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Minutes of Meetings - 2004

Committee Meeting - 22nd September

Present

Richard Avery, Jonathon Bomford, Errol Ferris (briefly), Brett Green, Paul Heneghan, John Lowe, Steve Porter (briefly), Matthew Powell, Ben Salcedo, Martyn Whiting.

Agenda

1. Attendance

2. Matters arising 

3. Up and coming league fixtures, player ranking etc. 

4. Team training

5. Home match meals 

6. Club competitions 

7. Internal leagues/ladders 

8. The funding / subscription issue 

9. AOB

10. Next Meeting

Matters Arising

England Squash Membership

We believe Brian has submitted a graded list of players to England Squash.

Club Silver Charter

Brian has been working very hard behind the scenes and we have now fulfilled all the requirements of Squash England to obtain our Silver Charter.  We are also extremely close to fulfilling all the requirements of the Gold Charter - all that remains is to obtain a female coach (Enid Walker?) and run a graded tournament.
Action: Brian Ireland to continue working on the Gold Charter

We have just obtained England Squash Mini Squash accreditation.

Court Maintenance

The floors on Courts 2 and 3 are now complete.  Thanks to everyone concerned (particularly Steve Porter for running the project and Neil Healey for organising the sub floor) for all the work!

Brian Ireland was to have requested details of squash court ventilation - he wasn't here to report.
Action: Brian Ireland to ask England Squash for details of the specification for ventilation.

Steve has obtained some prices for some squash court heaters for court 3.  They are quartz heaters and we will need two at £280 + Vat each.
Action: Steve Porter, Richard Avery and Jonathon Bomford to exchange details and submit to Exec.

The gallery flooring is still outstanding.
Action: Steve & co. to organise some help whenever convenient.

The intermittent light fitting on Court 1 has been replaced.  Thanks to Steve Porter and Pete Scully.

We need to continue with the cleaning of the squash court walls.  There must be an easier way to clean the walls than the cleaning fluid and Brillo pads we tried last time.  Could Steve ask John Lythe whether we could use an orbital sander or other power tool?
Action: Steve Porter

We omitted to discuss the issues over the drinks machines - to be carried forward to the next meeting.  We currently have a Lucozade machine at £1.20 a bottle that provides revenue for the club, and a Coca Cola machine at 50p a can that provides no revenue.  There was some doubt over whether the Coca Cola machine was about to be returned or not.  The idea of a water dispensing machine was discussed and needs to be investigated.
Action: Richard Avery to raise at Exec

Club Night

Richard Avery and Jonathon Bomford will police the running of Club Night.  The suggested format is to try to get players of differing abilities to play 20 minute matches.

There was some discussion about using Court 3 for circuit training during club night, but it was decided that it might not go down well using all three courts as there are already many evenings when courts are reserved for team matches.

Juniors

The Juniors have started again.  Several have entered the County Closed Tournament this weekend in Bromsgrove.

County League Matches

Brett distributed fixtures and results cards to the team captains.
Action: Paul Heneghan to put on Web Site; Steve Porter to book out courts.

There was no representative from the ladies' team.

Ranking List

This is a first stab at a ranking list.

Action: Team captains to sort through list and adjust as necessary

Team training

It is up to the team captains to encourage their players to attend some team training sessions.
Action: Paul Heneghan to email members to establish level of interest; team captains to whip up their troops!

Home match meals

Nick and Vi have volunteered to do the catering for the team home matches (except for the Vets').  The cost will be £25 for food for 10.  Washing up is NOT included.
Action: Richard Avery to ask Nick and Vi if they would do the washing up for let's say £5.

All the team captains (even Ben who will of course no longer be getting his cut!) were keen to use this service.

Club Competitions

The Racketball Tournament had to be cancelled through lack of interest, but several committee members were keen to see it run again.  Once Club Night is established, we will try running the racketball tournament during Club Night.

The Handicap Tournament will run over two weekends in November - finishing on Saturday night as did the last Club Championship.  The dates are:  Early rounds Fri-Sun 12th-14th November.  Semis and Finals Fri-Sat 19th-20th November.

We still need to think about a Doubles Tournament and a Vets' Tournament.
Action: Carry forward to next meeting

Internal leagues/ladders

There are now enough names on the board to warrant starting the boxes up again.  They will start on the 1st October.  There will be five players per box - top two go up - bottom two go down.  Time period: six weeks.
Action: Paul Heneghan to send Richard Avery the templates; Richard Avery to run leagues.

Once the ranking list is confirmed, we'll use this as the starting point of the ladder.  There was a suggestion that ALL friendlies should count towards the ladder - it would get some movement going.
Action: To be discussed at next meeting.

The funding / subscription issue

The Exec are keen that the squash section raise more money to compensate for the considerable outgoings caused by the replacement of the two squash floors.  Richard Avery sent an email to all members (that are on email) suggesting raising the light meter fee from £1.20 to £2.00.  Paul Heneghan responded by doing a few sample case studies and produced a startling web page.  This showed that there was a huge discrepancy between what rowers and squash players paid into the club.

Here is one example:

An adult rower will pay £135 subscription in 2004.
An adult squash player (playing twice a week) will pay £195 a year (@ £1.20 per court)
An adult squash player (playing twice a week) will pay £235 a year (@ £2.00 per court)

Paul Heneghan's family (assuming no injuries) could end up paying £670 a year if the new increases went through (as opposed to a rowing family who would pay just £220).

So, although members of the squash committee are keen to raise money for the club, the consensus appeared to be that it would be wrong to do it by raising the light fee.  It was felt by many, that the light fee was being used to subsidise cheap membership for other sections and that a more equitable subscription system needed to be introduced.

Action: Paul Heneghan to forward the web page to members of the Exec.  Richard Avery and Jonathon Bomford to raise the issue at the next Exec.

Action: Richard Avery and Jonathon Bomford to organise a fundraising event in Jonathons's barn in the spring.

AOB

We will have a Christmas curry again this year - on Thursday 16th December.  The proposal is to ask Gray what he can do at the club instead of going to a restaurant.  That way, we can make a bit of money for the club and bring in revenue to the bar.
Action: Richard Avery to book room and ask Gray Wilson if he can do the food.

There is a marking course at Barnt Green on Thursday 7th October at 19:30.  It will consist of a talk, some videos and a non-compulsory exam.  £1 per person.

On the 9th October Peter Nicol and John White will be giving an exhibition match in Manor Park, Malvern.  There is a chance to meet them and have a few rallies with them from 14:00 and they will play their match at 15:30.  Tickets are limited - contact Errol.

We need light keys for the Squash Captain and the Vets' Captain.
Action: Paul to get two more keys cut.

The light meter is currently 10 minutes slow.  It loses time quite badly and as it is the official time used for court bookings, it can cause problems.  We discussed Rugby-synchronised clocks and JB-5 time (Jonathon Bomford's watch - 5 minutes), but there are really only two or three sensible solutions.  The best one would be to adjust the internal crystal of the machine - this may not be possible.  Next best would be if someone like Errol or Paul were given the ability to reset the time.  The most likely however is that we request that John Lomas reset the clock on a weekly basis.
Action: Richard Avery to consult with John Lomas

Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting was set for Wed, 8th December.

Paul Heneghan
Squash Secretary
22nd September 2004

Committee Meeting - 13th July 2004

Present

Richard Avery, Jonathon Bomford, Paul Heneghan, Brian Ireland, Steve Porter,  Matthew Powell.

Agenda (retrospective!)

1. England Squash Membership

2. Court Maintenance

3. Club Night

4. Leagues

5. Tournaments

6. Juniors

7. AOB

8. Next Meeting

England Squash Membership

There was much discussion about membership - both club membership and England Squash membership.  It appears that many players are late (by as much as six months) in paying their membership.  This needs to be discussed at a later meeting.

We need to submit an accurate membership list to England Squash to ensure the correct subscription is paid.  Brian Ireland in his capacity as Membership Secretary has assumed responsibility for this.
Action: Brian Ireland

Club Silver Charter

We have nearly fulfilled the requirements of Squash England to obtain our Silver Charter.  The major outstanding item is the Junior Register.  Errol has been looking after this.
Action: Richard Avery to contact Errol

Court Maintenance

Steve Porter and Neil Healey have had numerous discussions with John Lythe (of Impact Squash Courts) and a company that supplies Ardex concrete toppings.  John Lythe can only provide a warranty on the new squash floors only if they are laid on a sub floor that is absolutely flat.  The current subfloors are sloping with a drainage channel down the middle, and it is proposed to sandblast these, put down a levelled layer of compound supplied by Ardex which can be be laid tapering to a featheredge.  At the moment we are still in discussion as to what the best damp-proofing solution is.  Steve will be meeting some flooring technicians over the next week or so.
Action: Steve Porter

We think/hope the courts will be finished towards the end of August.

We discussed further improvements to the courts.  A previous expert siad there was inadequate ventilation on the courts and some kind of extraction system was required.
Action: Brian Ireland to ask England Squash for details of the specification for ventilation.

We also discussed the squash court heating system which is quite unsatisfactory for a number of reasons.  First of all, it shares a controller with the bar, so when the bar reaches temperature, the squash court heating stops.  Secondly, there is little if any heat coming out of the vents below the gallery floor.  All the heat seems to come out of the vents on the gallery wall, the result of which is to cook the spectators.  Finally, Court 3 is virtually unheated apart from what leaks in from the gallery and a rather ineffectual electric fire.

So, can the heating system for the courts be independent?  Can the court vents be made to function again?  Can the heating system be extended to Court 3.  What about cooling/air conditioning?
Action: Richard Avery to discuss with Norm and/or Exec

The gallery flooring is in hand and will be done before the winter season.

There is an intermittent light fitting on Court 1 that needs to be replaced.  John Parry has obtained a replacement and Steve Porter will organise a work party to fit it over the next few weeks.
Action: Steve Porter

We need to redo/finish off the wall cleaning that we started a few months ago.  We need to set a date and organise a work party.  We thought we might try a Thursday evening, Saturday and Sunday in August.
Action: Richard Avery

We had a brief discussion about drinks machines.  We currently have a Lucozade machine at £1.20 a bottle that provides revenue for the club, and a Coca Cola machine at 50p a can that provides no revenue.  There was some doubt over whether the Coca Cola machine was about to be returned or not.  The idea of a water dispensing machine was discussed and needs to be investigated.
Action: Richard Avery to raise at Exec

Club Night

This is fairly quiet at the moment - it should pick up in the winter.  There was discussion about the way in which it was sometimes used by players to get a free game with their usual opponents which goes against the ethos of Club Night.  This needs to be policed.
Action: None at the moment - wait 'til it picks up.

Leagues

These need to be restarted.  I've done a poster which is on the notice board in the gallery.  Once it starts, I'm looking for someone to take over the running of it.

Tournaments

We will probably run the Handicap Tournament over two weekends in September - Fri/Sat/Sun (10th/11th/12th) and Thurs/Fri/Sat (16th/17th/18th).  Finals night will be on Saturday which seems to be more popular than Sunday.

We plan on running a Racketball Tournament to inaugurate the new floors on the courts.  Anyone interested?

We discussed running a Doubles Tournament, but need to give it more thought, as it is potentially rather dangerous.

We would like to resurrect the old Veterans' Tournament.  What about early January 2005?

Juniors

The Juniors have now stopped until September 4th

There was discussion some time ago about running a couple of Junior Open Days over the summer.  They could include squash, racketball, and even tennis.
Action: Errol Ferris

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held in early September.

Paul Heneghan
Squash Secretary
13th July 2004

AGM - 14th May 2004

Present

Richard Avery, Pete Bolshaw, Jonathon Bomford, Richard Chinn, Errol Ferris, Brett Green, Neil Healey, Paul Heneghan, Brian Ireland, John Lomas, Steve Porter, Tom Richardson, Granthan Speake, Martyn Whiting.

Agenda

1. Minutes of 2003 AGM

2. Election of Officers

3. Outgoing Captain's Report

4. Teams

5. Club Night

6. New Competition

7. Leagues

8. AOB

1. Minutes of 2003 AGM

Embarrassingly, these don't appear to exist!

2. Election of Officers

Captain: Richard Avery
Proposed by Steve Porter, seconded by Brian Ireland

Vice Captain: Jonathon Bomford
Proposed by Brett Green, seconded by Martyn Whiting

Secretary: Paul Heneghan
Proposed by Richard Avery, seconded by Jonathon Bomford

The committee consists of the captain, vice captain, secretary, and all the team captains.

Current members are: Richard Avery, Jonathon Bomford, Paul Heneghan, Brett Green, Martyn Whiting, Ben Salcedo, Anne Tomkins, John Lowe and Mike Francis.  In addition, three other members were co-opted onto the committee - Steve Porter, Errol Ferris and Brian Ireland.

3. Outgoing Captain's Report 

Steve gave a detailed report on the state of the court floors.

Court 3 is to be taken out of action for three weeks starting on June 14th (the day after the Club Championship Finals).  In the first week, we need to take up the wooden floor, dispose of it and then break up and remove the sloping concrete subfloor that tapers from 100mm down to 0mm.  In the second week we will get a contractor to lay a 100mm concrete screed and powerfloat it to the required flatness.  In the third week the new floor will be laid.

There was much discussion about what to do about the floor in Court 2 which although not suffering from the catastrophic failure seen in Court 3, is still showing some signs of a shifting of the supporting beams.  Funding is obviously a vital factor, and various alternatives were discussed ranging from a surcharge on the squash light fee multimeter, to removing the multimeter and increasing subscriptions!  The conclusion was to ask Richard and Jonathon to bring the matter up at the next Exec and ask for the funds to have the work done before the next season.
Action: RA, JB

The repair to the squash balcony floor needs to be completed.  This needs the floor to be measured.
Action: EF, SP - 15/5/04

We need a new squash general noticeboard situated downstairs where people will see it.  The best site for this is where the tennis balls are currently situated.  Also, we need to see if the old noticeboard (currently behind the coke machine) will fit in the squash balcony.
Action: RA and helpers

4. Teams 

The rankings for the winter season will be done as usual by Errol and Brett.  If you feel that you are not ranked correctly, it is up to you to issue a challenge or two!

The captains (until further notice) are as follows:

Brett Green and Martyn Whiting are organising the Summer League

5. Club Night

Club Night is to be reorganised.  It was felt that the ethos of club night was to play people of varied standards, so a new rota will be introduced.  It was also recommended that the old fee of 50p should be reintroduced.
Action: RA, JB

6. New Competition

We are going to introduce a new competition.  It will run over several months and although the exact format has yet to be decided, the gist of it is that it will consist of teams of maybe three players.  The teams are picked to be of equal average performance.  When two teams play, each player plays for a limited time against each of the players on the other team.  The points score (PAR scoring) for the nine games is added up and each team gets its total points as the result etc. etc.

It sounds good!

There was also a suggestion that maybe some juniors could be involved.

Action: RA

7. Leagues

We need to give the leagues another chance.  It is one of the few ways that new members can get to meet and play other players.  I'll put up a notice to get some names so we can get it going again.
Action: PH

8. AOB

We need to consider sponsorship.  Karakal bought two years' advertising on the squash court tins.  Perhaps they would like to extend it.  We must be one of the clubs with the greatest percentage of Karakal rackets in the country!  What about Evesham Technology?
Action: RA, BI, EF

We plan on running a racketball tournament sometime when Errol is on holiday!  Probably the end of July.
Action: RA

John Lomas expressed his thanks to Steve, Errol and Paul for all the work they had done during the year.

We need to organise some court cleaning to cover the week when Jan is away.
Monday 17th June: SP
Wednesday 19th June: EF
Friday 21st June: PB
Sunday 23rd June: PH

Paul Heneghan
Squash Secretary
14th May 2004