Our Constitution

AGM: Monday 17th January 2022, 8PM – 9.05PM, Zoom meeting

Committee Attendees: Mike Pitt, Karen Taylor, Debbie Jordan, Daniel Bruce, Nigel Kirkland, Paul Newman

Member Attendees: Nick Walters

Apologies: Gary Hales, Richard Pickard

Agenda:

1. Chairman’s review

2. Membership

3. Treasurer’s Report

4. Club Activities

5. Election of Officers

6. AOB

1.Chairman’s Review

Reviewed minutes from 2020 AGM.

Another disrupted year starting in Lockdown, and with 2020 having been so badly affected, the committee took the decision to charge only 25% of normal fees for those renewing memberships, and since reopening we have continued to offer courts with no lights fees to encourage people back to playing.  Clearly this has had an impact on our finances, and is unsustainable, so needed resolving, hence the survey sent to all members offering 3 choices: turn coin meters back on again; switch to contactless payment per court; switch to all inclusive fees.  The result of the survey was conclusive – 60 people had voted (as at 9th January 2022), which represents nearly half of all our members, a great turnout.  Of the 60 members, 43 (72%) said they would be happy with all-inclusive fees vs 19 (32%) for contactless and 6 (10%) for the coin based system.  Many thanks to Nigel Kirkland for investigating contactless payment options and liaising with providers to find something suitable that we could have implemented if needed – it is a long and complex task which needed doing in order to have a viable alternative option.

As a committee we want what is best for the club and our members, while still being manageable to administer for the volunteer committee members – hence we will be implementing the all inclusive approach for all new members and membership renewals starting from 1st February 2022.  The new fees will therefore be £135 for individual members, £185 for family members, £100 for day members and £80 for student members.  We believe this is still great value for money compared to other venues that have much higher overall fees.

The finances have taken a bit of a hit in the last year due to our approach of offering very low membership renewal fees and not charging for lights yet, but this was expected and planned for and we remain in a fairly healthy position financially, albeit we have used up some of our reserves that we normally keep in readiness for major projects such as floors, walls etc.

Membership is also looking good, and we are welcoming new players, returning players, and parents of juniors in the coaching groups who have been inspired to pick up their old racquets – and all are welcome!

The leagues are growing again and matches being played, which is definitely good to see.  The team has also been playing in the Berkshire Winter league, and doing well.

Noted and thanked Gary who has done an outstanding job for the club as our Covid 19 officer, in addition to his continuing work on Junior and Senior coaching as well as organising the squash leagues and generally supporting the club in everything we do.

Thanks to Nick Walters who stepped down from the Committee as our Social Secretary mid year.  Nick brought many great ideas to the role, including curry nights, restarting our post club night drinks, post tournament event, anniversary dinner, a raffle, and a family day – a combination of Covid and general lack of interest from members meant many of these things didn’t happen, but Nick’s approach was awesome.  Of course, his crowning glory was organising the 24 hour squashathon just before Covid Lockdown 1 came along, in March 2020 – it was an amazing event, supported by so many people, with lots of PR and of course it also raised £3,000 for Sport Relief – an amazing achievement that I will never forget – many thanks again Nick.

2.  Membership

Debbie Jordan reported we have 126 members – 55 individual, 28 family groups (counted as 56), 2 day members, 3 student members, 4 life members and 6 committee members.  More parents of children in junior coaching joining.  GoCardless working well mostly, and rolling membership working well – extra work during the year for Debbie, but less concentrated in February.

3. Treasurer’s Report

Karen Taylor reported that we made a loss in 2021 due to lower fees and no lights fees, and paying for some Covid material.  We are expecting the increase in membership fees to bring revenues back to where they were and therefore we should be getting back to level this year. 

We also replaced the old fluorescent tubes with LED lighting over the Christmas holidays – using only about 10% as much energy, and hopefully lasting a lot longer between replacements.

We will continue to invest in the club facilities to make sure the courts are in good condition for playing.      

4. Club activities

The leagues have kicked back into action again, and we now have 5 leagues again, after a slightly slow start after Covid, good to see people playing again!

Junior coaching has c. 40 regular attendees, going well, and Gary has extended some coaching slots to allow for demand.

The squash team has had a pretty successful Winter season so far, and is lying in 3rd position in the league just after the half way stage.  Whilst there is a strong core of regular players -many thanks to Mike Dyer – played all 7 matches in no. 1 spot, taking one for the team, Daniel Bruce played 6 out of 7, and Roger Copeman, Richard Kibble and Mike Pitt who have all played 5 out of 7 – an important thanks should also go to those in the squad who put their names forward and contribute to the team – Dan Eaton has played twice, and Kevin Ashley, Phil Mikolajewski, Tony Hart and Mike Jobson have all played as well – 10 players in total used already in this season!

Also a big thanks to Paul Newman and Jenny at Hartletts Café – Paul both organises the food with Jenny and supports the home matches, and Jenny does amazing food for us!

A written report was submitted by Gary and replicated in full below:

Internal Squash Leagues

I continue to organise the internal squash leagues in hopefully a fair manner! A few months ago, more matches than possibly usual were not being played and so I sent a polite email reminder to all participants regarding what was expected of all league players! The result was that for the last two league periods the number of matches completed has increased considerably, so only a handful of matches are now not being played. The numbers entering the leagues has increased gradually over the last 6 months. In July 2021, when the leagues restarted after lockdown, there were just 20 players in the league. Each month usually 1 or 2 players join and some players leave the leagues (due to e.g., injury or lack of time) and so numbers in the league can remain static but they did increase gradually over the following months. However, this month saw 7 players enter the league so starting January 2022 there are 28 players in the leagues (5 leagues of 5 or 6 players).

For comparison: In January 2019 there were 29 players in the leagues and so it looks as though we are getting back to a level similar to pre-pandemic.

The overall standard of players playing in the leagues seems to have increased: Previously, I felt that there were large differences between playing standards in leagues 1, 2, 3 etc. and if you were promoted or relegated to a different league the difference in standard could be very pronounced and so players then had either very easy or very hard matches. However, now if you change leagues the chances are you will play players of a more similar standard.

I try to run the leagues fairly and welcome any suggestions for making them run better or encourage more participants.

Hopefully, more members will join the leagues over the coming months as the leagues are there for all standards of player.

Junior Squash Training Sessions

The number of juniors attending my “before- school” and “after-school” group coaching sessions is at about the same level as pre-pandemic. Total number of juniors = 51

“Before-School” sessions

The Tuesday (7.45am to 8.30am) session has 6 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

The Wednesday (7.45am to 8.30am) session has 8 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

“After-school” sessions

The Monday (4.30pm to 5.30pm) session has 10 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

The Monday (5.30pm to 6.30pm) session has 2 juniors attend. Just 1 court used.

The Friday (3.30pm to 4.30pm) session has 9 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

The Friday (4.30pm to 5.30pm) session has 8 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

The Friday (5.30pm to 6.30pm) session has 5 juniors attend. Courts 1 & 2.

The Friday (6.30pm to 7.30pm) session has 3 juniors attend. 1 court used

The sessions are open to members and non-members. I offer juniors, who are part of a Hook CSC Family Membership, a discount on the cost of the sessions. Over the years this has encouraged some families to join.

I am grateful to the Hook CSC for allowing me to use the courts for free for these junior sessions and allowing me the use of some peak time courts. If I only need to use 1 court, then I ensure that the other court is made available, and I try to run the majority of my sessions at off-peak times.

Adult Squash Training Sessions

I have not restarted any of the adult group squash training sessions yet. Pre-pandemic I organised a weekly session on Tuesday mornings. Within the next 2/3 months I hope to start some sessions on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning and also possibly a Tuesday or Wednesday evening session. These sessions will be open to members and non-members and if I run a session in the evening, I would seek permission from the Hook CSC Committee regarding the acceptability of running these sessions, as it would involve using a peak time court. I will also look to canvas the members of their interest in attending any such adult group coaching sessions.

Individual Squash & Racketball Coaching & Racket Restringing

I would like to thank the club for allowing me to advertise and provide Individual Squash/Racketball lessons for the members (as well as my group coaching sessions) and the restringing of rackets. The majority of my lessons are at off-peak times with just the occasional lesson at a peak time.

Covid 19 Officer

As the club’s Covid 19 Officer I would like to thank the Hook CSC Committee for all they have done in getting the club back up and running after each of the various lockdown periods. They have followed the England Squash advice in incorporating virtually all their recommendations e.g., purchasing of hand sanitisers, disinfectant sprays, liaising with the Community Centre staff, communicating excellently with all club members, providing free courts, etc. Also, thank you to all the members for adhering to the various Covid 19 protocols which have continually changed throughout this period. Due to the Committee and the members working together the club is in a stronger position than it would have been otherwise. Please continue to follow the current club protocol e.g., use the hand sanitiser before and after playing and wipe down any touch points after playing, etc.

5. Election of Officers

The core committee roles of chairman, membership secretary and treasurer are required as a minimum.  All of the current members are happy to continue in their role

Officers post-meeting:

Chairman                               Mike Pitt

Treasurer                               Karen Taylor

Membership                           Debbie Jordan

PR                                         Paul Newman

Committee Member                Nigel Kirkland

Committee Member                Daniel Bruce

6. AOB

Nick Walters thanked the committee for navigating the club through Covid over the last 2 years.