ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS CROQUET CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15th 2003 AT 10.30 a.m. in FRANT
Present: John HOBBS Chairman), Clive HORTON (Treasurer), Mick BELCHAM (Secretary), Chris BERWICK, Richard CLARK, Pamela CLARK, Derek CROCOMBE, Nita DAVIS, Jon DIAMOND, Richard ELLIOTT, John GREENWOOD, Frank GUNSTONE, Derek HEATH, Jean HEATH, Barney LEWIS, Colin MABEY, Sue MABEY, Ray MEECH, Roger MORRIS, Pauline MORRIS, Hazel MOSS-DAVIS, Andrew QUYE, Miriam READER, Bella STEINHAUER, John TIMMIS.
Apologies for Absence: Brian and Doreen HOUGH, Richard MANN, Chris MARSHALL, Stan OXENBURY, Laurel PRICE, Chris STURDY, Derrick and Mary USHER.
PRELIMINARY
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies from those unable to attend were listed. There were no Matters Arising from the Minutes of the 2002 AGM which were duly signed by the Chairman.
We registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) this year. This allows us to take advantage of some potential tax benefits in the way that the Club treats Donations, effectively adding 28% to their nominal value
We now have our very own Website (courtesy of Jon Diamond). We now need to understand how best to exploit it, if only by giving it a more recognisable name.
We continue to publish a Club Newsletter 2 or 3 times a year for which we must thank Derek Heath.
We are sorry to lose Clive Horton as our Treasurer after so many years of unstinting service to the Club. We wish him well with his Golf!
Thanks also to our Secretary, Mick Belcham, without whom we would achieve very little. The Chairman showed his appreciation for Mick’s efforts with a personal gift of his favourite tipple!
The Treasurer reviewed the Accounts for year ending September 30th 2003 and highlighted a number of points concerning comparisons with the previous year.
He pointed out that we have now written off the "value" of the Clubhouse as it could never be realised as an asset.
The comparatively low Surplus this year is principally due to the extra planned Lawn Maintenance work and the cost of major repair work on the lawn mower.
Regarding Annual Subscriptions: he pointed out that they had remained the same since 1995 so the Club should expect to raise them in the very near future.
The Treasurer thanked the Committee both past and present for their assistance during his 12 years as Treasurer. He was thanked again by the Chairman.
The Accounts were accepted.
The Secretary provided an update on the lawns, confirming their intended opening next year in mid-March and thanked members for their patience this year both with the dry conditions and some fox damage.
He also outlined the Club’s options regarding the future of the lawns: to continue as-is with only minimal increases in maintenance costs, to seek out a "benefactor" willing to finance both the complete renewal of the lawns (approximately £30,000) and the on-going increased maintenance costs, or to attempt some "radical surgery". He would favour the last of these approaches. It will entail conducting a laser-based assessment of lawn undulations, identifying the worst high/low spots and then raising and/or lowering surface levels accordingly. This will be a multi-year project depending almost exclusively on the level of extra funds that might be made available. For this reason he is recommending to the Committee the setting up of an initiative that would seek to build a "war chest" specifically for this purpose. As the principle source of funds will be from our Membership, we should take advantage of our CASC tax status and ask for any donations that our members feel inclined to make to be made under the Gift Aid umbrella.
The Chairman re-iterated our Balls policy – 4 sets: the best for Tournaments, the second for inter-club matches, the third (kept in the trolleys) for general competitive play and the last (with white stripes) for practice and other "social" play. We have a number of balls for disposal to good causes!
The Secretary reviewed this year’s programme:<
There was significant interest in Club members supporting the World Golf Championships being held in Southwick and Compton in June next year. Many were interested in volunteering to help as "ball boys" and scorers and there was also some interest in organising a "Club Away Day" to visit as spectators.
The Chairman outlined a potential change to our approach to Coaching. He said he felt that there were a number of members who were both willing and capable to improve but were not able to progress as fast as they would like. He said that for next year we would provide Coaching more on a Demand basis (reacting to individual needs and developing individual programmes) rather than on a Supply basis (running standard coaching courses). He said that the focus of such a programme would be the identification of a number of mentors willing to work with people on a one-on-one basis, especially playing coaching based games. These mentors would not necessarily be low handicappers. However we have to avoid the risk of teaching bad habits!
Richard Clark also suggested setting up a game between our two A Class players (Aaron Westerby and John Greenwood) and using it as a coaching opportunity for those watching. There was considerable interest.
The Chairman said that we would be looking for input from a Member Questionnaire again this year particularly on how we can structure afternoons better and provide alternative activities such as coaching and competitive games.
There was general agreement that Friendlies should be organised more like other inter-Club matches ie arranged earlier, a sign-up mechanism for those available to play and a nominated Captain to take responsibility for transport, teams, catering etc.
There was also a request to arrange more Association Friendlies as last year 7 out of the 8 were Golf.
On the subject of Membership, the Secretary noted that we currently have 42 members (including 2 Honorary). This year we "trialed" an arrangement with PPP personnel whereby a number of them would join as normal members and they would be able to bring in other PPP guests specifically during lunchtimes and after work at a concessionary rate. The two PPP members at the meeting confirmed that the arrangement worked well and are looking forward to next year.
The Secretary also confirmed that Registration Forms and a Questionairre would be sent out in mid January.
On the subject of Support, the Secretary re-iterated that the Committee hopes that "everyone finds something to contribute" to their Club. This has been well supported in the areas of Housekeeping, Catering, Coaching, DIY etc.
There was considerable discussion regarding the existing policy of asking players in inter-Club matches (Friendlies and League) to contribute £3 each towards the cost of providing teas for themselves and visiting teams at Home matches. Opinion was approximately evenly divided between those who felt that it was an appropriate approach to fund catering expenses, and those who felt that, while it might be appropriate for Friendlies, it was an imposition on those asked to play in League matches. The Committee will review the alternatives for the new season.
Regarding Annual Subscriptions, the Secretary reminded the Meeting of the Treasurer’s earlier comments regarding how long we have maintained subscriptions at the current level (8 years) and that sometime soon we should consider raising them to reflect the increase in costs during that timeframe due to inflation. The Secretary recommended that, given our CASC status, we should think in terms of a two-tier arrangement – a fixed annual Maintenance Subscription (to cover the basic ongoing costs of running the Club) and a voluntary annual Development Contribution (to allow the Club to improve, for instance, its lawns). The advantage of such an approach is that we would be able to treat the Development Contributions as Donations for tax purposes effectively adding 28% (or more) to their value. Development Contributions will be discussed further in documentation accompanying the annual Registration Forms being sent out in January.
However we have to agree at this AGM what our (fixed) Annual Subscription for 2004 is to be. The Committee proposes that they should remain effectively the same as for 2003, namely
Full Membership:
And, in order to cater for exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, these rates may be varied by the Club’s Officers when deemed appropriate.
These proposed rates for 2004 were passed unanimously.
This is the area where we do least and need to do most. The major reason for this is that we have yet to have a member volunteer to handle it. We need to explore the whole subject and we plan next year to set up a "working party" to decide how best to approach it. A volunteer from the membership would be very welcome! This is particularly crucial as we now have an embryonic Website.
Following the suggestion that we need to be more visible in the Courier newspaper, the Chairman agreed and re-iterated the need for a volunteer. However he/she must have access to Email as articles are now only accepted in electronic form.
John Timmis was elected Honorary Treasurer unopposed to replace Clive Horton who was not seeking re-election.
Jon Diamond and Roger Morris were elected unopposed as Committee Members to replace Sue Mabey and Brian Hough who were not seeking re-election.
The remainder of the Committee were seeking re-election and were duly elected unopposed.
The Committee then for 2004 is as follows:
The Chairman gave notice of his intention to retire as Chairman at next year’s AGM as he believes that after 3 years the Club needs new "blood".
The Chairman presented the Club Trophies as follows:
The Chairman then presented Clive Horton with a gift from the Club members of 6 bottles of Vintage Port in recognition of his many years as Treasurer.
The Chairman then declared the Meeting closed.