AGM Committee Report

7th November 2024


This report provides a summary of the committee’s objectives and key activities since our last AGM, together with an overview of future plans for the year ahead.

Members are encouraged to vote on important motions and provide feedback to the committee via the online AGM survey that will run from Thursday 7th November until 8pm on the 28th November.  Alternatively, members can provide their feedback at an AGM members meeting that will be held at 7.30pm on the 28th November in the cricket club (please arrive from 7pm so we can start on time). 

Objectives and Goals

Our work as a committee is guided by the objectives and goals shown below.  These were originally agreed in July 2022 and are linked to the aims and objectives set out in the Club’s constitution.

“To advance the game of tennis in Wargrave and the surrounding area; by encouraging and supporting more players, of all ages and abilities, to play better competitive or social tennis; in an environment that is fun, safe and inclusive.”  Along with these objectives, we have three main goals:

1) Grow membership to 400+ over the next 2-3 years (Adults to 250+ / Juniors to 150+) in line with potential of our facilities and catchment area.

2) Keep our membership happy, with satisfaction levels at +80% measured via the AGM annual survey.

3) Manage Club finances over a 30+ year cycle to ensure we have adequate funds to maintain and improve our facilities, while holding reserves to always match 1 year of routine expenditure.

Club Video + AGM Survey 

Please read the other sections of this report (using the tabs below or above), and do watch the latest Club Overview Video at the bottom the page (which includes some great footage of the Club that was taken this year).  And don’t forget to provide your feedback and submit your votes via the online AGM survey.

Michael Simpson
Chair at Wargrave Tennis Club
7th November 2024

Committee Team

If approved by the members at the AGM, the following list of volunteers have agreed to serve the Club for the next 12 months. Huge thanks for the service of Sue Gutierrez, Richard Knight, and Greg Bello who are standing down this year. 

Members can vote for their approval of these nominations (or otherwise) in the online AGM survey that runs from the 7th November to 8pm on the 28th November 2024

Please note that we have a vacancy for Social Secretary, a volunteer who is needed to help plan, promote and run 4-5 fun social tournaments every year, together with 1-2 social events e.g. quiz nights, xmas social etc.

 

PositionNomination
ChairMichael Simpson
TreasurerRichard Vertigan
SecretaryClare Belton
MembershipWendy Franklin
Match SecretaryPaul McDonald
Ladies Team CaptainLiz Tripp
Joint Men’s Team CaptainKieran Martin-Davis
Joint Men’s Team CaptainGary Westwood
Juniors Co-OrdinatorKatie Hodgkins
Club Tournaments + Box LeaguesTom Lewis
Social SecretaryVacancy
Club Maintenance – ClubhouseRachel Hurlock
Club Maintenance – Courts and GroundsDale Williams
Welfare and SafeguardingSarah Thompson

Membership and Marketing

Over the past 12 months, our membership numbers have continued to grow and now stand at 347.  This is our largest total membership in over 14 years, with our highest level of adult members (209).  Junior numbers (138) are equally strong and have grown by nearly 10%.  In addition, membership satisfaction levels are very positive, with over 90% of members saying they are “happy to be members of the Club” in the past two AGM surveys.

Having a growing membership not only provides the numbers for our teams and social sessions, it provides the important income that allows us to make ongoing improvements to our courts and facilities.  I would like to thank the work of Wendy Franklin, our Membership Secretary, for her excellent work in managing all our new membership enquiries; and also to Paul McDonald for his ongoing help to manage the annual renewals process.

Membership Numbers

YearAdult MembersJunior MembersTotal
31/10MWAllBsGsAllMembers
2011807315312951180333
2012847716110856164325
201396731699052142311
2014100731739348141314
2015106721787666141320
201696781748173154328
201799831828082162344
201889751647469143307
201993791726262124296
20209480174504393267
2021104871916155116307
2022112892018058138339
2023117821996761128327
2024130792097959138347

Tennis Club Membership Numbers 5th November

Membership Welfare

Creating a Club environment that is fun, safe and inclusive is fundamental to both retaining current members and attracting new members.  To this end, I want to thank the work of Sarah Thompson, our Welfare Officer, for helping the committee to update Club rules and policies that are in line with our constitution and guidance from the Lawn Tennis Association.  The updated Club rules and policies can be found on the Club website under membership documents.  It is assumed that members are happy to follow these rules when they join the Club or renew their membership subscriptions.

Marketing Activity

To support our goals of growing membership, we have recently upgraded the Club’s website at wargravetennis.com. The new site enhances the way we can communicate news to our existing members, and to promote the Club to potential new members.  There is also a really nice Club History page and a virtual honours board with all the names of past Club tournament winners.  Many thanks to Richard Vertigan and his daughter Eleanor, who did all the work for the Club free of charge.

In addition to the new website, we have significantly increased our activity on social media via our Club Facebook and our Club Instagram accounts.   This is combined with regular monthly stories in the Wargrave village magazine and in local newspapers. We also ran another successful Club Open Day last June, which attracted over 80 visitors and added five new members.

Despite all these efforts, we continue to believe that the best way to attract new members is via referrals and recommendations from our current membership….so please keep spreading the word!

Facilities and Membership Fees

Our aim as a committee is to keep investing in the Club, to improve and maintain the best facilities we can afford, whilst keeping fees competitive for the courts and facilities that we offer.  

Guided by the results of membership surveys and EGM voting, we have made significant capital improvements to the Club over the past three years.  This has included the introduction of advanced LED floodlighting in 2022 on all eight courts, and the introduction of two artificial all-weather clay courts last May.  Over the same period, we have also spent significant sums to maintain all our other courts and facilities e.g. hardcourt deep cleaning, repairs to the clubhouse, sewage system etc.

For the next 12 months, we are looking at exciting plans to make further improvements to the Club while seeking to ensure that membership fees only rise in line with the rate of inflation.

Membership Fees 2025/26

For the coming membership season (April 2025 to March 2026), we are proposing that membership fees increase in line with inflation which is currently tracking at between 2% and 3% (depending on timing and the inflation figure that you use).  For example, this would take the fees for new adult members from £255 to around £262 per year, and returning members would get a 10% discount if they renewed in March and before the 1st April 2025.  With the 10% discount, this equates to around £4.50 per a week, which we believe is great value in comparison to other tennis clubs with a similar number of courts.  It is also assumed by the committee that no additional fee increases would be required for any future capital investment plans that we are considering for 2025.

Routine Maintenance

For the coming 12 months we have earmarked a budget of £10,000 to replace picnic tables and introduce benches to the courts; together with improvements to Club security (and child safety) with potential plans for a new gated entrance to the Club.  In addition, we have increased our routine maintenance budget to around £5,000 per year to deal with “minor issues” that arise from time to time, and that I am sure will be dealt with by our excellent new maintenance team, Rachel Hurlock (clubhouse) and Dale Williams (courts and grounds). 

Capital Investment Plans

With strong membership numbers and healthy reserves, the committee are continuing to look at how to improve the Club facilities from 2025 onwards. To this end, and subject to further membership feedback via the AGM (and approval via an EGM), we have agreed to look at two further potential investments for 2025.

First, to extend the artificial clay surface to a further two courts to meet the demands of busy club sessions and for when we play league matches (especially in the cold and wet weather).

Second, given the rapid rise in popularity of PADEL, to explore the possibility of introducing a single PADEL court to Wargrave for a trial period of two years, but in a way that offers the facility to our members at a significant reduction to charges being made by commercial PADEL centres e.g. an hourly hire charge of £10-£20 versus £40-£60.

Both options are feasible for 2025 with the initial economics and funding confirmed.  However, we will wait to hear what members say in the current AGM survey and then potentially bring more detailed proposals for EGM voting in January or February.

 

Adult Competitive Tennis

We aim to provide a positive environment that promotes competitive play via league team tennis, box leagues and our annual Club Tournaments; and a huge thanks to everyone involved in supporting this activity at the Club.  This includes our Head Coach (Ollie Brown), our Team Captains (Sue Gutierrez, Liz Tripp, Kieran Martin-Davis and Gary Westwood), our hard working Match Secretary (Paul McDonald), our Tournament Organiser (Tom Lewis), all our individual match captains, and everyone who has played for a team, in a box league or in the Club Tournament.

League Tennis

Since the last AGM, we have entered at least 4 teams in all of the Berkshire Leagues, with over 70 adult members playing for our teams. We have also had some excellent results for a Club with a relatively small membership. Our men’s 1st team won both their winter and summer leagues, gaining promotion to winter league division 1 and summer league division 2 respectively. The 1st mixed doubles team finished mid-table in both winter league division 1 and summer league division 1. The ladies 1st team finished a respectable mid-table in the winter league division 2, but were sadly relegated from summer division 2. Congratulations to all the players and to our all our team captains for this great effort. For a full list of results for all teams, see the league results via our website.

Club Tournament

We held another successful Club Finals Day in September with some outstanding tennis enjoyed by over 70 competitors and spectators. This included a successful social tournament that was run in the morning, followed by some close and highly competitive finals in the afternoon. Congratulations to all the finalists and huge thanks to Tom Lewis, our Tournament organiser and all the team who prepared a picnic lunch for the competitors and supporters. Click on the following link to see a full report from the finals day. We have also created a virtual honours board that captures the names of all the past tournament winners (there are still a few gaps for past winners – please let us know if you are able to fill the blanks!).

Box League

The Club Box League continues to grow and is an important part of the competitive tennis that we encourage at Wargrave. It is also a reason that many new members mention as a reason for joining the Club. We are currently running 6 leagues with over 30 players, and click on the following to see all the latest results on our our website. If you want to join the league for the next round, please contact Tom Lewis via the committee page on the Club website.

Adult Social Tennis

Social tennis is a very important part of the Club, with just under 50% of adult members describing themselves as “mainly social players” in our last AGM survey. As a committee, we our determined to ensure that we offer these players, of all ages and abilities, a really good range of social tennis opportunities.

Social Sessions

As a Club we currently offer 5 weekly social tennis Club sessions that are promoted on our website.  Attendance clearly varies from week to week, but based on feedback from our last AGM survey, 96% of our social players said that they enjoyed being a member of the Club.  Going forward, we will continue to look at how we can grow and energise these sessions e.g. occasional mid-week social tournaments; promotion via the Club website; encourage the use of WhatsApp for individual sessions.

Pickleball

We have formally introduced pickleball to Wargrave this year, following a successful pickleball tournament at our Club Open Day in June, and an equally successful social tournament in July.  The rules are simple and the game is easy for beginners, but it can develop into a fast-paced, competitive game for more advanced players.

In September we started to offer Pickleball Only Memberships with two weekly Pickleball sessions on Monday evenings at 7pm and Thursday mornings at 10.30am.  Despite the weather, these are proving to be popular and are starting to attract new members.

We are hoping that numbers will continue to grow when the new season starts.  And many thanks to Roger Whiteside, a new member to the Club and our first Pickleball Co-ordinator.  For more details, see a recent pickleball story on our website.

Social Tournaments and Events

In the last 12 months we have organised four social tournaments including Bobble Hat Tennis in December, our mid-week social tournament in May, the pickleball evening in July and the fun social tournament on Finals Day in September.  Numbers for these events range from around 16-20. 

In addition, a huge thanks to Wendy Franklin for organising our Christmas Social last year, and for organising our forthcoming social event on Friday 29th November.

Please use the AGM survey to indicate if you would like to have more social events at the Club, although please note that we currently have a vacancy on the committee for someone who is willing to plan, promote and run this activity.

Padel Tennis

As a committee we see Padel as a positive way of increasing our offer to both social and more competitive players, and a great way of growing membership.  The game is incredibly popular across Europe, and equally so with a large number of our members (as well as a large number of people who live in Wargrave and who are not members of the Club). 

We are currently talking to two suppliers with potential plans to install a single Padel court at Wargrave from next April.  Funding has already been identified and we would look to charge members around £10-£20 an hour to use the court, significantly less that the £40-£60+ an hour that many of our members are paying with commercial padel operators.    

Tell us what you think in the AGM survey and if the feedback is positive, we will consider bringing more detailed proposals for an EGM vote in January or February.

Junior Tennis Program

Over the past year, our junior membership has grown by nearly 10% across all age groups, with record numbers attending our Friday afternoon junior club sessions. Some of our experienced juniors, aged 14 and above, are also enjoying attending our club tennis evenings. This positive progress is thanks to the dedication of Katie Hodgkins, our Juniors Coordinator, with support from Clare Belton, our Club Secretary, and Head Coach Ollie Brown and together, we continue to review, grow and develop our junior members.

Friday Kids Nights

Our Friday night sessions have become incredibly popular, with over 70 participants during the summer months. These sessions are designed to encourage players of all abilities to pick up a racket and have fun. At times, they have become too popular, but that’s a great problem to have and we hope this gives our junior members a taster for developing their skills further through coaching and potentially building the skills to partake in some friendly matches.

Junior Teams

We entered four junior teams in the Berkshire Summer League and currently have three teams in the Winter League, with our first matches on November 10th. We’ve had some good results to date and we are looking to improve the quality of competitive play by trialling a weekly junior team practice session on Monday evenings. We also encourage our more experienced juniors to join adult social sessions or practice with the adult teams on Wednesday evenings.

Junior Coaching

Our junior coaching numbers have steadily increased over the past year, with much better attendance during holiday camps. Our focus for the next year is on growing the red ball age group to ensure a pipeline of older juniors and future adult players. Ollie has also significantly increased the number of private lessons he offers to junior members.  

Please give us your feedback on junior tennis at Wargrave in our annual AGM members survey.  Parents of juniors are eligible to vote.

Club Coaching

Following the departure of Pete Bresnen last January, Ollie Brown has been running the coaching at Wargrave as our single Head Coach.  He has been working closely with the committee to help us energise and grow our membership by providing coaching for all ages and abilities.  He has also taken a leading role in support for our team tennis, inspiring us to achieve some great results for our mens and mixed doubles teams.   

New Coaching Agreement

We updated our coaching agreement in April. This provides Ollie with exclusive rights to run adult and junior coaching at Wargrave for a period of 3 years, with support from assistants approved by the committee.  The agreement is reviewed annually and seeks to create a coaching partnership that supports our overall Club objectives.  As part of the agreement, Ollie provides the Club with an income which is forecast to be £6,300 for the next financial year.

Club Sessions

Ollie currently provides the Club with weekly support for our kid’s night sessions that have been incredibly popular this year.  He also provides weekly support for our adult team practice sessions and we are looking to trial a similar level of support for our junior teams.  For the next financial year, this support is expected to cost the Club around £7,000, although this amount maybe lower depending on the final ongoing plans for junior match practice sessions. 

Group Coaching

There has been a steady growth in numbers attending term-time coaching sessions.  For juniors, the current focus is on the red ball age group.  For adults, the Monday drills session continues to be well attended and Ollie is looking to build the appeal of the Rusty Racket sessions.  He has also set up and run a day-time cardio session for lady members that is popular and reportedly, very tiring.    

Holiday Camps

Holiday Camps have always provided our coaches with an important source of income.  In the past 12 months, Ollie has worked hard to grow numbers with a really excellent summer program in August (helped also by a sustained period of dry weather).  As with group coaching, the Club is granted 10% of all holiday camp bookings, together with the premium paid by non-members.  For next year, this total income is forecast to rise by 15%. 

LTA Tournaments

As long as there is no clash with Club matches or Club tournaments, the coaching agreement allows Ollie to use up to 4 courts during the school holidays to run LTA approved tournaments, and with a maximum of 16 participants.  This helps us to “advance the game of tennis” and is another important source of income to Ollie (and the Club also gets 10% of all entrance fees).  As a committee, we will continue to work with Ollie to ensure that the tournaments do not unduly impact the use of the Club by our members.

Coaching Feedback

If you or your child have had coaching with Ollie or his assistants over the past 12 months, please provide your coaching feedback by completing the AGM survey that runs until 8pm on Thursday 28th November.