The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting
Wednesday 9th July 2025 at 18:30
In attendance: David Breakey [DB], Heather Dean [HD], Mark Haigh [MH], Fiona Twaddle [FT], Tatiana Kishka [TK], Mike Smith [MS] (Chairperson)
Also present: Mandy Tulip [MT] (General Manager)
- Apologies for absence:
Rachael Oswald-Wilkins [ROW], Ryan Doran [RD], Martin Clark [MC] - Last month issues:
- Coach (Simon Lancaster) visited the club. The job offer is under review by John Henderson and has not been confirmed yet.
- Manager report. Membership is in line with the expected trend, staying strong, even with student’s leaving for summer. Badminton and pickle ball membership is popular.
- Grass courts. Not enough room for a full court, can they be used for reds in summer? The plan is to invest £1500 and even up the surface. Will be ready in 3 weeks’ time. The surface could be changed later.
- Northumberland open planning has been discussed (barbeque, sauna, stalls etc)
- Debora M got in touch offering support. Discussed organising a Christmas social which could be combined with Chairman’s drinks. Planned for early December 2025.
- Discussed the results of the kitchen inspection and actions that are required following it (some of them have been already put in place).
- Squash development has been discussed (looking for ways to increase the numbers). There is also an issue with court 2 which has a big gap that MH will look at.
- Discussed the planning for changing rooms (the number of showers etc)
- Discussed the balcony and the planning, awaits for council approval.
- Council paddle court application is going to be withdrawn to reapply for one court. We might need to engage with a new contractor. The club is seeking further permission to build the court from the county ground company.
- The survey found six bats.
- Regarding the flood lights – still under consideration.
- The idea of the Northumberland club to create an App in a longer term discussed.
- Discussed the possibility of the development of the tennis foot work drill class.
- The issue of smoking on the car park was discussed along with other unhealthy habits that are sometimes displayed on the courts.
- Tennis courts 1,2,3 to be resurfaced w/c 18 August 2025
- Date of next meeting:
- Thursday 21st August at 8.30
The Northumberland Club Executive Committee Meeting
Thursday 21st August 2025 at 18:30
In attendance: David Breakey [DB], Martin Clark [MC], Heather Dean [HD], Ryan Doran [RD], Mark Haigh [MH], Tatiana Kishka [TK], Mike Smith [MS] (Chair)
Also present: Mandy Tulip (General Manager), Andy Dawson (Facilities Manager)
- Apologies for absence
Fiona Twaddle
- Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
The minutes of the last meeting were agreed to be correct.
Matters arising- Simon Lancaster will be joining the club on 8th September.
- The Northumberland Open was successful, although the activities weren’t as busy as last year.
- A Christmas event has been booked in for early December; planning on having an early bird price to encourage people to sign up.
- To discuss the app at the next meeting.
- Questions for the general manager
- Generally covered in finance and estates.
- There’s been really positive feedback about Rob Wetherill’s badminton courses. Agreed to keep adding to his portfolio where he is available.
- MT has obtained a quote to replace some of the paving with tarmac; to clarify exactly where this quote is for. It may need to wait until after a padel decision.
- Agreed to go ahead with the new oven.
- Finance update
- Bank balance is good due to a very strong July - £44k thanks to camp income. NCTC reconciliation is almost break even this summer. £106k profit ytd. Direct costs are remaining very steady thanks to course occupancy. The preference is to leave the sinking fund and use other bank accounts to pay for the courts (~£82k).
- MT has chased the year end audit – there aren’t any problems with the accounts but there have been some delays at Robson Laidler that has held up the final report.
- Sponsorship and advertising:
MT has sold two banners since the advert went out, bringing in £2400. Now that the materials have been put together MT is going to start targeting individual companies.
- Safeguarding update
There are no safeguarding issues that require the attention of the Executive committee at this point.
- Estates project
- Tennis courts
The grass courts (2 orange courts) have been cut down and dressed, but AD is waiting for some wet weather to re-seed. Gary Nash has promised MT that he will be here to collect any remaining equipment. Noted that we will need a new side and back fence eventually. Replay have given a quote for nets, posts and fences (with artificial red clay) for £200k. - Squash courts:
The roofers have been out today – the problem with the damp above court one is due to the coping stones being loose. This was £1400 to fix (we would then have to make good the internal walls above the out of court lines. It was agreed to go ahead with the external roofing work on court one, make good the walls above the out of court lines on court one, and clean the walls on court one and two. To ask CourtCraft to review the nicks on court 2 while they’re out. To update court 1 on the capital projects list. - Padel:
There’s little to update. We’re still planning on presenting a design pack to the Ground Company. - Changing rooms:
The quote has been shared; there was some discussion around the cost and the best possible time to do the changing rooms. It was unanimously agreed to do a full refurbishment of both changing rooms and the upstairs toilets.
MT to bring a plan in October for the best dates to do this, minimising impact on the club. - Balcony
The summary document has been circulated. This document is ready to go in for pre-application: any tweaks can be carried out here. MH and AD have had a look at the drainage around the site and there is a suitable place to put the steel supports that avoid these pipes. The area of the balcony will now be 57square meters. There are options for how the supports will look, and how entry will be controlled.
The remaining work is to look at the foundations, and instruct a structural engineer to determine the specifications of the steel pillars (this will be about £6k). This can be done after the pre-app.
The Ground Company has agreed to go ahead with this project.
Agreed to submit this to pre-app asap. - Floodlighting
The interim bat report is that any light spill will affect nocturnal wildlife, so we would need to have another bat survey done.
MT and AD have looked at some other options that minimise the light spill; the tweener lights may still require some planning permission, but there are some lights that will be suitable for members practice and club play that the LTA have confirmed wouldn’t need planning permission. These are around £3.5k (plus a small amount of electrical ground work between courts 10 and 3). It was unanimously agreed to go ahead with this option; the NLTA have approved.
There’s possibility to add some additional CCTV with this additional electrical work. - Autumn deep clean:
AD has planned this, to start in early September.
- Tennis courts
- Staffing
- MS is looking into the cost of a staff feedback survey. Some of these packages are staff experience and member surveys, which might be a useful tool.
- David Brians mentioned the staff benefits package in his feedback. At the moment we offer 20 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays. Agreed that asking staff about the benefits package (with some realistic options) would be a good approach.
- To discuss this next month.
- AGM Planning
- To hold the AGM on Thursday 27th November at 18:30
- Noted that at this AGM David Breakey and Ryan Doran have reached the end of their term. Fiona Twaddle will also be stepping down at this AGM.
- This means that there will be 2 directly elected positions, and one Honorary Secretary position.
- Date and time of next meeting
- Wednesday 17th September 2025
- Tuesday 14th October 2025