The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting

Tuesday 26th November 2024 at 18:30 in the Brandling Lounge

 

In attendance: Martin Clark [MC], Heather Dean [HD], Ryan Doran [RD], Tatiana Kishna [TK], Mike Smith [MS], Fiona Twaddle [FT].

 

Also present: Mandy Tulip [MT] (General Manager)

 

1. Apologies for absence
David Breakey [DB]

 

2. To elect a chairperson

Mike Smith put his name forward and was unanimously elected as chair of the Executive Committee.

 

3. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising
The minutes of the last meeting were agreed to be an accurate reflection of the meeting.

 

Matters arising:

• Windbreaker: MT is actioning.
• Fire doors: Both doors are on order.
• Chinese New Year social night: FT and MT to put together some options, aiming to have this on the same weekend as the final of the Australian Open.
• Carpark: Budget of £25k to get everything done. This includes a soak away next to the driveway, patching up at the entrance, and resurfacing the side carpark. It was unanimously agreed to go ahead with this.
• Ramp to tennis court: Expected that this will be around £400

 

4. Questions for the General Manager
 

MT circulated the General Manager’s report ahead of the meeting. Noted:

• The number of squash players has grown, especially in the 25-30 category.
• MT has had extensive conversations with the coaches to make sure that there is always a court for members. This will be court 12, so that it is straightforward to monitor the situation.  We are imposing a strike system for members who are cancelling courts within 24 hours of the booking.
• MT has also had conversations with John Henderson about courses for next year to ensure that there are courts available.
• Holiday camp revenue was outstanding compared to last October.
• Court 14 has continued to be playable until today, this is thanks to Andy’s efforts throughout the year.
• MT has had a meeting with the staff about the ice and gritting plan.
• The sports hall will be repaired in two halves – operating on a two court system over two days. The suggestion for the line painting was that the current contractor would take the whole sports hall for one week to paint the lines. To look elsewhere.
• Indoor court nets are being replaced in January.
• Suggested that we run our own Racketlon tournament, including pickleball.
• We are still waiting for the quote from the Arc company who came to the site to look at the changing rooms.

 

5. Safeguarding update

 

Coaching audit:

• MT audited over a full week, along with Charlotte and Freddie.
• MT is going to carry out another audit.
• The supervision statement is available on the club’s website.

 

The Executive Committee will undertake a Safeguarding Refresher course in the near future.

 

6. Finances

• There’s been an excellent profit this year. There’s approximately £25k of capital work that will be allocated to repairs over the winter which will reduce our profit. Fire doors, PIRs etc. can go on the P&L.
• MT cautiously forecasts that we will break even over the winter months.
• RO noted that some of the wording (but not the numbers) need to be adjusted, so a corrected set of accounts will be signed. This is just presentational.

• Compared to the budget, it is obvious that the main growth is from membership & tennis. John Henderson was praised in his efforts in growing the tennis programme.
• One of the few things that could be improved is sponsorship income.

 

7. Planning

 

Padel:

• We have had feedback from the council – for the site that we have requested planning permission the council would like a 7m sound attenuation barrier to be constructed at the back of the court. It is possible to have one court – the barrier may need to be smaller but the council couldn’t guarantee that this would pass planning permission.
• The alternative site is the grass in front of the indoor centre. There is a possibility that this would require a small barrier. There is a drain on the edge of this site, but the pipework would be outside the area of the court.
• Angela Wallace from the council has agreed to visit the site at some point to look at the feasibility of the site and the need for a noise barrier.
• It was agreed to go ahead with this, but any additional spend on the padel project will need to be approved at a future Executive Committee meeting.
• MC is going to take a formal request for permission from the Ground Company. 

 

Floodlighting courts 1, 2 and 3:

• There’s a lighting plan that shows that there will be very minimal spill around these courts if they were to be floodlit. The working hypothesis is that it is difficult to install floodlights after courts have been resurfaced.
• It was unanimously agreed to wait for a decision on floodlighting before we go ahead and resurface these courts with artificial red clay.
• MC will take a formal request for permission for this from the Ground Company.

 

 

8. Squash

The squash coaching proposal was circulated ahead of the meeting. It was unanimously agreed to appoint Jayne Martin as a retained coach, subject to review.

RD and MT will meet with Dave Barnett.

 

 

9. Priorities for 2024

All to think about priorities for 2025.

 

 

 

10. Any Other Business

 

• Suggested that we write to all members at the start of the year to inform them that if they haven’t paid their match fees this will just be added to their direct debit. MT to see whether this is possible.

 

• Taps – is it possible to have press taps? Often the water upstairs is still running.

 

• Some of the squash courts are being used for fitness, there were mats left on the squash courts on Friday evening. MT will look into this.

 

• Balcony – MH had a meeting with the architect and the structural engineer this morning. They are coming back with 4 options, and in 2-3 weeks there will be a recommendation that can be brought to the Executive Committee.

 

11. Date and time of next meeting:
Wednesday 11th December 2024 at 18:30 in the Brandling Lounge.

 

 

The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting

Tuesday 21st January 2025 at 18:30 in the County Office

 

In attendance: Martin Clark [MC], Heather Dean [HD], Ryan Doran [RD], Tatiana Kishna [TK], Rachael Oswald-Wilkins [RO], Mike Smith [MS] (chair), Fiona Twaddle [FT]
 

Also present: Mandy Tulip [MT] (General Manager)

 

1. Apologies for absence
Mark Haigh [MH]

 

2. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

The minutes of the November meeting were approved as an accurate reflection of the meeting. Noted that December was an informal meeting.

Matters arising:

• Feedback on County meeting/ emails
  MC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 28th January. The current situation is that there are no problems with the court project. The Ground Company would like more information about the balcony. There are some concerns about the aesthetic appeal of the position of the padel court.
• Date for JLC:
  MC and MS to discuss offline. To discuss indoor courts.
• Update on Council planning permission:
  We haven’t received anything further from the planning department. Agreed to pay for pre-application advice for courts 1, 2 and 3.
• Exterior lighting of the Brandling Lounge:
  We’ve received quotes for these safety lights. They will be installed.
• Balcony (Agenda)
  Deferred until MH is present.
• Grass courts:
  Noted that these will be extremely expensive to return to an LTA standard playable condition, will require approx. £40k of equipment, and the majority of Andy’s time.
   

3. Questions for the General Manager:
MT circulated the manager’s report ahead of the meeting. Noted

• Squash coaches: Jane Martin is now running sessions. Tom Cornell is also running some sessions but will be leaving around Easter.
• There was discussion about appointing a Business Manager / Finance manager.
   

Social Events:
There are currently 20 tickets sold for the band night. Action all to encourage people.

 

Facilities:

• Clay court roller: The current clay court roller is broken and can’t be repaired. This is essential for the American clay courts but can also be used for the artificial red clay. Agreed to go ahead with this for £7930. MT to check with other UK clubs that have American clay whether they know of any alternatives.
• Sports hall line re-painting has been scheduled in.
• Decking: It was agreed to remove the decking and make good the area.
• Blown windows: Andy is working through the blown windows.
• Happy with the Winter maintenance list.
• Changing rooms: Deferred to priorities.

 

 

4. Safeguarding Update

There are no outstanding issues. Noted that the Executive Committee will need to update their training in the coming months. The LTA have a link that MS will circulate.

 

5. Finance Update
The club is doing very well. It’s very positive to see that December, which is historically a very poor month, made a profit in 2024. There several big capital items that we are going to go ahead with in the near future, but this will still leave us in a good position. Note that we’re currently at 1277 members, which is close to our summer membership numbers.

 

6. Priorities for 2025

There was a discussion around the priorities for capital expenditure in the coming months. We have been advised that the boiler will be irreplaceable if and when it breaks, this will be £25k. We have had a quote for £48k for the changing rooms. The car park reschedule has been booked in for February and will be £25k. We have received some advice that squash court 4 will need replacing that will be £11k, although this may be covered by £2500 of replacements.

It was agreed to prioritise as follows:

• Replace the boiler and add radiators to the changing rooms, approx. £25k (January)
• Resurface the area of the carpark adjacent to the sports hall, adding in additional car parking places, £25k (February)
• Purchase the roller for the clay courts £8k.

It was acknowledged that we would like to resurface courts 1, 2 and 3, with floodlights. It was also noted that the applications for the flood lights will be a slow process.

• A majority of the Executive Committee agreed that we should go ahead to resurface courts 1, 2 and 3 with artificial red clay. In this time we will also install the ducting and the pads for flood lights (we recognise that this is an approx. £5k risk).
• MT to speak to the supplying company to find their availability.

 

 

7. Any other business

 

• Club play balls:
  Some members have complained about the balls at club play. Note that MT has taken opinions from the coaches and they have said that these are okay, the balls are recycled every 2 weeks, and Freddie is checking them. To increase the frequency of recycling.
• Membership price increase:
  It was discussed whether we are going to increase membership fees. MT to produce an analysis for discussion at the next meeting.
• Exec drop in:
  To find dates for a members’ forum.
• Gym colours:
  To have a look at the small sample area that’s painted in the gym.
• Badminton coaching:
  There has been interest from an international coach who has moved back to the area. MS and RD will have a look at this CV.
• Saturday opening hours:
  Agreed that, for the next few weeks, we can close at 21:30 on a Saturday evening.

 

8. Date and time of next meeting(s)

Wednesday 19th February

Wednesday 19th March

Thursday 24th April 

Tuesday 20th May

 

 

The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday 19th February 2025 at 18:30 in the Brandling Lounge

 

In attendance: David Breakey [DB], Heather Dean [HD], Ryan Doran [RD], Mark Haigh [MH], Tatiana Kishna [TK], Rachael Oswald-Wilkins [RO], Mike Smith (chair) [MS], Fiona Twaddle [FT]

 

Also present: Mandy Tulip (General Manager) [MT]

 

1.Apologies for absence

Martin Clark, Chris Lott

 

2. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

 

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed to be an accurate reflection of the meeting.

 

Matters arising:

• Safety lights are up and look excellent.
• We currently consider the grass courts to be too expensive.
• MT has had a meeting with Jane and Dave.Junior numbers have gone up, so far, we have had excellent feedback.
• There has been good feedback from the band night.
• Clay court roller has been ordered but has a 12-week lead time.
• The boiler work is going ahead next week, MT has ordered a boiler for the kitchen, there will be a risk assessment in place.
• There has been good feedback from club play re the new balls.
• MT has met the new badminton coach.

 

3. Questions for the general manager

MT circulated the management pack, monthly report and draft budget plan ahead of the meeting.

• Discussion around a business manager.
  Noted that we are currently in need of a senior duty manager. MT has advertised for this position.
• Squash court floor. It was unanimously agreed that we should go ahead with replacing court 4. 

 

4. Safeguarding update

MT has spoken to John about register taking to ensure it is consistent. MS is going to draft a letter to be sent to coaches.

 

5. Finance update

Discussion around the budget plan:

• The cashflow predicts that the lowest amount in the bank will be £113k. This will be in April and is a result of the spend on capital projects.
• There was a discussion around the cost of membership fees. It was agreed to increase membership fees in line with inflation (2.5%). We will increase sportshall non-member fees to £7 per person per hour. A majority of the committee agreed to update the ‘Badminton and Gym’ category to a ‘Badminton and Pickleball’ category.
• Action on all to look through the budget plan to feedback by Wednesday 26th February.
• Facility rental charges: agreed to increase rental charges by 3% across the board; this will be at a suitable time that it fits in with their licence renewals. 
• Agreed to set a sponsorship target of £10k.

 

6. Updates on courts 1, 2 and 3

• There’s a date that has been proposed for this resurfacing.
• The electrical and ducting work is around £4k, and the quote for the poles is an additional £3.5k. The company has advised that the impact of installing the poles will be minimal.
• It was agreed for MT to contact the company and see if they can push the suggested date back.

 

7. Updates on padel

• There is currently no update from the council, it looks as though if we went down to one court, we would still need a large and expensive noise barrier.
• The ground company has unanimously voted against using the area in front of the indoor centre.
• One option is to invest time and money into noise barriers, although we are conscious of the noise problems that other clubs have had.
• MT is going to get an estimate for building an indoor space next to the current sports hall.

 

8. Update on the balcony

• MH has been in regular communication with the architect. MT has all of the plans to date. There are three different options for the construction: 1a – simple add on balcony leaving bay windows as they are, supported by 6 pillars, 1b – as above with foundations included for studios, 2 – studios plus balcony.
• MH has received a structural engineers report from James Cullen at Adept. The architect has gone to pre-planning, they have advised that we will need a full fire strategy for the balcony (to confirm whether we will need stairs for the balcony), but this will be the last thing that is required for planning.
• MH and Steve Duncan have covered all costs to date.
• Questions for the exec; do we want stairs? Will the club pay a share of the cost of the fire strategy (there will be an element of this strategy that will be beneficial for the club).
• There was a discussion about how the project would be funded.
• MT – it would be good to have a rough idea of legal and professional costs for the next year to be included in the budget. MH will provide this.
• Agreed that it would be good to have stairs; this will provide a route for members to move from tennis courts to the bar.
• Once the plans are finalised MH to share so that these can be circulated with the NLTA and the ground company.

 

9. Any other business

• It was noted that there have been some students swearing in the front lounge while children are around. MT will chat to them about this.
• Question about a team top for tennis – noted that we have purchased tops recently, but they didn’t sell. Suggested that we poll the captains to find out how many people are interested.

 

10. Date of next meeting

• Wednesday 19th March 2025
• Thursday 24th April 2025
• Tuesday 20th May 2025

 

 

The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting

Tuesday 10th June 2025 at 18:30

 

In attendance: David Breakey [DB], Heather Dean [HD], Ryan Doran [RD], Mark Haigh [MH], Rachael Oswald-Wilkins [ROW], Mike Smith [MS] (Chairperson)

 

Also present: Mandy Tulip [MT] (General Manager)

 

1. Apologies for absence:
   Martin Clark, Tatiana Kishka, Chris Lott, Fiona Twaddle
    
2. Matters arising:
   • Discussed the financial position. Agreed that changing rooms were next on the priority list, along with the toilets upstairs. MT has gone back to Quora to get some updated numbers to go ahead with this.
      
3. Questions for the general manager:
   • MT is getting quotes for the medium and high priority work identified in the tree survey.
   • The audit has been carried out and is all okay. Robson Laidler have been to site and completed their work in a couple of days. We’re just waiting for the final report, and we’ll be able to circulate this with members along with an annual report.
   • The holiday camps have been very successful; many of the courses are oversubscribed and there are 8 or 9 members on waiting lists for beginners’ courses. Rob Wetherall is working very well with Brandon and has filled several badminton courses.
   • The council are advising that we need another bat survey for courts 1, 2 and 3; they have advised that the light spill would need to be less than 2 lux at the edge of the courts if there are bats present. MT has suggested that we carry out a provisional survey to see if there are any bats, before we press ahead with a comprehensive survey. It was agreed to proceed with this.
   • The council have emailed us to ask that we make a decision about padel. It was suggested that we withdraw this application; unanimously agreed. 
   • There was a discussion around the performance squash element of the courses.
      
4. Finances
   Mainly covered in the manager’s report. Noted that we are approaching saturation, unless we can add floodlights to the tennis courts. One of the other avenues would be additional sponsorship or corporate days.
    
5. Balcony project update
   The modified plans reduce the balcony from 98 square metres to 57 square metres. This is going to be submitted to pre-planning soon. MH to circulate the plans; he’s also going to investigate options around the balustrade and flooring.
    
6. Ground company
   There have been several discussions on tennis courts and padel development projects between representatives of the Executive Committee and the Ground Company. MS has written to them and asked whether we can have a joint meeting, where we can present the current position of the club and our future plans. MS is aiming for the week of the 7th July.
    
7. Tennis courts
   • The performance surfaces are clay, artificial red clay, grass, and hard court. Clay courts are seasonal, and are out of use for a number of months; hard courts can’t be used in rainy conditions, but can remain open on dry winter days. By August we will have 6 performance surfaces, once courts 1, 2 and 3 are resurfaced in artificial red clay. There was a discussion around the types of surfaces that we have available for members to use. MT noted that the clay supplier is now UK based, so there is no longer a minimum number of clay courts that we would need to service. Noted that grass is prohibitively expensive to run. The general feeling is that we would turn 4, 5 and 6 to hard courts and keep 14 and 15 as clay courts.
   • There was a long discussion around floodlighting – noted that this is the biggest issue that is limiting capacity at the club. The ideal is LTA standard, but we should also be open to exploring the option of ‘tweener’ lighting; this could be particularly useful for courts 4, 5 and 6 that we know we can’t floodlight traditionally. MT to speak to One Electrical about this.
      
8. Any other business
   • Sponsored Walk - Helen Bernard has asked whether a poster can be displayed to advertise a walk that is raising money in aid of pancreatic cancer. All agreed to support this.
   • There was an extensive discussion around the number of courts that are available for tennis club play on a Saturday afternoon. It was agreed not to change the number of courts available to club play on a Saturday.
   • There was a discussion around the squash courts – noted that the surround of squash court 1 is looking scruffy (above the out lines and the ceiling tiles); MT to look into painting this and replacing the ceiling tiles. Noted also that there is a lot of feedback about the walls of court 2, and the gap in the floor. MT to speak to the court company about having this gap filled and the walls cleaned.
      
9. Date of next meeting:
   • Wednesday 9th July
   • Thursday 21st August