Chatham Table Tennis Club AGM Tuesday 17thJune 2016 at Howard TT Centre
MINUTES
Present:SegunAke (Secretary), Martin Birley (Treasurer), Trevor Towers (Chairman/Senior Coach), Roger Chipperfield (coach), Dennis Harrington (Catering Officer), Malcolm Kay (Event Organiser), Paul Cullen ( Sponsorship Secretary) and 13 Club Members.
1.Chairman’s Opening Remarks: The Chairman opened the meeting at 19.30hrs and thanked all for attending.
2. Apologies for absence:Chris Clark, Ben Towers, Gareth Dewdney and Nathan Round.
3.Minutes of the 2015 AGM:These had been distributed to all members that helde-mailaddresses as well as being placed on the club’s website. There were copies also on display at meeting.
4.Matters Arising:There were no matters arising from the floor. The Minutes were voted on and passed as a true record.
Chairman Annual ReportBy T Towers
I have been impressed with how players of our club have conducted themselves this year. Both Fridays and match nights have been trouble free with our usual friendly atmosphere for guests as well as the regular players, so let’s keep this up in the coming year. Also our players continue to show great sportsmanship in matches played.
I was thinking of what makes our club so special. Is it the great facilities we enjoy here, is it the fact we are a 3 Star Premier Sports club or the amazing history since the club was formed for promoting table tennis within Medway. They are all fantastic but our club is special because of the amazing people who choose to be members of CTTC. I want to thank you all for your continued support without which this club would not run and each of you makes this club so incredible.
There is a group of people which form the clubs committee which is a voluntary unpaid role who I want to single out for special acknowledgement. These people work really hard to allow us to enjoy this sport all year round. You will see some of them giving us reports of the work they do tonight and also some others that are less in the limelight but equally as important. But we need more people like them to make the workload light for everyone involved, maybe that could be you. My appeal to all members is if you want to be more involved in the running of our club please see me, you will not gain financially but you will be doing a great work which I for one love to be part of. I urge you to think about joining us to have your say and be part of the decision making at our club.
I am however getting increasingly concerned with the venue here and the lack of attention the school are giving to it and its equipment. I will keep in communication with the Howard School in my battle to keep this centre in as good a condition as possible. It is 10 years old and is starting to show its age which is a worry.
Lastly two pieces of Good News:
Firstly Table Tennis England will be speaking at the leagues AGM on 11th July about prioritizing Medway for help with promoting Table Tennis. After we have heard what they have to offer I can report back with any help it will mean us getting.
Secondly in November at Medway Park England Ladies are playing a European Team Championship match against Slovenia. This should be good to watch and I will give you more details when I receive them.
Secretary’s Annual ReportBy SegunAke
As the club secretary, I would like to say I am really excited with the steps we are taking as a club. We are in no doubt heading for greatness.
Over the last year we have organized some events which have been generally successful, some more successful than others
We had our Winter Summers event last year which was successful, we are going to have another one this year. Malcolm will tell you more about that later tonight
We had a friendly match with Barming Club in Maidstone, I really enjoyed the event and I am sure you all who took part enjoyed it. We will be having this event again this year, it will be hosted by us and I am really looking forward to it. Paul Cullern will tell you more about that.
As a club, we have sessions for both juniors and adults of Friday Night. I am highly encouraged by the number of enquiries we get on a weekly basis from people who would like to join or get their kids to play table tennis.
This is great for the club, we need to continue to grow, and the more popular the sport is, the better it is.
Just to remind you, we always aim for excellence. As you are aware, our club is a 3 star Club. That is something to be proud of - it gives us numerous benefits as a club.
I would like to thank all those who are serving or have served or involved in the committee, including the youth leaders, they have kindly volunteered their time to take care of the weekly activities and running of the club. Without there efforts, the club cannot run.
We would be voting for committee members willing to serve the club for another year later on tonight. Please we do need more volunteers to help and join the committee, if you would like to put yourself forward, please do let us know.
Finally, this is your club, you have do have a say in how things are being run, we are looking for your feedback, suggestions and questions. There would be opportunity to hear from you tonight
Thank You
Treasurer’s ReportBy M Birley
Good evening everyone. I am pleased to report that it has been another positive year financially for the Club. Before I get into the detail of this year’s accounts I must first express my sincere thanks to the committee and to all the members of the Club for their support throughout the year. This in particular is extended to Dennis and Roger who are at hand every Friday night to collect the weekly subs. Without you my role would be a great deal more difficult.
2015/16 has seen the Club make a surplus of £644, compared to a deficit last year of £426. This difference has mainly been due to our one off purchase last year of our latest Club shirts, which cost £850. In addition, this year there were surplus funds left over from our Table Tennis England grant to put on our fundays, of £150. When we finished the fundays we had to complete a series of forms, and these gave us the option of keeping any small surpluses to put towards other projects and equipment for the benefit of the Club as a whole.
Comparing total income year on year, we are up over £1,700, from £6,403 to £8,131, although the majority of this was due to our fundays grant, for £1,149. Encouragingly we have seen an increase in our Friday night club fee income, for both adults and juniors. This has been as a result of increased attendances at both sessions, which we have noted especially over the period since the fundays concluded last October. This encourages us as it suggests that the fundays have had a positive effect on encouraging new members at the Club. Overall junior fee income increased by over £200 and adult fee income increased by over £250. Our league fee income decreased by over £300 from last year, however this is due simply to the Club having less league players, 36 this year compared to 42 last year. Club annual membership fee income is down by £35, however we should see this increase again next year with a number of new non-league playing members. Sponsorship income is up by £75 which is the equivalent of one additional sponsor this year. To illustrate how important these sponsorships are to the Club, we would barely have broke even without them. Sincere thanks as always go to Paul for all his work in obtaining the sponsorships. Miscellaneous income was significantly up this year by nearly £400. This was due to the sale of a number of bats, totalling £225 and also the MTTTL funded a £190 coaching course for Ben Towers to get his Level 1 qualification.
Expenditure year on year was up by £658. Although we saved £800 not having to buy shirts this year, we spent nearly £1000 of the grant money received to put on the fundays. The remainder of the difference is made up of a number of items which I will explain now. Howard Venue costs were up by around £150, which means that we hired the Centre around twice more than last year, more than likely due to no Medway Championships this year and also the way Christmas fell. Table Tennis England fees increased by £200 due to the aforementioned coaching course. Our refreshment costs were down by £30, due to having a significant excess left over from the fundays. Equipment and trophy costs were down by £430. As already mentioned, we did not buy any shirts this year. However equipment costs were up by around £350, due to purchasing numerous bats to sell, and also a significant purchase of the new polyballs, which are more expensive than the old seamed balls. Miscellaneous expenses were also up slightly by £60, with a couple of first aid courses attended by our coaches which are required only every 3 years. We did not reimburse or subsidize any of our juniors to attend tournaments this year due to the lack of suitable opportunities, however we will continue our policy of encouraging our juniors to attend such events and helping them financially by covering reasonable expenses incurred, on an ad hoc basis.
At the year end 30th April 2016 the Club’s net assets stood at £7,980.23. Included in this figure is the balances of our two bank accounts, cash in hand (consisting of petty cash), and several liabilities, covering March and April’s Howard Centre rent payments, for which the invoices had not been received at the year end, and also 3 months where the Howard School has not invoiced the Club yet, but may still do so in the future. To conclude the presentation of the financial statements, I would say the Club is in a very healthy position once again going forwards.
Now with regards to league fees for next season. We have no inclination that the MTTTL will be making any adjustments to their fees charged. Table Tennis England are planning to increase their membership fees once again, however last year this plan was rejected at its AGM, so who knows what the end result will be. If the increase is confirmed, this puts adult Table Tennis England fees at £12, and junior Table Tennis England fees at £6. The Howard School have not communicated any rent increases to us at this stage, which makes up the majority of our costs. We therefore plan to maintain league fees at the same level as last year, putting adult fees at £65, and junior fees at £43. This as always includes all club membership fees, all MTTTL fees, and all Table Tennis England fees. As in previous seasons, those wishing to pay their Table Tennis England membership off their own back or via another club/league will get a deduction in their league fees by the appropriate amount, making their fees £53 for adults and £37 for juniors. Registration nights will be held as was the case last year, on Friday 15th July and Friday 29th July. We will send out email reminders for these dates imminently, as they are fast approaching. Also this year we will be giving our members the opportunity to pay their league fees by online transfer, if they so wish. This was something which was requested by a number of members last year. If anybody would like to pay this way, then if they could let me know nearer the start of the season, I will pass on the Club’s bank details as appropriate.
I would like to thank you all for your time this evening. If you have any immediate questions then do please let me know now or after the AGM tonight.
Many thanks.
Senior Coach’s Report By T Towers
Ongoing Training
Looking back I am amazed that this is my fifth coach’s report since I joined the best club in Medway. Training is busy on Friday Evenings with juniors filling the hall in the early session and Adults for the later one.
Friday Evenings are a team effort and we are fortunate to have a very dedicated group who I would like to thank.
These are Roger assisting myself with the coaching. Unfortunately we have not seen John Kemp this year but we thank him for the work he has contributed over the years to the life on Friday’s.
Also I want to thank Dennis for his invaluable help meeting and greeting people, which means I can spend more time out in the Hall coaching which is important.
Thanks also to Martin Coake our parent committee member who is available during the early session if a problem arises.
Not forgetting Ben Coake & Harry Jones who have just completed their first year as table tennis leaders. They set the standard really high for others to aspire to and by their example show that great improvement can be made with talent coupled with lots of hard work.
Numbers are really good at present and often it is difficult to find a free table to play and it amazes me that there are always new people finding us every week. We aim to improve the play of all that attend in an enjoyable and relaxed way.
Roger as well as his great work on Friday’s also leads coaching sessions at Mierscourt and St Mary’s Primary Schools & Tony Carlton also runs sessions at Kingfisher school in Chatham. They both did really well at the recent Mini Youth Games especially Kingfisher school. Roger and Tony do you want to say anything.
Table Tennis Leaders
For the last five years CTTC have run a junior leader programme aimed at the more experienced youngsters at the club.
There were various aims.It was to give those youngsters a chance to learn responsibility by assisting the coaches at the tables on the junior sessions and by assisting on the administration side off the tables by collecting the money and writing the attendees names in the register under supervision. It would also give them something to go on to their CV at some point. Table tennis as we know is education in itself with the development of hand eye coordination so these additional aspects were to enhance on what they have already learnt.
At present we have two leaders Ben Coake and Harry Jones who have completed one year and will continue next year as well. I am also adding as a third member Frank Wing who I believe will be a great help to me in the junior sessions.
So can FRANK WING step forward to collect the Table Tennis Leader Guidelines.
Last Season’s League Placing
As a club we entered 8 teams in the Medway Towns Table Tennis League and this season we had our usual share of success and disappointment.
The Premier Division was yet again really strong but both Ark Royal and Belfast teams ably led by Dave McAulay and Martin Birley achieving their objective of avoiding relegation. This is still an amazing feat for a club such as ours. We are low on Premier standard players for next season so let me know if you think somebody new would like to join at this level.
In Division One Cumberland after a promising start faded to finish mid table. Harry Jones won 81% of his games before helping Belfast in the higher league and Richard Feaver gained 69%.
In Division 2 Dorset always were going to struggle and it was with great disappointment due to lack of available players in the team due to many personnel situations we could not complete the remaining fixtures, and so was relegated.
In Division 3 Endurance capped a fabulous season by finishing second and promotion next season. Captained by Chris Morford with 63% and including Doug Murray with 80%, Ian Kelly 68% and Steve Collins 63%. Furious finished a close third position with Malcolm Kay on 75%, Paul Cullern 70% and Max Day 64%. Both Hector and Gannet although at the bottom had many notable successes and much promise for next year.
There were some excellent performances and we are looking to field as many teams as possible depending upon how many captains we can get. We have 7 at the moment.
For players wanting to play, teams will be created after the two registration evenings.
Charles Stampe Competition
We had a disappointing year in this year’s Charles Stampe Competition with only Ark Royal reaching the quarter finals. With a new format next season we hope for better results.
Medway Closed Competition
Medway Closed competition did not happen because of lack of volunteers to run it.
Other Successes
A Medway team including some future Chatham players finished second in the South East England National Cadet League, just missing out on the title, in which Scarlett O’Neill who have attends on the occasional Friday recorded an amazing 100%. She also in a nail biting finish won the first U13 National Cup which is the best result by a Medway player in a National tournament for many years. Ben Foster who we also see often on a Friday reached the last 16 of the Junior Cup and quarter finals in the doubles competition, including being the only player to take a leg of the country’s top Junior Tom Jarvis.