Management Meeting 23rd October 2024

New Malden Tennis Squash & Badminton Club

Minutes of Management meeting 23rd October 2024

Apologies for Absence: Sarah Tuckey, Gavin Young ,

Present: Brian Croad, Nick Martin, Mohmud Mohamed, Paul Impey, Andy Rickman, Scott Scarrow, Ash Khan, Toni Horodyski

In attendance: Laura Nunney

Minutes of Previous Meeting: Minutes of the meeting 18/09/2024 were distributed and approved

Membership: 934 total 887 active

NM provided a current breakdown of current members. Key club sessions have the following members:

Badminton 48

Gym 175

Juniors 126

Social 121

Squash 138

Tennis 112

NM proposed 4 amendments to memberships; The first is to be reviewed after discussion with coaches; this is to require all non members to enter into an annual coaching membership after 4 or 6 coaching sessions. The second was agreed by the committee: to provide new tennis and squash categories for those aged 18-25 with a discount of 40%, subject to proof of age. The third was agreed by the committee to provide a new membership category for university students of £70 annually for those living a minimum of 20 miles away and at university, subject to proof. The fourth was agreed by the committee to agree that the weekend memberships also include Fridays.

Action: NM to update mycourts as necessary and coaching etc to be agreed

Matters Arising From Previous Meeting:

CCTV – SS reported that approaches were made to 3 companies to provide a quote against a specification. Only one company returned a quote, which was accepted by the committee given the need to have the system installed quickly, and that members of the committee had already met with the company’s manager. An instruction was given to the company – Hudson Security and they are due to start on the 4th November with completion by the end of that week.

Land sale – BC confirmed that he and NM had met with our solicitor for advice on the option agreement itself. Subsequently, BC, NM and SS met with the developer to discuss his latest offer at that time. Following discussion, he agreed to see what he could do to increase his offer but provided a detailed position of why he was no longer able to offer the amount originally offered. He also suggested that the club speak to the land agent who had brokered the original deal.

BC, NM and SS met with the land agent to discuss this, and he agreed to seek what he could do to increase the developer’s offer. The developer has now reported that he has found a joint venture company that can provide finance with a reduced cost, and therefore has come back to the club with a slightly improved offer.

The committee discussed this offer, and it was agreed that it was unlikely that the developer would be able to offer any more. Furthermore, the Valuation Survey commissioned by the club to review build costs and house sales on the site suggest that the final offer represents good value at this time. As a result, the committee propose arranging a meeting for all members to attend on the 21st November at 7.30. The committee will explain why the original offer has changed, why it has taken so long, and then ask members to decide on either accepting the lower offer or sticking with the original figure, outlining the pros and cons of each option.

BC, NM and SS to arrange meeting and issue notice of meeting.

Finance:

MM reported that a draft full set of accounts for 2023-24 should be available by the end of November, with the signed off accounts being available in February.

MM proposed that a finance sub committee be set up. One of the first tasks would be to look at current subscriptions and prices at the bar against the profit and loss account to provide a proposal for increases or decreases from next April.

Action: MM to recruit and set up sub committee.

Management/Club Matters:

Discussion was held regarding coaching in all sections of the club. BC reported that no further progress had been made in squash coaching due to club license and land sale and so he was going to arrange a meeting directly with both coaches and invite the squash chair to attend.

Action : BC to arrange meeting

BC met with the tennis coaches) on 7/10 to discuss and view pickleball lines. They reported that players had slipped on the newly painted yellow lines, but can't remember whether it was all courts or not. BC called Riggotts who painted the lines and spoke to the manager. The problem was outlined and he could not explain why the lines were slippery. He did confirm that the paint was used generally including acrylic courts and that the paint should not be slippery. He asked for pictures to be sent and these were sent 10/10. Phoned again 14/10 and he hasn’t had time to check yet but did say he was sure they could resolve the issue.

Action: Riggotts

As an interim measure, signs to be put up on courts 5 and 6 warning all players that the courts become slippery in wet conditions. Action: NM to compile notice.

Tennis:

NM reported that moss killing would start on courts 5 and 6 this week, and that Declan has got written approval from the relevant neighbour to trim the trees behind the courts. Work to be carried out in November.

NM and AR to discuss with Harvey the Wednesday sessions held by Harvey for players who have done coaching but are not strong enough for club sessions. At the moment it is unclear how many are non members, but the club is not getting any benefit of these sessions.

Squash:

NM reported that the men's and ladies first teams had been pulled from the leagues as there were not enough members to fill those teams. BC reported that one of the squash coaches had reported that the courts were not being cleaned sufficiently.

Action: BC to ask bar manager to investigate with cleaners.

Badminto n:

Nothing to report.

Gym:

Discussion was held over progress of relations with the personal trainer in the gym. It was recognised by all committee members that no progress had been made in resolving the disagreement in pricing between the club and the trainer, and that the relationship with the trainer remained extremely poor, with no prospect of improving. It was then agreed that the club should end its relationship with the trainer as soon as practicable. Although the trainer had in an earlier email confirmed that no contract existed between her and the club, it was felt that the club should act reasonably and provide the trainer of one month’s notice of ending this relationship.

Action: SS to send letter to trainer.

Pickleball:

SS reported that players attending the pickleball sessions were all tennis members, and that other sections need to be aware that their members could attend. Action: SS to compile mailshot for all sections.

Health & Safety :

Nothing to report.

Marketing:

Stefan requested access to membership listings, to help sending out marketing emails etc. NM has provided him with anonymised details. Discussion was held over who have access to details, and it was agreed that access would be limited to authorised members only. People deemed to be authorised to be agreed by the committee at a subsequent meeting.

DONM: TBA

Signed: Brian Croad

Chairman

15/12/2024