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New Kitchen 

A sparkling new kitchen has now been installed (cost about £7,000), masterminded by a group of members, who took external advice and consulted widely (getting the usual divergent range of views), and then used their judgement as to what would best serve the Club’s needs.

There was some debate as to whether the new kitchen is too new and shiny for use by you members (after all you might spoil it) – but fortunately common sense prevailed. So we are not going to install drinks machines after all – and you can carry on making your own drinks in the shiny new kitchen – please put the money in the honesty jar, and wash up afterwards.

New Changing Rooms

Vince is masterminding the refurbishment of the changing rooms. This is due to take place in late February. The work will take about 3 weeks, during which time, a single unisex changing room will be operational, and Vince promises a traffic light system to keep things decent. The work on the changing rooms will cost about £20,000.

New Lounge

The plans for the lounge (the part of the clubhouse in front of the bar) have been posted in the (er) lounge. The idea is to renew the flooring, reupholster the seats, and add a lot of other seats and tables. Total cost about £13,000. Simon Morrell has generously donated the Club a year’s subscription to Sky, which we’ll be watching on a new flat screen TV. The work is due to begin in late February and is expected to take a couple of weeks, with the lounge and bar closing for some of the time. We are also making about £5000 worth of improvements behind the bar, probably in March, when the bar will need to close again.

The clubhouse will become non-smoking from the time the lounge work is commenced. This merely brings forward by a few months the implementation of the government’s ban on smoking. No doubt this will be welcomed by non-smokers and regretted by smokers, so probably won’t please everyone.

New Courts 9-12

Bob worked hard getting quotes for resurfacing courts 9-12 and installing floodlights. We have applied for an interest-free 10-year loan from Kent LTA to pay for about 75% of the estimated cost of £150,000. We expect to hear from them over the next 8 weeks.

If they award us the loan, they are likely to take security over the courts (to make sure we pay it back), and they will also insist that we put aside each year, not just enough to repay the loan, but also to build up a fund to pay for the renewal of the facilities next time round (in, say, 10 years time). Fortunately, the 10 Year Plan developed last summer was prepared on this basis.

The work should start in May when the grass courts open.

New Financial Reality

All in, we will have refurbished the clubhouse, electrics, and covered walkways for some £60,000, still considerably less than the estimates for the more extensive proposal considered last summer (involving moving the doors, extending the changing rooms, building a conservatory etc). But it’s still a lot of money for a club with subscription income of a little over £100,000 a year.

And next summer we need to spend up to another £150,000 on resurfacing Courts 9-12 – so, if we are not very careful with our money over the next few years, we will overstretch ourselves and cause the Club problems for years to come.

You may remember that the 10 Year Plan envisages significant above-inflation rises in subscriptions, as well as generating further income from the bar, social events, floodlight fees etc, etc. The Committee is also looking hard at everyone who makes money by providing services using the Club’s facilities (such as caterers who use our kitchen, and yoga teachers who use our squash courts, and of course, the tennis coaches) to make sure the arrangements are fair. The Committee is also examining every line of expenditure in our accounts to see where we can generate savings.

I expect the review process (and the resulting changes) will upset some people, and the Committee needs to ensure any changes will benefit the Club overall – but if we want to maintain the Club (let alone improve it), we have no choice; we have to generate more money.

New Club Rules and Tax Status

At the EGM, we will ask members to approve a change in status of the Club to a CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club). This is a tax-status (a bit like charity status, but less onerous, designed to save sports clubs tax); for example, it will reduce our rates, and save tax on our mast rental income.  It is likely to save the Club over £5,000 a year.

To qualify, the Club has to operate for the benefit of the local community; this means that (as long as we have space) we have to be open to anyone who is willing to accept our rules and pay our subscriptions. We cannot discriminate against potential members on grounds of race, religion etc, although I understand discrimination WILL still be permitted against members who 1) never buy anyone else a drink or 2 ) constantly complain about the management of the Club (without ever knowing the full facts or offering to help) …[rest of  rant omitted for lack of space].

Converting to CASC is a permanent commitment. Once a CASC, the Club will still belong to, and be run by, its members. But we will no longer be able to dream of selling the Club’s land to developers and retiring to the South of France. As a CASC, if we sold our land we would have to spend the proceeds on setting up new facilities or give them to another CASC.

So we give up our right to discriminate, and we give up the right to deprive future members of the benefits of the Club’s land and assets that were given to us by past members. And in return, the government gives us £5000 a year in tax benefits.  Seems like a reasonable exchange to me; but your approval will be needed at the EGM.

New Club rules are being prepared to comply with the CASC rules and also to modernise the existing requirements (which for example, currently ban Daisy and other dogs, and require  1950’s style tennis wear on court). A small group of members chaired by Mary Davies has been convened to make sure the changes are sensible, before they are proposed at the EGM.
 

New Volunteers Needed

The only paid positions in the Club are the groundsman, the administrator, and the bar staff. The caterers and coaches get paid by those they feed and coach. Almost everyone else gives their time for free. This isn’t just the Committee and Trustees: the unpaid work done by members on the squash courts and on the outside of the clubhouse has saved the Club thousands of pounds.  

But we need many more people to offer their time to make our limited resources go further – for example, the Tennis Committee needs to find a Fixture Secretary, a Men’s Captain and a Tournament Organiser. We also need members to produce material and photos for the website, run club afternoons, help Teresa run Social events, and so on.  Needless to say there is no pool of money to pay people to do these tasks – if we have to start paying, subscriptions will need to rise even further.

So, if you’ve the time and skills to help the Club, please volunteer to help.

New Era

What we are seeing is a major change in the Club, with much, much better facilities, and much better management of the Club’s resources over the medium term – rather than living from month to month or year to year. This is what most members indicated they wanted in the questionnaire responses last summer. If that’s still the case (and I trust it is), I hope you will turn up in strength at the EGM and support your Committee.