Thank you to all of you who attended the AGM earlier in the month – it’s an important part of our existence as a club and it was great to see you there. If you didn’t make it…you missed out on the wine and extensive nibbles (thank you Steve and Zoe!). Maybe next year?
Emma Pattison
Club Chair
Raising Money for Men’s Mental Health
Many of you will know that the full-time coaching team at matchpointtennis are raising awareness for men's mental health this November. It’s a cause close to their hearts and the team have committed to each running 60-100k in November as well as attempting to grow a moustache. They’re in the final week, with kilometres counting down and moustaches taking shape .
THERE IS STILL TIME TO SUPPORT THEM AND MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH by clicking the link below.
MAKE A MOVEMBER DONATION
Many, many thanks….
AGM – Fran Collins Cup
Each year, and in the shape of the Fran Collins Cup, we recognise someone who has made an important contribution to the Club.
This year, we are delighted to award the Cup to David Howells who has been our Club Secretary for many years. David is a quiet man who goes about his business in an unassuming way - so many of you may not realise the great work he does behind the scenes to keep the Club running properly. He’s incredibly diligent with a real eye for detail, he’s very responsive, and he’s very thoughtful in the way he improves the Club. Above all, David is the very first to step forward and give praise and recognise the contributions of others. He would say he is the least deserving person to get this award…but we disagree!
Congratulations David – we have been so lucky to have you on the Committee for so long.
AGM – A Special Shout Out
During our AGM, a special shout out was given during the update by Karen Payne (our Junior Rep):
‘Efa is one of our youngest team members who plays in the 8u team which involves each team member playing all of the opposition players in a round robin format. Efa was the only player available for one match, and rather than giving the other team a walkover she bravely turned up on her own to take them all on single handed and won some valuable points for the team!’
Well done Efa – you are a STAR!
AGM – Report from the Chair
An interesting year for me, in my first as Chair of our Club, and I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me to understand what goes on and how things work. I am hugely impressed by the hard work of our committee, and by the passion and energy of our coaching team. As I start to build my network within other tennis clubs, I’ve understood pretty quickly that, on both counts, many clubs do not have it anywhere near as good – we should all be very grateful!
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Our coaching programme remains one of the strongest in the Avon region and we are fortunate to have a large and enthusiastic coaching team who provide a positive experience for all. The coaches are strong advocates of the club and their impact reaches far outside their paid coaching programme. A big thankyou to Ben Tilling and the team for their continued great work.
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Outside of coaching, over 20% of court time gets used for club play and 13% for junior and adult members to participate in local tennis leagues at different ages and levels. Our Captains and Junior Rep do a wonderful job in organising the matches and teams, often not an easy task! A big thank you to Zoe Fearnley, Pippa Barry, Stuart Beaver and Karen Payne for their relentless hard work – as well as the team captains who help organise the junior and the men’s leagues.
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From a welfare perspective we have thankfully had a quiet year with no reported incidents. The inner workings of the club are largely invisible, but a lot of effort goes into making sure we are set up in a way that protects everyone who enjoys their tennis with us. This year, we’ve passed an LTA Safeguarding audit, we’ve updated many of our policies and we’re in the midst of the latest LTA registration process. Kudos to Diane Zimmer and David Howells who are extremely diligent and very proficient at making all that happen.
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Club membership numbers remain stable and I want to recognise the dedication of John Lurie and Paul Jackson, as well as the coaching team, in managing our membership cycle from the welcoming of new members through to the collection of annual fees.
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Thanks to their efforts and the work of Steve Stephens over many years, the strength of our club finances have allowed us to ride the wave of the cost inflation challenges over this and the previous financial year. Electricity is by far our biggest cost, and the installation of new energy saving, carbon saving, LED floodlights this year is good for our tennis facilities and for the environment, but also helps us mitigate the risk of further energy cost increases.
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A big thank you to the sub-committee of John Lurie, Steve Stephens but particularly John Tate for their work on the Floodlights project and, most notably, for the securing of three external grants which fully funded the lights. This was a fantastic outcome which gives us the additional flexibility to choose when and how to invest further in the club over the next few years.
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We are immensely grateful to the organisations that gave us grants – a big thank you to the Bristol Airport Environmental Improvement Fund, the National Grid Community Grant Programme and to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda).
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As I look forward to next year and beyond, and in order to keep evolving positively, we need more of our members to be actively engaged in the development of the Club. A newsletter has been introduced to help share what’s going on, and a recent survey asked you to share what is important to you. The survey was completed by 97 people (thank you!) and key themes will be shared back with members over the next few months. There’s some great ideas in there but we’ll need more of you to help deliver the changes you want to see… please get involved!
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And finally, I want to celebrate again the award of Unsung Hero by Avon LTA to John Tate. I also want to recognise the Committee members who have served the club brilliantly over the years and who have decided to step down at this AGM – to David Howells, Stuart Beaver, Diane Zimmer and Karen Payne – a massive THANK YOU!