Chipstead Place Lawn Tennis Club

Minutes of the Committee Meeting on Thursday 1^st May 2008, 7:30pm

 at 202 Chesterfield Drive

Present                        Peter Bibb                    Treasurer

Charles Chapman        Courts Secretary

Matt Doran                  Club Coach

Valerie Maunder          Secretary

                        Sue O'Mahony             Membership Secretary

                        Sandra Pease                Ladies Captain

Dick Thomson             Chairman

Pat Udall Match Secretary

1. Apologies

Magdalen Fry, David Pettitt

2. Minutes of Committee Meeting on Thursday 13th March 2008

Proposed by Sandra and seconded by Dick.

3. Matters Arising

Road to Wimbledon sign up sheet had two entries. Valerie rang the members suggested by Matt to make the competition viable.

Chipstead Village Fete is on September 6^th, 12-5pm. Pat went to the meeting regarding this event. The Club will have a table. Matt to go along with perhaps a speed gun and tennis net (beat the coach competition).

Duncan has a floodlight key. There are six keys in circulation. Charles and Pat each have two. Ian Walker holds one for men’s night.

4. Treasurer’s Report

Peter reported that £53,000 has been received from the LTA. Due to the extra costs of digging for the new club house, the club no longer has contingency money. Peter noted that electricity costs have increased recently from £5 to £37 per quarter.

To date half of the membership has rejoined the club. (87/137 seniors and one third of juniors.) “Buy a brick” campaign has not been particularly popular with the membership. The supporters tend to be the regular members and committee. Total collected to date is £1,200.

5. Club Coach Report

Matt reported that children were not signing up to as many squads in the winter as the summer.  He said that he is qualified to deliver the Tennis Leadership Award. This is an award that 14-18 year old may be interested in attaining. He wants to encourage and organise more competition at the club for juniors.

6. Club Coach Contract

· David and Peter to review the contract with Matt.

No dates have been received to date from Matt for summer coaching.

7. Clubhouse update

An update regarding the clubhouse has been emailed to the membership:

Dear Member,

I thought the membership would appreciate an update on how work is progressing on the new clubhouse.  Though those of you who play regularly and have recently visited the club might question whether there has been any real progress.  The facts are that when the contractor started to dig out the ground for the foundations it was discovered that there was a strata of clay.  In compliance with existing building regulations Sevenoaks District Council’s Planning Department insisted that the foundations had to be modified to provide a concrete platform.  Thus the wooden shuttering which is currently visible and which only in the past week has been approved by the SDC engineers.  The contractor is now arranging for the supply of concrete to fill in the shuttering.  This presents a logistical problem but we are grateful that a neighbour, whose property backs onto the club, has kindly agreed that the concrete can be pumped across his garden to the site.  Once this process is completed the contractor assures me that progress on the construction will be much more visible and that completion of the new clubhouse should still be achieved by June.

As work progresses I hope as many as possible of you will still enjoy playing at the club.  And again thank you for your continued patience and support.

Dick Thomson

Chairman

To date since the email, the concrete has been poured. Dick reported that the building was on schedule despite the delay due to the digging. Thanks go to Tony Rowe for allowing a pipe through his garden for the concrete.

Ian Rudkin from the LTA would like to visit the building work week commencing June 9^th.

• Pat to purchase a £50 case of wine as a thank you gift for Tony.

Pat and Sandra have kindly agreed to be responsible for the interior fixtures and fittings of the new clubhouse (purchase of furniture etc.).

The panelling (neighbour at number 7) which was damaged by the contractor will be repaired after the building work is completed.  

8. Club Tournaments

The number of entries for the Ladies Singles and girls singles is low.

• Magdalen, Sandra and David will try to encourage more members to enter these events before the draw is completed.

The boys and girls singles finals will be held on finals day in the afternoon. There will be a BBQ on the day at 12 noon.

9. Results of Questionnaire

35 members returned a completed questionnaire. The replies were mainly received from the regular players (at least twice a week). The overall impression from the questionnaires was:

• Friendship groups prefer to play together and enjoy making up their own fours.
• Don’t go to club sessions because too busy, standard poor, injured/fitness.
• A third are interested having coaching.
• Other suggestions included a suggestion for a whist or bridge drive.

The committee reached the conclusion that the questionnaires did not provide information that was not already known.

10. Resurfacing of Court One

The estimate to resurface a quarter of court one which includes digging a trench, cutting out the root: £5,270 plus VAT. It would cost an extra £1,520 plus VAT to build a concrete wall to stop the root problem returning. The danger of having this work carried out would be a seam through the middle of the court.

The estimate to resurface a half of court one is £8,151 plus VAT. A concrete wall would cost an extra £1,520 plus VAT.

The committee decided to put resurfacing on hold until the club house had been built in the event of further hidden costs. Club matches should be played on courts two and three.

11. Any Other Business

None.

12. Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 2nd July 2008, 7:30pm at 202 Chesterton Drive.

Signed                                                                          Chairman