February 2016
Dear Members
The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the above Club will be held at The Grove, Key Street, Sittingbourne, on Wednesday 23rd March at 7.30 pm for 8.00 pm.
AGENDA1) To confirm the Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting
2) Apologies for absence
3) To adopt the Report and Balance Sheet
4) To adopt Subscriptions and Match Levies for 2016/2017
5) To adopt fund raising levels for 2016/2017
6) To elect or re-elect Officers for the coming year
7) To nominate new Vice Presidents
8) Any Other Business
Martin Lukehurst
President
CHAIRMAN’S REPORTIntroduction
Being appointed as Chairman part way into this current year, I confess that it took a little while to understand the structure, controls, requirements and issues at Gore Court. The first six months following the first meeting I attended in May 2015 can be seen as a learning curve towards a full appreciation. Now having been in the chair for a reasonable period I feel I understand much more about the requirements of our Club and the issues and challenges we face for the forthcoming year and beyond.
I cannot praise highly enough the team that makes up your Committee and the wonderful efforts they make to keep the ship on an even keel. Thank you all for this support. I would also like to give special thanks to Val Crompton and Des Ellis, who are standing down from their respective offices within their sports sections and therefore from the Gore Court Main Committee.
The Future
We have some very challenging issues going forward at Gore Court and the most important of these is how we ensure we can fund the maintenance and upkeep of our Club when faced with so many matters that require our time and money. Examples include the condition of our car park, the overall cleanliness of our clubhouse (including the twice-yearly deep clean to toilets, showers and kitchen areas), the ageing of assets such as the boiler, flooring and roof repairs and the lack of disabled access. Alongside these specific features are ongoing matters such as general services bills, licences, insurances and maintenance contracts.
We are also faced with the continued abuse and misuse of the ground at both lower and upper levels by members of the general public eg kids playing football, cyclists and even fires, especially on the top ground.
All these challenges we have to overcome and yet keep our membership subscriptions at as low a level as possible so as to help our members afford to remain at Gore Court.
The Way Forward
The members of Gore Court need to think about how they can raise funds to support the combined Club. It is fair to say that in general each sports section will put its own sport ahead of overall Gore Court Club needs. This is to some extent understandable given the financial pressures to ensure each sport remains alive.
We do however need to recognise that without a robust clubhouse, playing facilities and ground there would be no sport played at Gore Court. So, the increased use of the clubhouse by members for social occasions, hall hire to the wider community, fundraising Gore Court Club-wide, attention to the general cleanliness and upkeep of the clubhouse and the commitment to do work of a “jobbing” nature as part of members' voluntary efforts are all key to our future success.
Don’t let “just turn up and play” be your sole consideration. Please add to this your attention to the cleanliness, upkeep, tidiness and voluntary repair activity wherever and whenever you can. Your subscriptions alone do not cover the cost of the upkeep of Gore Court and any work not done via the voluntary efforts of the members will add considerably to the overall bill for upkeep.
There has been some good work done by many members, including the improved pathway access to the top ground, and we are now blessed with a very good House Manager in Steve Jeffery who has already made an impact on many outstanding matters on our list of actions. As a volunteer he cannot do it all alone so talk to him and help him wherever you can.
Do you possess skills that can be voluntarily provided to our Club? If so, please let us take advantage of them whenever we can.
How Do We See Ourselves?
A very difficult question to answer but in general we are three diverse sports with differing needs and we tend perhaps rightly to focus on our own sport. Perhaps we see ourselves as safe and secure, well established and a sports club that needs little other involvement from the wider community.
How Do Others See Us?
In my opinion, supported by comments passed to me, the community of Swale has in the past seen us as an exclusive private members' club with little association with the wider community and with cricket as our major sporting focus. This stems from the visibility of cricket on the lower ground in the summer months and the closure of the clubhouse for much of the time other than when a sports activity is taking place. As a result, the wider community has seen us as a financially secure establishment that does not require nor indeed welcome any support from them.
Recently, with the daily activity at No121 and mini/midi rugby on the outfield of the lower ground this has changed somewhat and many people passing our Club, including some Swale Councillors, have gained a greater awareness of our overall commitment to sport in Swale. At a recent presentation of the book “Bourne To Play” to our Lady Mayor and the full Council Chamber of Swale BC, I was able to praise Gore Court for the wonderful efforts it is making in respect of sporting activities in Swale and the major impact this is having on the youth of the Borough.
In June 2015 there was great interest in the archaeological dig at Rose Hill by the Historical Research Group Sittingbourne (HRGS) and we were able to make our facilities available for this event and in so doing gained valuable publicity both with the community and local Councillors. This will be repeated in the forthcoming year and we will be able to gain even more publicity for our Club.
Key Issue For The Future
The key issue is to maximise the commercial advantage of our assets so as to increase income for the Club. We have done this recently with the opening of the business at No121 and increased the Sunday bar takings in the winter period with the mini/midi and junior rugby activities.
There are some individual activities to come this year that will provide one-off income opportunities such as the hire and bar income from an externally run Fun Day in July where Gore Court will operate two stalls (free from fee) and the Rugby Section Grand 40th year Anniversary Dinner over two evenings. We are also looking to hold 4 Boot Fair events which will also brings funds into the Club.
This will however only scratch the surface and hall hire (and associated bar takings) must be the priority to reverse our current poor financial position. In remedying this we face four important challenges :
· A repaired and useable car park.
· A clubhouse that is clean and tidy
· Disabled access
· A marketing campaign to make the community aware of us and the facilities we can offer.
Whilst being mindful that hall hire should not clash with the requirements of our three important sports sections, we can gain a massively improved income from the use of the function hall in the evening and midweek periods. This could go some way towards resolving much of our concerns regarding finances. Key to this is the need for a member to take up a marketing and commercial role to promote the Club and its facilities. Volunteers will be warmly welcomed.
Conclusion
We should be proud of ourselves as a Club but not complacent about the challenges going forward and we should all do more to continue the success that sits with the history of Gore Court.
Thank you all.
Fred Nash (Chairman)
February 2016
ACCOUNTSSee attached accounts.
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MATCH LEVIES2016/17 rates will remain unchanged from 2015/16 :
2015/2016 2016/2017
Adults
Social Members (U 60) £43.00 £43.00
Social Members (O 60) £35.00 £35.00
Playing Members
Hockey £130.00 £130.00
Cricket £130.00 £130.00
Rugby £85.00 £85.00
Anyone playing Rugby and another sport must pay the higher subscription.
Playing family membership £260.00 £260.00
(partners plus children up to 18 or in full time education)
Non Playing adult family membership £82.00 £82.00
(two non-playing adults plus playing children up to 18 or in full time education)
Junior Playing Members
Under 12 £15.00 £15.00
Under 16 £34.00 £34.00
Under 18 or full time education £43.00 £43.00
Match Levies as follows:
O18 playing members £7.00 £7.00
018 Rugby playing members £8.00 £8.00
16-18 playing members £4.00 £4.00
Under 16 playing Sat matches £2.00 £2.00
An additional levy may be made by Section Committees to meet Section expenses.
Sections will undertake to raise the following funds for the Club in the season :
Cricket £1000 £1250
Ladies' Hockey £500 £ 625
Men's Hockey £1000 £1250
Rugby £1000 £1250
In addition, each Section is to organise a fund-raiser at the Club to achieve at least £500 in bar takings.
There will be an externally run Fun Day in July where Gore Court will operate two stalls (free from fee) and the Rugby Section will organise a Grand 40th year Anniversary Dinner over two evenings. We are also looking to hold 4 Boot Fair events which will also brings funds into the Club.