ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF
THE
HELD IN THE H.C.C. CLUBHOUSE ON
The Meeting was
attended by the following Main Committee members and 140 other Club members, C
Winn (HCC President), D Macleod (CLTC President), S Jones (Chairman), J. Barlow
(Honorary Secretary), C Halder (Honorary Treasurer), J Taylor (Acting Tennis
Chair), M Crawcour (Squash Chair) F E Berendt (Cricket Chair), A Brooks, A
Pacifico, J Potter and J Billeter.
Apologies were
received from: C Woodruffe, T Asar
1. Minutes
of the Combined Clubs AGM held on
The 2006
Minutes were approved and signed as a correct record of the Meeting.
2. Chairman’s Report 2006/2007
The Chairman’s
report had been circulated to the membership prior to the Meeting.
Simon
Jones presented a review of the Club’s year, starting with thanks on the
members’ behalf to General Manager Michelle Wheeler who has made a positive
impact on the Club over the past 18 months.
The Chairman welcomed Steve Jarvis, the new Head Groundsman, who joined
us from Lords earlier in the year and thanked him for the improvements to the
tennis and cricket facilities made in the short time he has been with the Club.
The
Chairman reported that the previous year has seen ongoing capital investment in
the Club’s facilities including major redecoration within the common parts of
the CLTC clubhouse, a wholly refitted gymnasium, purchase of grass
court/cricket field maintenance equipment, installation new high-level safety
catch netting around the cricket field together with the resurfacing of all 8
acrylic tennis courts planned for later this summer.
The
Chairman added that a planning application to extend the CLTC roof terrace had
recently been turned down by
On
the sporting front, the Chairman said that particular note should be made of
the Ladies 1st team for winning their 12th successive
Middlesex Cup title and once again retaining the Middlesex League Premiership
title. The Mens 1st team had
unfortunately not enjoyed the same success and had been relegated from the
Premier division. All our other teams
had good results. The 2006 Club
Championships ended with Gill Card as Ladies Singles champion and Simon Curtis
as the Mens Singles champion. Thanks
were extended to tournament organisers Caroline Jones and Peta Churchman.
The
Chairman announced that Sarah-Jane Curtis had stepped down as Tennis Chair last
October and John Taylor had been Acting Tennis Chair since then, involving
himself very much in trying to represent at Main Committee level the differing
requirements of the tennis membership.
Simon Jones added that John Taylor had circulated prior to the AGM
a paper with proposals for Saturday Club
Afternoon which would be discussed later in the Meeting.
The
Chairman added that the Club will be hosting a Mens $15,000 and Womens $10,000
LTA Futures event again this August and also thanked Donald Macleod for
organising last year’s triangular Centenary Association event at the Club.
The
Chairman reported that the Club’s squash teams had mixed fortunes this season,
but that we do hope to reach the semi-finals of the Cumberland Cup. Simon Jones thanked both Zubair Khan for his
continuing support as Squash Professional and Mark Rayner who has actively
helped to promote and rebuild the Club’s junior squash section. The Chairman reported that the annual Winter
Teams event was our best ever and thanked Rikki
The
Chairman reported a good 2006 season for the Cricket section and recorded that
the 1st XI finished 3rd in the Premier division. The Chairman welcomed Paul Weekes, the Club’s
new Director of Cricket, who will be running both senior and junior coaching
programmes. Simon Jones added that
Paul’s costs will be covered by additional income generated through Summer
Cricket Camps and other sponsorships and particularly thanked Frank Berendt and
Alan Brooks for all their efforts in securing this additional income. SJ reported that the Colts section was
thriving and up to 150 children play here on Sunday mornings in the Summer. The Chairman thanked Frank Berendt and the
Cricket Committee for all their input and efforts during the year.
The
Chairman also recorded thanks to Gareth Gainer for a very successful Hockey
season for the 6 Mens and Ladies teams under his Chairmanship, and reported
that next season Timur Asar will be taking over as Hockey Chair.
Simon Jones said that the Club had
enjoyed a number of successful social events –
the Summer Ball at Lords last July
was so enjoyable we will be back there again
this year. The Xmas Revue, based on the ‘C Factor’ was great
fun and SJ thanked
the organisers for all their hard
work.
The
Chairman then recorded thanks to Tony Corby who leads the Bridge section, Mark
Ward our Gym Instructor who is leaving (with interviews for a replacement in
hand), to Rob Sumner who has taken over from David Grigg as the new Snooker
Chairman, to Pat Broadway for his continued efforts running the Golf Society,
to
Ray Kershaw for implementing a new competitive play Backgammon section for the
Club, to James Barlow for his valued expertise in handling all things legal for
the Club, and to John Mark for collecting the monies donated to the Staff Xmas
Fund.
The
Chairman recorded that in reply to last year’s request for audited accounts for
the Bill Blake Fund, these have now been produced by Chris Halder and checked
by John Mark.
Simon
Jones continued by thanking Chris Halder for his work as Treasurer, and in
particular his recent instigation of a change of bank to Barclays as the Club
has been let down on several occasions by NatWest this year. SJ recorded thanks to John Billeter for the
time spent on promoting the interests of all standards of Club tennis players,
to Jonathan Potter for his continued work on a Risk Management & Assessment
programme for the Club, to Charles Woodruffe and Alex Edwards for improving the
Club website, to Rob and Adriana Kocur and their staff for the huge effort they
put in throughout the year, to Chris Bradnam and his team of coaches for their
valued commitment to the Club and to Peta Churchman for her support in the Club
office.
3. To
approve the Accounts for the year ended
The
Accounts and Treasurer’s report were circulated prior to the Meeting.
Chris
Halder reported that the financial planning anticipates continuing capital
investment in the Club’s facilities, which is possible through continuing high
levels of tennis membership. The
Treasurer reported that we have shown an increase in the bar margin without any
price increases: however the biggest cost increase came in the Club’s gas and
electricity bills – due to a combination of price increases and the discovery
of a gas meter that had not been read for ages.
CH stated that the Club would review its energy usage and wastage.
The
Treasurer reported that general repair bills were down on last year, reflecting
the upgrade and general improvements made to clubhouse facilities. The provision for capital investment in the
Accounts for improvements is higher than normal in order to fund the imminent
squash and tennis court refurbishment work.
CH said that he would continue to look at reducing costs wherever
possible.
Keith
Hollender asked why the HCC floodlights seemed to be on continually even when
those courts were not in use, and requested that greater care be taken to avoid
wastage. M Wheeler to review.
Bobby
Holmes complained that the CLTC clubhouse heating seemed to come on in hot
weather. M Wheeler to review.
Susie
Blundell requested that the Club look at its ‘carbon footprint’ with a view to
being more eco-friendly. M Wheeler
undertook to review.
The Accounts as proposed were
seconded and approved.
Election
of Officers of the Clubs
SJ
said that he was delighted to propose Chris Winn as HCC President. This proposal was seconded and approved by
the meeting. Chris Winn thanked all Club
staff and CLTC members. SJ then proposed
DFM as CLTC President. This proposal was seconded and approved by the meeting.
The
following constitutional nominations were proposed, seconded and elected:
Simon Jones as Chairman
James Barlow as Honorary
Secretary
Chris Halder as Honorary
Treasurer
Alan Brooks as Assistant
Honorary Secretary
As well as: Jonathan
Potter, Alan Brooks, Chris Halder and Frank Berendt as directors of HCC Ltd.
5. Election
of Chairman of Tennis, Cricket, Squash and Hockey Committees
The
following sub-Committee Chairmen were nominated, proposed, seconded and
elected:
Tennis – John Taylor
Cricket - Frank Berendt
Squash - Matthew
Crawcour
SJ
reported that the Hockey Chair was not an elected position on the Main
Committee but sits as an invitee on the Main Committee.
6. Election
of Members of the Main Committee
Voting
papers were distributed to all attendees together with election statements from
the 7 member nominees for the 4 vacant positions on the Committee. The Chairman requested the attendees to make
up to 4 choices each and these votes were collected and counted by scrutineers
Susie Blundell and Simon Curtis.
Having
received the highest number of votes, the following were announced as duly
elected Committee Members:
Marilyn
Brooks, Richard Churchman, Regina Dodge and Jonathan Potter (who was
re-elected).
The
Chairman welcomed the new Committee members and thanked John Billeter and
Charles Woodruffe for their past contributions whilst serving on the Main
Committee.
7. Re-appointment
of Collards
It
was proposed that Collards be re-appointed as Auditors for the current
financial year. This was seconded and approved.
8. To Discuss Saturday Club Afternoon
The
Chairman said that no formal resolutions had been presented for debates, however John Taylor was invited to address
the Meeting to summarise his views and proposals for Saturday Club Afternoon.
JT
stated that he was conscious of the strength of feeling about Club Afternoon amongst
tennis members, and had tried to find a compromise between the polarised
positions – ie a year-round block booking of an unlimited number of courts or
no reserved courts with a common meeting time and place to book with discs.
JT
then summarised his proposals as set out in the paper circulated prior to the
Meeting and opened these up for debate.
Edgar
Mehl said that he felt strongly that the Club should decide if it was in favour
or not of social tennis, and that the current structure seems to be collapsing
through both a reluctance of coaches to run it and what may be the wrong
mathematical formula dictating the allocation of courts. SJ affirmed that a new coaches‘ rota was now
in place.
Tony
Jacobs said that in former years, HCC would allocate their courts 3 times a
week to Club Night.
Flint
Sperber said he was in favour of social tennis with disc booking as reserved
courts give the fewer Club Afternoon players greater court time than the
majority of members who have to book.
Jo
Konrad said she was in favour of reserved courts which offered just 2 hours of
guaranteed play over a whole weekend.
She felt that social tennis is needed to counterbalance the ‘cliquey’
nature of our Club.
Graham
Barber felt that the issues of Club Afternoon should not be confused with
‘Doubles Priority’ which is separate. He
said that he felt it unfair that the same few people get to play for an
uninterrupted 2 hours during which time it is difficult for members wanting
private play to find courts.
Michelle
Barber said that in her view the Club is not trying to abandon Club Afternoon,
and felt that JT’s compromise proposals should be accepted.
David
Aarons said he personally found Club Afternoon useful to meet people and felt
it was all part of club life.
Jane
Penfold said she felt the overall playing standard of Club Afternoon would be
improved if the better players participated.
Sultan
Gangji thanked JT for his efforts but felt the Tennis Chair should have made an
outright decision as his compromise proposals were too complicated. Sultan suggested that there should be
separate arrangements for Club Afternoon in Winter and Summer, and supported
the feeling that it was integral to club life and provided a means for new
members to integrate with established members.
He also felt stronger players should be encouraged to join in.
Jonathan
Konrad said that the club’s tennis facilities exist for the equal benefit of
all fee paying tennis members and questioned why Club Afternoon should have
less priority than club matches, tournaments, team practices and coaching.
Veronica
Hollender then asked why Hampstead Womens Group are able to block book courts
for 3 mornings a week. Simon Jones
replied that the arrangement with HWG has been terminated precisely because it
had become a drain on court time.
Alex
Edwards suggested the court allocation formula should be based on 6 members per
court not 8.
Edgar
Mehl added that social tennis increases bar and food income for the Club.
David
Goreham said that not only does he enjoy Wednesday evening and Saturday
afternoon social tennis but he has a regular ‘four’ outside of this through
people he met this way. He questioned
how new people would otherwise make playing friends.
Alex
Zadah said that Club social tennis is vital to him as he does not have much
time to play and seek out friends.
Karen
Stoker felt that it was important to have someone organising play and keeping
an eye on the booking board. She said
there was a need for more social tournaments to help promote good feeling
amongst the varying standards of players.
Jonathan
Konrad said that he proposed Saturday Club Afternoon should be allocated 3
courts throughout the year.
Ros
Krouglikoff disagreed and said that she believed JT’s compromise proposals were
the only way forward.
At
this point Simon Jones reiterated that JT’s proposals were not going to be put
to the vote and that this discussion was to give the Committee an indication of
members’ views.
Simon
Jones then asked for a show of hands to indicate how many felt Club Afternoon
should stay as it is and how many wanted to adopt a different format. The results of those who indicated a
preference were:
Those
in favour of keeping the current arrangements 49
Those
in favour of the a revised format 15
Simon
Jones thanked everyone for their comments and said that these would be taken
into account by the Main Committee.
9. Any Other Business
Jill
Elek complained that members too much rubbish was lying around the site. Simon Jones replied that Michelle Wheeler would
look into this.
Valerie
Barber asked if the Club was able to help Ekow Carboo in his ambition to be a
fulltime player. Simon Jones said the
Committee would see what they could do.
The Chairman added that a new Trust had been set up as a temporary measure
to administer the monies recently received from the Eleanor Caplin investment
capital following the death of Charles Caplin.
Sue
Boucher asked what had happened to the tree planted in the CLTC grounds in
memory of Anne and Bill Rosin. Simon
Jones undertook to investigate further.
Karen
Stoker asked if a Suggestions/Complaints book could be provided so that the
Club Office need not be bothered so much.
Simon Jones replied that there was a need to improve on communication to
members and he welcomed feedback on any issue, suggesting that perhaps there
could be a dedicated place on our website.
Alun
Webster asked for specific details of the Club’s plans for squash court
repairs. Michelle Wheeler replied that a
list of the schedule of intended works had been put up on the Squash
Noticeboard.
Alun
Webster then asked if the Minutes from Main Committee meetings could be made
available to members. Simon Jones
replied that although certain matters discussed can be sensitive and
confidential, he suggested that perhaps details of ‘actions arising’ from
general issues might be communicated back to members and undertook to review
this issue with the Main Committee. SJ
added that help had been volunteered from a PR expert within the club with a
view to improving all communication.
Nuria
Ruiz-Arango asked if a 2nd Sky Satellite box could be installed in
the CLTC clubhouse so that tennis on Sky need not conflict with other Sky
broadcasted sporting events. Simon Jones
replied that the Committee would consider this.
Susie
Blundell asked if the Club could consider 11-year olds Harriet Dart and Edward
Curtis for early white discs in view of their playing standard. Susie then asked Jonathan Potter to consider
changes to our rules of governance in respect of some limitation on the tenure
for Club Officers. The Chairman
responded that a Resolution on this issue in respect of the position of
Chairman was proposed at the 2006 AGM and was defeated by a considerable
margin.
Adelaida
Martinez asked if the Club had in place any mechanism to remove those members
who actively stand in the way of improvement plans for the Club.
Veronica
Hollender said that, in defence, the planning applications submitted to Camden
to date had been rejected purely on planning grounds. Simon Jones replied planning application for
the roof terrace will be reviewed.
Ray
Kershaw asked for the reason why our roof terrace application had been
rejected. Simon Jones replied that noise
pollution and increased traffic were amongst the reasons.
Jill
Gardner questioned why the AGM is always held in the HCC clubhouse. Simon Jones replied that the Meeting will
move back to the CLTC Ramus Room next year.
Malcolm
John asked if the Club are able to provide lockers. The Chairman replied that this issue is on a
list for Michelle Wheeler to review.
Malcolm
John then asked if there is to be a further review of the rules relating to
predominantly white clothing. Simon
Jones replied that there are no imminent plans, but that the new Tennis Chair
JT will review this issue.
Colin
Hess endorsed the request earlier for a summary of the discussions on vital
matters of interest to Club members to be made available to members.
Donald
Macleod thanked JT for his work to date as Tennis Chair and suggested that
members should write to JT with their views on Club Afternoon. Donald then thanked Simon Jones for his
efforts throughout the year and for his Chairman’s Report.
The
Meeting ended at 9.00pm.