BLTC Newsletter: Spring 2005

Contents

Chairman's Report

It has been a disappointing year generally for the Club. In the spring of 2004 we were being plagued by problems of vandalism and trouble from skateboarders. With a new tennis club opening nearby we saw a drop in membership, and as I reported in an earlier newsletter enthusiasm for tennis seemed to be waning, particularly at evening club sessions. Despite this, our teams did well with the men's A and Ladies' B teams gaining promotion. We held two successful American tournaments, one with a barbecue and one with a bring and share.

The play tennis day was well attended and our junior coaching in the spring and summer went from strength to strength, particularly with the mini tennis. The mini tennis has continued its success during the autumn and winter and all the groups are still full. Unfortunately Jamie Davies was unable to continue coaching after October, and despite every effort, we have been unable to find another registered coach with available time. This is a worrying situation and we are desperately trying to resolve it before the start of the summer season.

On the positive side, the vandalism seems to have eased off and the skateboarders have moved elsewhere. We are currently in discussions with the Parish Council with regard to installing CCTV in the area which, if successful, should prevent some of the mindless damage that took place last year.

Another positive move is the setting up of a Club Partnership between local clubs in the area. These are Bredon, Beckford, Twyning, Gotherington, NKY Tennis based in Bishop's Cleeve, Seasons Tennis Club on the north of Cheltenham, and Tewkesbury School. This partnership is recruiting an administrator to organise events between the clubs. Hopefully this will include such things as social events, inter-club social tennis, junior matches, and tournaments. We have the support of Gloucestershire LTA and Tewkesbury Sports Council, who are both helping with the funding of this project. Hopefully I will have more details ready for the AGM.

A club as large as Bredon does not run itself, and I must close by thanking certain people. Carol, my wife, has decided to stand down as treasurer. She has meticulously managed our finances for many years and I am very grateful for the assistance that she has given us. She will continue on the committee as ladies' team captain. I would like to thank Jamie Davies for his coaching contribution and wish him luck in his future career. Also John Robson our mini tennis coach and his loyal group of assistants helping to keep control during these sessions on a voluntary basis. John has travelled weekly throughout the year from Chedworth to coach our juniors. Finally I would like to thank all the committee members who have committed their time to helping with the running of the club.

Secretary's Report

Membership fell considerably this year to 205, the fewest for many years, and the club only attracted 39 new members.

This year the committee met five times. Nick Purchase resigned from the committee during the year because of increasing work commitments abroad. The club is indebted to him for all his work on development especially the floodlights and pavilion. Thanks also to Robert for the production of the newsletters and his continuing work with the website, to Jess for publicity, and to Matty Manns who again represented the club at the village carol service.

Anyone willing to help with the running of the club would be most welcome to join the committee. Please get in touch with Linda if you are interested.

Treasurer's Report

As many of you are aware I am unable to give a full treasurer's report in this newsletter for the AGM as the financial year does not end until the 31st March 2005. To date, our membership income is down by some £967, our ball levy from club nights down by £54.83 and monies from the sale of floodlight tokens down by £72 compared to the same period last year.

As those of you, who come to the AGM know, each year I present a forward plan for the next five years based on the present year. The actual income to date is about £2800 down on the estimate. Because of the lower number of members and the lack of use of the floodlights and club night balls, our outgoings are at present also lower by £4200. However, there are still monies to be paid out for pressure washing of courts 3 and 4. Because of this the balance forward at the end of March is still likely to be slightly higher than estimated. The lower membership does mean that our LTA affiliation fees are lower, although this also has the effect that we will receive fewer Wimbledon tickets.

Unfortunately we were not able to get a further reduction on our Rates this year due to a lot of wrangling with the Inland Revenue while trying to register as a 'Community Amateur Sports Club' (CASC). Hopefully, providing you approve an amendment to the constitution at this year's AGM, our registration will be accepted. This will mean the club can claim an 80% discount instead of a 50% discount on the rates for the next financial year.

I am now resigning as Treasurer of the club but would like to thank you all for your support over the past eight years. If anyone would like to take over as treasurer then please get in touch and I will put your name forward at the AGM.

Team Reports

Summer Leagues

Six adult teams played in the Gloucestershire leagues last summer. The Men's A team returned to victorious ways by winning division 3b convincingly. The B team finished fourth with seven wins and three losses in a hard fought division where only four points separated the top four teams. The C team suffered with a limited pool of players and finished second from bottom in 4b.

The Ladies' A team finished the season mid-table and will remain in division 2 next year. The B team finished second, gaining promotion so they will also play in division 2 next year. The C team finished third in their division, and will stay in division 5.

Winter Leagues

The men have one team entered in division 3 of the winter floodlight league at East Glos. As of the end of February, the team has played three matches with two wins and one loss, having had two matches postponed. We still have to play British Energy C in the first week of March, and have rearranged fixtures against Northleach and British Energy B.

The performances have been particularly pleasing given that a number of players elected not to participate due to heavy work commitments. Also worthy of note is the performance of one of our new recruits, Malcolm Waters, who showed all his guile and finesse in the match against De La Bere, only to end up on the losing side — personally, I blame his partner!

The ladies also only fielded one team this year in the winter league. To date we have played three matches of which we have lost 2 and won 1. We have 2 more matches to play.

The mixed winter league has been very enjoyable again and has been played on a home and away basis like the summer league. There were ten matches, and we met people ranging from county players at Tewkesbury Park to mid-league players similar in ability to ourselves. We have won five, lost four, and drawn one, so expect to finish mid-table.

Looking Ahead to Next Season

The summer leagues start again from the end of April and we are in the process of arranging the fixtures. Team practice is on a Saturday starting at 8.30am for the men and 10.30am for the ladies.

Ron 'Lobster' Loxley failed to convert anyone from the WeFri Cup, in spite of bribery and corruption (reduced rate taxi rides to matches were not deemed to be attractive enough), and so we are only entering two Men's Teams in the Summer League. It was collectively felt that we could operate this system more effectively, and not place the stress on the C team that we did last summer.

This was not the decision we wanted to take, so if you have any friends who would like to get involved in team tennis, encourage them to pay us a visit on Saturday mornings; we assure you they'll be made most welcome. If you feel you can give time to this and would like to join us please contact Lee Sharp for the men and Carol Smith for the ladies. Even if you only want to play as a reserve, we would love to know.

Junior Teams

Bredon entered three boys' teams last summer in the Gloucestershire Junior League. The team members were:

Unfortunately, all the clubs encountered problems in raising a team to play on many of the pre-arranged days, and the Bredon teams only played one third of their matches. A big thank you to all our team players for their efforts in the matches we were able to play; as ever you were all very sporting and a credit to the Club. Thank you too to parents for providing transport and of course your support. Because of our coaching problems it will not be possible to enter any junior teams this summer, but we hope that there will be competitive opportunities within the Club Partnership.

Coaching

Currently 37 children aged between four and twelve are having coaching in four groups on Mondays with John. From October to February the two youngest groups had their lessons in the village hall, while the others enjoyed the experience of playing under the floodlights. It is very encouraging to see the progress of all these children, particularly the very youngest.

Four of the older boys; Peter Hutchison, Max Barber, Jacob Walker and Steven Rhodes, (with Christopher Richardson as reserve) took part in their first friendly match against Beckford recently. Despite very tough opposition, including some county players, Bredon played well and fought hard. Special congratulations to Max, who only lost his singles match by four games to three.

It was good experience for all the boys and they are looking forward to a return match in due course.

Dee has continued with her ladies' groups on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The club is indebted to her for providing some very confident team players.

Annual Quiz: Spot the Logo

The closing date for this year's 'Spot the Logo' quiz is May 14th, so there's still plenty of time to enter. This is a quiz for all the family, and feedback so far indicates that children are more observant than adults! Copies are available at £1 each from Linda Whittaker or any committee member. Have a go at the sample logos below, and then get your own copy of the full quiz.

Club Website

The tennis club website continues to do well, with over 2650 hits to date. The site has recently moved to a new server, which should offer better facilities, but the address remains the same:
http://www.bredon-tennis.org.uk/.

As well as an archive of previous newsletters, the site provides the latest news and events, together with coaching times, and team results. If you haven't visited the site before, why not have a look today?

Bredon LTC Sweatshirts

Shortly we hope to have a limited number of sweatshirts available with the Bredon Tennis Club logo on them. When they are available a notice will be posted on the pavilion notice board and they will be sold on a first come first serve basis.

Constitutional Amendment

The Inland Revenue was not happy with some of the wording in our constitution and in order to claim rate relief of up to 80% in future, some further changes are required to the constitution. These following changes will be put to the AGM, and need to be approved by two-thirds majority.

It is proposed that a second sentence is added to the end of the existing clause 1.4, so that it will then read:

1.4 Dissolution... On dissolution of the club, the assets must only be used for local sporting or charitable purposes. i.e. the assets must be given or transferred to another CASC, a registered charity or the Sports Governing Body.

It is proposed that the existing clause 5.4 is renumbered to 5.5, and the following additional clause is inserted in the gap:

5.4 Surplus Funds... All surplus income or profits are re-invested in the club. No surpluses or assets will be distributed to members or third parties.

The existing constitution may be viewed by arrangement with the secretary, Linda Whittaker, or online at:
http://www.bredon-tennis.org.uk/rules.html.

Social Events

Social events during the year were well-supported. There were two American tournaments, mixed doubles with mulled wine and mince pies just before Christmas and a very enjoyable skittles evening. If you have any ideas for future social or fund-raising events, please tell a committee member.

© BLTC, 2010.