MINUTES OF THE AGM OF THE IDEN GREEN TENNIS CLUB HELD ON SATURDAY 22nd
FEBRUARY 2014 AT THE IDEN GREEN PAVILION AT 6-15pm.
PRESENT: 12 Full members including:
Chairperson: Mrs Penny Cunningham.
Secretary: Dick Mohr.
Admin. Officer: Gill Tremenheere.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSCENCE: from Kathy Evans, Nick Conington[Treasurer], Peter & Sue Hawkins, Charles Trollope[Auditor].
MINUTES OF THE LAST AGM: Were read and unanimously approved.
MATTERS ARISING: None.
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Penny started by thanking the committee for all their hard work over the last year & this has ensured the Club has run efficiently. She thanked the Committee & members of the Club for supporting her as their Chairperson. She also thanked Dick for his efforts in supervising the upgrading of the courts & surrounds with the help of George our gardener. Also Dick has kept up to date with all the requirements of the LTA. Penny said she hoped members are proud of how smart the courts look.
Penny thanked Ros Judd who organised the excellent curry supper from Benenden School for our Quiz night. Ros & Brian also hosted the successful Christmas party & Ros also organizes the fixtures & the teams for the Wealden League which is the only inter club competition that we play in.
Membership numbers are steady & we have financial reserves to pay for future maintenance of the courts & surrounds.
Unfortunately our Treasurer is unable to be here tonight so we will be calling an Extraordinary General Meeting to hear the financial situation & approve the figures. The latest figures available show £15904.54 in a reserve business account & over £6000 in our Current Account.
We have decided to keep the annual subscriptions the same as last year.
Tony Cherry continues as our Club coach & encourages & inspires our young players. The Junior numbers are good & they continue to improve & play in outside competitions.
Congratulations to Freddie Dear who is playing for the Kent U12 side & we wish him well for the coming season.
Tony Cherry is No.1 in the Kent Veterans & we wish him & the Juniors continued success. This year we hope to include the Juniors in more Club events.
Benenden Hospital continue to allow us to use their courts over the winter for the Junior coaching.
Here one day tournaments continue to be popular & thanks to Michael & Kathy for organising them & we hope for more this summer.
The annual Quiz was again a success & the Two Peters were as entertaining as ever. Ros & Brian kindly arranged for an excellent curry supper provided by Benenden school kitchen.
My thanks to Ros & Brian who hosted in their home a very enjoyable Christmas party. They made everyone very welcome & thanks for all their hard work in making the party a success.
I would like to thank everyone who attend the Club sessions which are always fun & friendly. The standard of play is good with lots of variety of games with the players moving round every 5 games. We are all looking forward to the additional Club sessions starting on Tuesday evenings at the start of April as well as the usual Saturday morning Club sessions. Some Club players are also arranging mid week sessions & it is good to see the courts being used.
Lastly we are sorry to loose Emy from the committee but delighted to welcome Lloyd on to the committee.
SECRETARY'S REPORT: Following the decisions of last years AGM we obtained 3 estimates for the cost relating to maintenance of the courts surfaces which needed repainting & then painted with a polyurethane resin binder to prolong the life of the courts. Also the courts needed power washing & general fence maintenance with replacement of the chain link fence on the practice wall side of the courts. It was decided not to move the entrance gate to between the two courts until the chain linked fence needs replacing on that side. Estimates for repair were obtained from 4 Seasons, Sovereign & Trevor May and the estimates were all similar for power washing & colour coating the courts. 4 Seasons estimate for the painting with polyurethane resin binder was £500-£1000 higher but Mr Moon of 4 Seasons , who initially laid the courts over 9 years ago & have been looking after them ever since, assured us that they only use the highest quality binder, rather than cheap foreign imports. The committee decided to accept the quote from 4 Seasons to do all the work which was completed in early September.
Repairs & power washing: £1815 inc VAT.
Polyurethane resin binder & colour painting of courts: £4896 inc VAT- reduced to £4572 inc VAT with a discount.
The courts are 9 & a half yeas old & in reasonable condition. The polyurethane binder will, according to Mr Moon, add another 3 years & possibly 5 years to the life of the courts before they need relaying. Cost £16800 inc VAT in 2013.
I think we would all agree that the courts are in excellent condition. Mr Moon advised we take no action over the few depressions/dips mainly in the court nearest the practice wall as they do not seem to affect the bounce of the ball. If that becomes a problem then we can make local repairs.
As obliged by the LTA we got a full electrical check done by K Jones Electrical which included PAT testing of appliances[yearly check] & an EICR check of lighting wiring sockets etc[2 yearly check]. Work was done on the electric supply to the water heater and cables to comply with the regulations & a certificate was issued.
Other work done over the year:
A handrail was put up beside the steps down to the courts.
Adrian kindly put up an IGTC sign & provided a new box court side. Many thanks to him.
Thanks also to David Parvin who repaired the lock to the clubhouse on a couple of occasions.
Information was provided to the LTA in the form of a Health & Safety report and we fitted a fire alarm a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket in the clubhouse. In addition notices were put up advising players that they play at their own risk in inclement weather.
The hot water heater is broken in the club house & we decided not to repair it as it is used so infrequently and to boil a kettle when hot water needed.
Finally a big thank you to George Masters fortaking over the care of the grounds this year & he has done a great job. He looks after the paths, lawns, hedges & keeps the gutters clear on the clubhouse. Importantly he regularly blows debris off the courts to prevent it being ground into the surface & impairing the drainage.
TREASURERS REPORT: delay until another date, due to Nick Conington's abscence, when an Extraordinary Meeting will be held.
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARARY'S REPORT: as above.
TOURNAMENT SECRETARARY'S REPORT: Michael reported 2 successful tournaments were held last year and one was cancelled. It may be best to hold one of the tournaments later in the year, perhaps September.
WEALDEN LEAGUE REPORT: Ros reported that we had played 8 mixed doubles matches won 5 drawn 2 & lost 1. We are presently top of Division 2 but she expects us to end up 3rd in Division 2 and not go up. She appealed for anyone wishing to play in the Wealden matches to contact her especially any lady members.
ELECTION OF NEW COMMITTEE: Emy has resigned from the committee but all the other committee members are happy to continue serving. Penny Cunningham was unanimously relected to serve as Chairperson . Lloyd Vincent was unanimously elected on to the committee. Proposed by Dick Mohr & seconded by Penny Cunningham.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: There was a discussion regarding encouraging Juniors to play in Club sessions. It was pointed out that Juniors have always been welcome to play and recently Freddie Dear played.
The Benenden Village Plan is going to approach us regarding free membership for Juniors in the area but Dick pointed out that we already offer free Junior membership to Juniors living in the Iden Green area.
There were no plans to move the gate into the courts until there needed to be repairs to the chain linked netting on that side of the court.
Diccon Gray suggested we put up green mesh to improve the visibility of the ball & Dick said he would contact 4 Seasons about this.
Dick talked about the LTA trying to increase participation & membership by getting clubs to arrange Open Days. The committee had discussed this & came to the conclusion from previous experience that it was a lot of effort for little or no return & it was better to do local advertising to increase the membership and participation in tennis.
There was mention of the break-ins at the clubhouse last summer and the committee had agreed to put up some CCTV signs to deter intruders.
Diccon suggested that we increase the subs to pay for a court levy to cover the costs of having the courts resurfaced in the future and to use our present funds in reserve to help support local children in our community to play tennis. He was involved in a successful scheme at his Table Tennis Club where club members invest individually in Premium Bonds with the winnings going to the club. The committee would discuss this suggestion at the next meeting.
It was suggested a sign be put up in Benenden to direct people to the IGTC and perhaps it could be included in the Benenden Village Plan.
Sheila Hume suggested that the committee think of holding a Coke & Crisp morning for the Juniors which had been successful in the past.
Dick thanked Penny for all her efforts & Hard work on behalf of the Club over the last year.
PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR: Ros Judd was given a nice bottle of wine in recognition of all her efforts in arranging the Wealden League matches & for hosting the successful Christmas party.
THE MEETING CLOSED AT 7 45 pm.