Chipstead Place Lawn Tennis Club (CPLTC)
Committee Meeting Minutes
26 April 2016
In Attendance: David Pettitt, Ian Hooper, Graham Moore, John Maunder, Julie Brown, Magdalen Fry, Pat Udall, Adam Reavely, Nick Christian.
1. Apologies for Absence
Sarah Horton, Shirley Christian.
2. Minutes of March Meeting
- Minutes approved.
3 Matters Arising from March Meeting
- Adam confirmed that he was now planning to hold the charity day on Sunday 24 July. Further details will follow in due course.
- David confirmed that he had delivered letters to properties neighbouring the club explaining the tree felling arrangements.
- It was confirmed that members were able to enter the club summer tournament via the subscription renewal process. To ensure however that all members are aware of the tournament & how to enter Nick agreed to send out an email detailing the arrangements.
4. Open Day – Saturday 7 May
- Actions agreed at last meeting were reviewed
- Flyers advertising the open day were now available for distribution courtesy of Tom, who had also agreed to supply a bouncy castle for the occasion.
- Flyers had already been placed on local notice boards and delivery plans for local schools & homes were agreed.
- Tom had contacted Sevenoaks Chronicle with the aim of securing an advert for the edition W/C 2 May.
- Julie will contact Sarah to offer assistance on the Pimms stand.
- The draw for the clubs summer tournament is made during the open day & Pat & Shirley had agreed to co-ordinate this in Magdalens absence. They will need confirmation of names of those entered for the various categories & Sarah may be able to provide this via the website.
5. Membership Update
- Ian informed the meeting that 124 members had now paid their 2016 subscriptions, a 30% increase on this time last year when the figure was under 100.
- The club had currently 196 members registered but if any individual decides not to rejoin this year that figure will fall accordingly. 37 senior members have yet to pay their 2016 subscription.
6. Finance Update
- Julie confirmed that the clubs finances remained in a healthy state. After paying Leaf Matters £7,335 for the tree felling there was £35,830 in the account.
- Julie pointed out that assuming subscription payments were broadly in line with 2015 she expected the club to make a small loss (around £2K) in 2016 due to the one off tree felling costs
7. Coaching
- Adam informed the meeting that the 2 coaching sessions held to-date (Thursday & Saturday pm) had both been well attended with positive feedback received.
- A beginner’s taster session to be run immediately prior to the Thursday coaching session was scheduled for Thursday 5 May & Adam was ensuring this was widely advertised.
- To link in with the club summer tournament Adam was planning to run a junior club tournament with the finals late morning/early afternoon of the main club finals session.
- Elliot Fox had finalised the arrangements for running a box league at the club. Given that this league could run until September it was agreed that it would not be in conflict with the club tournament & as a result could be launched without delay. To assist Elliot it was agreed to check with Sarah whether a direct link to Elliot’s email could operate via the club website.
- Adam was proposing to run summer camps over 3 weeks this summer (Monday –Thursday) mornings. W/C 25 July was agreed but the other 2 weeks would be agreed in liaison with Pat taking into account prescheduled club matches.
- Club Coaching Sessions -
- To avoid problems at the end of the current free 5 week coaching programme future arrangements were discussed. Although early in the programme feedback from players had been positive & there appeared to be a sufficient level of demand to justify developing a programme whether free or not for the future.
- Numerous options were considered & it was agreed that this matter should be discussed in more depth at a future meeting. As an interim measure it was agreed to extend the free Thursday evening team coaching session for a further 5 weeks. A decision on the Saturday pm coaching session will be reviewed at the next meeting.
8. Maintenance
- John said that following the successful felling of the Wellingtonia this was now an opportune time to develop both a short & long term plan for the tennis courts.
- Moss was reappearing on courts 3& 4 & it was agreed that power washing should be carried out as soon as possible.
- Professional advice was needed on the options/timing of work to be carried out on the courts taking into account any residual issues re the roots of the Wellingtonia. John was trying to arrange a meeting this coming Saturday at the club to obtain this expert advice afterwhich he aimed to formulate a plan forthe courts, covering repair to court 1 , respraying/resurfacing/surface options. David pointed out that he had received a positive report from a tennis club on their assessment of an artificial surface(clay) which they were now using. If an artificial surface appeared viable for the club possible external funding could be explored.
- Julie agreed to formulate a financial plan for the work to be undertaken once she had received feedback from John’s meeting.
- Leaf Matters – John referred to the draft letter he had emailed committee members which the company could use to promote their work. It was agreed that given the excellent job they had undertaken for the club the letter should be sent & John confirmed this would be sent with him signing on behalf of the committee. In addition photos of the felling were being placed on the club website.
- Club Pathway – John confirmed that some interim repairs had been made to the pathway leading to the club to minimise potential safety concerns. When other work at the club was concluded a relaying of the pathway could be undertaken.
- Lighting on the Pathway – John was developing a plan to install low lighting along the edge of the pathway using kerbstones. He expected the cost to be in the region of £2 - £2.5K. The plan will be discussed at a later meeting once finalised.
- Heating in the Clubhouse – Use of portable heaters had been considered but John was concerned re potential safety issues. Reviewing the size & number of fixed heaters appeared the best option & this would be pursued.
9. Gardening
- A log from the Wellingonia had been left by Leaf Matters so that it could be made into something permanent for the club. John said Leaf matters had provided the name & number for a local wood sculptor (Will Jordan 07967 621396) & he suggested that David Horton, given his expertise in the timber field,be asked if he would be prepared to contact the sculptor to discuss possible options for the log. It was agreed that this should be pursued.
- David referred to a suggestion from an existing member that now that the Wellingtonia had been felled a replacement tree could be planted in the grounds to show the clubs support for retaining ongoing tree numbers. It was agreed that views of club members could be sought on this issue once we are satisfied that the residual issues concerning the Wellingtonia tree roots were resolved. David will feedback to the member.
10. Publicity
- Covered under other agenda items.
11. Website
- Sarah had purchased RSVP Pro from JEvents & this was now installed & working.
- An email had been sent to members notifying them of recent changes to the website including installation of RSVP
- Committee members said initial feedback on the changes were very positive. For 2017 it was suggested that the viability of using RSVP for running the club Tournament should be assessed
12. Social Events
- Arrangements for the Quiz night on Friday 17 June,the pre-Wimbledon fun day on 25 June and the Club finals day on Sunday 17 July will be discussed & agreed at the next committee meeting.
. Any Other Business
- Julie had formulated a Draft Questionnaire to be emailed to members seeking feedback on what provisions /improvements/additions they would like at the club. This had been circulated to committee members for comments/suggestions. It was agreed that this was an opportune time to undertake such an exercise & that the matter should be discussed fully at the next meeting. Feedback on the draft should be returned to Julie within 2 weeks in preparation for the next meeting. It was stressed that issues should not be included in the questionnaire which were clearly non-starters for the club to avoid raising undeliverable expectations.
- Nick referred to an email he had received offering additional tickets for Wimbledon. It was considered to be a scam & Nick will report this to LTA.
- Pat reported that in a recent club match an opposition player had challenged the make of tennis ball being used. It was agreed that if any further issues arose on this matter the reply should be that the club is using up its current stock of tennis balls.
Date of Next Meeting
Wednesday 1 June 2016 at 7.30 pm