Proposed: Dennis Vincent
Seconded: Geoff Smith
Secretary/League Secretary:
Steve Spilka
Proposed: Geoff Smith
Seconded: Marie Skinner
Treasurer:
Brian Brown
Proposed: Marie Skinner
Seconded: Kath Marshall
Assistant League Secretary:
Geoff Smith
Proposed: Steve Spilka
Seconded:
Members:
Marie Skinner
Proposed: Dennis Vincent
Seconded: Kath Marshall
Dennis Vincent
Proposed: Brian Brown
Seconded: Steve Spilka
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As no other nominations were received, the above officers were elected en-block.
Proposed: Brian Marshall
Seconded: Jim Wheeler
Carried unanimously
12.
Any other Business
Brian Brown stated that he would like a point of etiquette added to the league rules related to
players knocking up prior to the start of the match. He said it had become common practice for
players to knock up against their own team members. He said he felt this was wrong, that players
should knock up against the opposition. He stated this is what happens in all major competition. It
gives an opportunity to view the opposition players' strengths and weaknesses prior to the start of
the match. It was agreed that this would be added to the rules.
13.
Close of Meeting
There being no further business the Chairwoman closed the meeting at 9.55 p.m.
Signed ………………………………….
Date …………………………………
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