BROADBRIDGE HEATH TENNIS CLUB

Broadbridge Heath Tennis Club A.G.M.
Monday 19 November 2007

Present :Committee members: Sue Whitty, Ann Lines, Mike Coombs, Nick Trout, Peter Ballard, Bruce Wilkinson, Roger Jowett,
Club members: Elaine Jowett, Sarah Malzer, Peter Lloyd, Michael Healy James Burden , Tim Shelton, Joanne Coombs

1. Apologies: Matt and Ben Lines, Jon Whitty, Sarah Coombs, Ken and Clare Pierce, Sally and Ben Trout, Phil and Dee Nash, Jean Stewart, Sue Tucker, Jean Cook, Robert Leigh, James Healy

2. Minutes of the 2006 AGM were accepted as a true record of that meeting. Proposed by Ann Lines, Seconded by Nick Trout.
Matters raised from the minutes: Mike Coombs asked about the lottery grant. Roger Jowett replied that he is still making enquiries into that.

3. Chairwoman’s report: Sue Whitty
There has been an increase in Membership from 98 to 110 as of now. Many new members have joined this year and I am pleased to say that many former members have re-joined this year and that bodes well for the future of the club.

There was an excellent level of entries for the Club Tournament: 15 mens singles, 6 ladies singles, 10 mens doubles (5 pairs), 10 ladies doubles (5 pairs), 24 mixed doubles (12 pairs, and 6 junior singles. Very poor weather over most of the summer resulted in many late finishing matches, but having moved the finals to early September proved fortuitous as the matches were all completed in time (just!) and finals weekend was warm and sunny. There were some really exciting matches and congratulations to everyone who took part and especially to the winners.. We even got a write up and photo in the WSCT. Well done to Robert Leigh who is Men’s champion again as well as Doubles with Ken Pierce who beat Roger Jowett and Phil Nash in a brilliant match. Also, well done to Sarah Malzer who finally has the Ladies Singles title after being in the final for the previous two years and after a gruelling 3-setter with myself which I can confirm was absolutely exhausting. Mixed Doubles saw Tim Shelton and Sue Tucker regain the title from Roger and Elaine Jowett. Ladies Doubles were retained by Elaine and myself against Joanne and Sarah Coombs. Finally the Junior Singles was won by Iain Waddingham who beat Ben Trout in a thrilling final which went right down to the wire with a tie-break in the 3rd set and was tennis of the highest standard. Watch out when these two play in the Adult competition!

We had such a good response to the Coaching sessions that we had 3 full groups (16 juniors and 9 adults), although we only ran one block this year. Unfortunately the weather interfered quite a lot with the (Saturday afternoon) sessions. We are looking to change the format next year, perhaps to have specialised one-off clinics rather than a block of coaching. Any feedback or comments from members would be helpful.

Court Use and Club Sessions is one area which I am particularly excited to report on as I feel we have really turned a corner after several years of disappointing attendance. We had the unheard-of scenario many times, especially at the start of the season when the weather was so good, of people having to sit out as there were more members than places on court! We even reverted to the “peg system” of the former glory days of the club! If only the weather hadn’t scuppered so many sessions, however as recently as 2 Sundays ago we had 10 people, which is really brilliant. We changed back to Sunday mornings from Saturday which has proved very successful. We tried different formats for Friday evenings making them specific to various groups (mens, ladies, juniors). Again the weather had an impact on the success of this but I think we need to continue with a similar plan next season, but there was no real take up of juniors so they could play any Friday between 5 and 6.30pm The Icicle League was implemented and had a reasonable response. 8 pairs played throughout the winter. We have a new idea for this winter – more about this later.

The Wimbledon Draw and Summer Barbecue event was the best attended that I can remember with 20 people playing and over 30 at the BBQ and taking part in the draw. Other American Tournaments suffered badly from the weather with several rained off either completely or part way through.

There has been a lot of work carried out throughout the year on Maintenance and Improvements to Courts & Surrounding Area. Firstly the new path from the cricket club ground to the courts, which has been a marvellous improvement – thanks to the working party. (Some of you will have noticed that the moles are trying to literally undermine these efforts!) Phase 2 will be done this winter being a path from the road to the courts. Screens have been erected to shield the courts from the traffic: thanks to Robert Leigh for organising these and the benches. Generally the screens have been well received, the only slight concern being the security of the courts and those on them. I’d like to know what the feeling is amongst members. There are a few outstanding repairs to be done and also de-mossing once the leaves are all off the trees.

In Summary I would like to thank all the committee for their support in my first year as Chairman. They have worked very hard on your behalf as always, with special thanks to Ann Lines for taking over as secretary, and Peter Ballard who does a lot behind the scenes, including revamping the website (), which I hope you have all looked at recently. Also, thank you to Sarah Malzer for stepping in as Tournament secretary. I hope you all agree the future of the club looks very promising and I hope we will go from strength to strength.

Peter Ballard formally thanked Sue Whitty for all her hard work this year as Chair.

4. Treasurer’s report: A copy of the report is attached separately. Sue was asked to pass the Club’s thanks to Jon Whitty for undertaking the audit. Matters raised: It was decided not to purchase a leaf blower. James Burden offered the use of his small generator to the club at any time. Nick Trout to investigate whether an electric leaf vac could be run from this.
Peter Ballard asked that the courts be numbered, this to be organised at committee. It was decided to raise the subscriptions in preparation for resurfacing of the courts in the future. New subs to be –Single Adult £45, Couple £80, Family£95, Students to remain at£15. Working party to do rest of path and to place netting at base of trees to prevent balls rolling into ditch.
The report was accepted by the meeting. Proposed by Sue Whitty, Seconded by Roger Jowett.

5. General Issues:
Tournament and Family Tennis: It was decided to keep the finals in September. Committee to discuss possible penalty for players not getting matches played.
Keep to format of 3 sets with the option of a tie- break instead of the third set. Keep an even number of groups in each category. Committee to organise dates for Family tennis tournament.
BlueNose Challenge: Winter league, format to be decided by committee, names of those interested in competing to Ann Lines by 7 December.
Social Event: Ideas for possible events were put forward. Roger Jowett offered to host an event to coincide with Australian Open.
Future of the Club: Nick Trout updated everyone on the Broadbridge Heath Development plans. Decided that we need to liase with Cricket Club, they are putting together a plan and will show us. May need to approach LTA for help with funding.
Website: Thanks went to Peter Ballard for the excellent job he has made of the new website. Michael Healy and James Burden are to undertake further research on an interactive notice board/calendar for members.

6. Election of the Executive Committee: Sue Whitty, Ann Lines and Mike Coombs were all happy to continue in their roles of Chair, secretary and treasurer. Jean Stewart and Robert Leigh stepped down from the committee. Sarah Coombs to join committee.

7. A.O.B.: Flowers have been presented to Stephanie Ballard for her hard work with court bookings.
Ditch Pollution: Environment Agency to view septic tanks of nearby properties. Roger Jowett to send letter to chase this up. Sarah Coombs to look into possible purchase of Club sweatshirts. Timings for winter Sunday morning club sessions to change to 10am as often too frosty to play at 9.30am. Committee to look further at positioning of screens as overlap is thought to be causing damage to fence and some concern was raised at security issue of not being able to see who was on the courts.

Meeting closed at 10.45pm