HALESWORTH TENNIS CLUB

TRUSTEE MEETING MINUTES

Monday, 2nd June 2025, 6.30pm

Maureen’s Community Space at the Co-op

Those invited to this meeting included current committee members, those members who had said they would be prepared to serve on the 2025/26 committee and any other member who was still thinking about serving but wanted to attend a committee meeting to observe what goes on.

Present

Simon Thackray, Charlotte Binder, Mick Binder, Lyn Burnett, Tessa Summers, Mike Davis, Ben Sharratt, Richard More, Ewen Bell

1. Apologies for absence

Barry Johnson, Christopher Jenkins, Sue Foster

2. Declaration of conflicts of interest

None.

3. Approval of minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2025

Approved.

4. Matters arising from the minutes not otherwise covered in the agenda

Action point No. 2 - Simon has thanked Lois Hunt for the opportunity given to host our charity day at Halesworth Golf. We have been asked to provide volunteers for their summer fair. Once Simon receives further details, he will circulate them. ACTION 1

Action point No. 11 Valerie Carroll did volunteer to play in the league but unfortunately is unavailable for the dates when required.

5. Report from the Chair

a) Courts

Simon spoke about the courts and the snagging meeting attended by Nathan (Premier Sports Surfaces) Simon, Lyn and Steve. Tessa is still concerned about the ‘holes’ on the courts in terms of more developing in the future and the possibility of water/frost damage. Nathan had already addressed this in his explanation, writing “…if one piece of tarmac stone is missing, it will have no effect on water/ice or frost damage.” Simon had told Nathan that the committee was due to meet, and he will now get back in touch with Nathan about this concern and see what he suggests. (ACTIONED) Richard wondered if Premier Sports could extend the warranty as a guarantee.

b) Pickleball

Simon spoke about pickleball, and the interest shown on open day. The way it is offered and organised at the club has yet to be thought through. Lyn read through the open day attendees who expressed their interest which included both current members and potential new members. Richard wondered if the club should offer a lower rate for pickleball members due to more limited play (wind etc.). Charlotte will talk to Caroline Rodbourne, who is a regular pickleball player at an indoor facility, to see what her thoughts are. ACTION 2 Lyn indicated that whatever the outcome, the website needs to be set up correctly, especially if the intention is to have ‘pickleball only’ members.

c) The new committee

Simon outlined considerations for the new committee such as the Club Session, integration between the different playing groups, internal competitions, tennis ball supplies (should be ordered through Suffolk LTA), hosting a second Barclays Big Tennis Weekend, the LTA loan repayment (£1200 per year over 10 years), the amount of future capital reserve we should be building up etc. Simon then referred to his attendance of a ‘cluster group’ organised by Suffolk LTA at which were the Chair, the secretary and the treasurer of Suffolk LTA. Simon spoke particularly on the situation with both Bungay and Lowestoft (both having lost a significant number of members) and generally on the prevailing climate regarding tennis clubs. Every club is ‘top heavy’ with not enough juniors, particularly teenagers, and not enough in the 20-50 age range. Josh Dashwood (Delivery Manager – Central & East – at LTA) had himself said that the 20-40 age group is suffering.

6. Membership – renewals, non-renewals, new members, etc

Lyn went through the figures as they stand currently. These are as follows:

Membership packages - Junior x 3, Adult x 30, Couple x 9 (18 members)

Rejoined - 40

New - 11

Open Day – 7

Total members = 51

Age Range – 70+ x 15, 60+ x 18, 50+ x 5, 40+ x 4, 30+ x 5, 20+ x 1, 13yrs x 2, 10yrs x 1,

Individual packages gross income – Juniors £120, Couple £1,280, Open Day Couple £144, Adult £2,500, Open Day Adult £450

Total Gross income = £4,494

Lyn then indicated any reasons given for non-renewal (e.g. a move out of Suffolk, injury) and went through members who have not renewed and given no reason. It was agreed that, in terms of membership income, we are not where we would wish to be but, it is relatively early days and, as Ewen reminded us, our Pay & Play scheme could generate a useful amount towards the shortfall. Lyn will now remove from the HTC Members WhatsOn group any non-member with a short note of explanation etc. ACTIONED As the new title indicates, this group chat is for members only. As Lyn explained, Gary has his own WhatsApp groups for Juniors, Tennis Xpress and Cardio where both members and non-members receive the relevant information, and our HTC Website contains all the information needed by members and non-members alike.

7. Finance – the Treasurer’s report

Mike gave the current figures which are as follows:

Current Account: £5,110.22

Savings Account: £5,788.33

Ahead of the new committee being formed, Simon will meet with Mike to finalise the accounts. ACTIONED

8. Safeguarding, risk management; report from the Secretary

Lyn indicated that all safeguarding policies are up to date and available to view on the website and all necessary documentation/courses for her role as Welfare Officer are current.

9. HCSL – report from Mick as our representative

Mick explained what Halesworth Community Sport & Leisure (HCSL) is and indicated that its aim essentially is to provide more sport for the town. He also explained that HCSL supports several affiliated clubs, including Halesworth Angel Bowls Club, Halesworth Town Football Club, Halesworth Tennis Club and Halesworth Martial Arts. These 4 clubs utilize the Dairy Hill Sports Complex. There are many on-going challenges, and Mick will continue to represent the Tennis Club on HCSL. Simon spoke generally about the ground rent etc. and indicated that the football club has been promoted to the Thurlow Nunn Football League for the 2025/26 season. This will inevitably bring about changes.

10. The team(s) – report from Tessa as team captain

Tessa shared the results so far and spoke about the on-going difficulty in finding female players apart from herself and Lyn. It was good that Valerie Carroll expressed an interest and willingness to play league matches but, unfortunately, the dates proved difficult (see item 4). Matches so far have been enjoyable and played in a good spirit.

11. The courts, floodlights & facilities

Discussed (see item 5) and ongoing considerations (e.g. a renovated/new club hut) will now be in the hands of the new committee.

12. Future capital projects

For the new committee.

13. Club matters – social, competitions, club night, etc.

For the new committee.

14. Website, WhatsApp & social media

For the new committee.

15. Committee members for 2025-26

The current committee members each gave their reasons for wishing to either step down or play a different/smaller role. It has been an incredibly busy year for all concerned but also a very successful one in terms of what has been achieved for the club. As a result of the discussion Simon, Mick, Charlotte and Ben have stepped down and will no longer serve on the committee. Lyn agreed to stay on as secretary for an unspecified period but will step down once a replacement is found. She will remain in role as Welfare Officer. Mike will support the new Treasurer during this transition period and Tessa will remain in role as Team Captain (she is also Division 3 secretary for the League).  Ewen Bell has agreed to be our new Chair and both Richard More and Barry Johnson will come onto the committee as Treasurers. Once again, the committee will consist of players from one group (‘experienced’) and this is not an ideal representation of the club. Ewen is aware of this and will look to encourage other members. ACTION 3

16. AOB

a) Once things settle down, new committee members need to be given administration rights on the relevant parts of the website and the different WhatsApp groups. Those committee members no longer standing will need to be removed as administrators. Lyn will look to get this sorted. ACTION 4

b) Thanks were given to those committee members stepping down for all their contributions to Halesworth Tennis Club.

17. Date of next meeting

Tbc

Meeting ended at 8.40pm