Minutes Fleet Aces AGM April 25^th 2024 7.30pm – 10pm

Attendees -Martin Smith (MS, Chair), Wyn Bassett (WB, Treasurer), Rachel O’Hara (RO, secretary), Darren Tye (DT), LesleyLawson (LL), Christo Frylinck (CF)

Ali Blacow, Allan Butcher, Allison Wheeler, Andy Auge-de-Rancourt, Andy Coult, Anna Russell, Caroline Mansell, Claire Bourgoin,Elaine Leitch, Jill Gibson, John Russell, Julie Bassett, Karen Jones, Katherine Rogers, Linda Powell, Liz Bywaters, Lynn Eades,Mark Powell, Mike Rogers, Nicky Blackman, Oscar Lawson, Paul Grinham, Pete West, Phil O’Hara, Richard Cairns, Robert Bywaters, Simon Crewe, Simon Mansell, Stuart Cockerill, Sue Smith, Tracy Coult

Apologies -Becky Cockerill (BC), Debbie Pienaar, AiIsa Fraser, Andrea Tribe, Clare Bambridge, David Parker, Jon Mitchell, JudeTownsend, Karon Archer, Kate Carter, Lee Bambridge, Liz Freeman, Nia Rogers, Scott Carter, Trish Harris

1. Welcome – MS welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained Becky Cockerill unwell – best wishes for speedy Constitution requires all members of committee to be present for the AGM to be quorate – MS proposed themeeting go ahead as 6 of the 7 committee members were present – seconded by RO – unanimous agreement from the members.

Agenda had been circulated in advance and no additions were made

Minutes of last AGM April 20^th 2023 were reviewed and agreed – proposed by Richard Cairns, seconded by Mike Rogers

Matters arising – MS explained the actions taken on 3 items

Charity status – had been investigated and decided against – a lot of work for minimal benefit. Sports England grant had proved impossible as Pickleball is not yet recognised as a sport in its own right. Sponsorship had been considered anddecided against – club does not currently require financial support and would not wish to have to renew kit when sponsorship ended.

2. Summary of the year- MS provided a verbal report of the past year It has been another great Membership has grown from 61 to 80

The club ran 274 sessions in the last year, with 90 different people playing in a total of 3800 attendances. Our most frequent attendee was John Russell (143 sessions).

We now have 5 venues and sessions 6 days a week.

Spond is working well and the move to sessions being released 14 days ahead has got rid of the monthly fastest finger first pressure.

We have a wide variety of sessions and continue to offer lots of coaching – this is very unusual and should not be taken for granted.

Our internal competitive sessions have been adjusted through the year and there are plans for another change soon.

The club continues to evolve and try new things.

We have helped U3A in Fleet and Odiham to set up pickleball for their members.

We have had friendlies with The Bourne, London pickleball, AFPC and Cobham U3A, and there are others in the planning stage.

We have 3 squads competing in the SEPL and hope to have 4 when the new season starts in September.

14 members competed in the English Open and brought home 7 medals. There have been numerous festivals and tournaments and Fleet Aces are becoming well recognised.

Our communications have improved – in addition to Spond, WhatsApp, and Facebook we now have a monthly newsletter and about to launch a website and lnstagram

Our social events are another aspect of Fleet Aces which sets us apart from other clubs. We had a social tournaments for spring, summer and Christmas, a quiz, a summer picnic, a curry night, a Christmas party night and have continued a regular trip to the pub after the last Tuesday of the month.

We raised £2300 for Comic Relief on Red nose day, with a 12 hour picklethon played by 40 members, a drop in where weintroduced 50 people to the sport and a raffle

MS reminded members that none of this should be taken for granted – the club is quite unique.

3. Financial statements year end 12.2023 and year to date 2024.

The accounts to year end 31.12.23 had been circulated in advance, along with the review of them which had been conducted by Sue Smith- the club are very grateful to her for this review and her constructive comments.

During 2023 the club made a loss of c£600 – this was to be expected as the club expanded and had needed to secure court capacity in advance of the members to fill them. WB reported how sessions take time to bed in, and there is constant monitoring to get the balance right so that the club covers its costs but does not make a profit. This is difficult as there is variation in demand through the year.

The club has spent c£1000 on equipment in 2023, including c£450 on balls !!

WB talked through the slides on revenue and member numbers. Approx 20 members take up the monthly option, andplay 7-9 times a month. PAYG members play an average of 2-4 times a month.

The YTD figures show break even for 2024 at this point. There were some questions

1. Q. How much hassle is reconciling the payment transactions with attendances? Huge.
2. How are we funding last year’s loss? A. We had some financial cushion and currently have excess assets of c£1200
3. Q. Do we need to fundraise for the club? Not at present – aim is to increase court utilisation, keep a close eye on sessions and break even

4. Member feedback and Club Development

DT presented a summary of recent feedback from members and actions taken in response, covering 6 main areas(bookings on Spond, drills, session structure, playlists, advanced group and conduct).

6. Is 7pm the right time for Spond invites to go out? As people are on their way to a session at this time? Would 6.30pm bebetter? A. 6.30pm may not suit people who are working. The time of the invite is not vital as you nearly always get a spot evenif you are on the waiting list.
7. Why do some members never put themselves on the wait list? A. Unclear but it is up to them.
8. Could invites be released once a week? ACTION – new committee to consider

Club development (i) Spond. – committee proposed starting to use Spond to collect session payments as current systemis unsustainable – much too labour intensive since the club has grown. Spond charges would increase session cost from £5 to £5.34

Various points were considered

Still possible to charge visitors a different fee to members

Concern about not being able to offer monthly payment option – solution to this to be found by new committee – possiblykeeping these as BACS

If payment requested a few hours in advance of the session, would it reduce no-shows Can you still switch frommonthly to PAYG from month to month -yes, currently

Could request payment 24 hour ahead as this would then make it possible to pin down the playlist at that point

How long does it take for the money to come from Spond? 7 days

Are there other apps? Yes, but not thought to be any better and members have got used to Spond.

Session fee was £6 last year, so even with the increase, it is still very good value.

OVERALL VIEW – general feeling is this the obvious way to go, committee to go ahead with it and work out the practicalities. There was no vote but no obvious dissent to this view.

Club development {ii) – ball machine

OT presented the case for purchase of a ball machine- importance of a consistent feed when drilling, esp for newermembers, important part of improving at all levels, cost £1K, likely to be able to re-sell for £500 if not required after a year.

Downsides – storage, maintenance, not clear how many members actually want to improve their game

Andy Auge de Rancourt has access to a machine for the next few weeks – to be trialled Sunday May 12^th.

OVERALL VIEW- less than half thought it was a good idea for the club to purchase a ball machine

Club development (iii) – club size

Club has grown to 80 members, but only about 50% are active members (i.e. playing at least once a week). ACTION for committee- consider asking members who aren’t playing why not

Our sessions are not full, so we are not at capacity, but if we have too many new members then people can’t get into sessions – it is a fine balance.

There are 61 on the waiting list. There was a discussion about how to grow the club – continue to take in order from the list? Take ones who already know how to play? – but does this go against the ethos of promoting pickleball? Should there be different fees for people not playing regularly? Priority for people who only play at FAPC? But it is very common for people to play at lots of different clubs. Can we take one established advanced player for every new beginner so we increase numbers at both ends of the curve?

Can we have more day time sessions as Fridays are so popular?

The feel of the club has not been diluted by new members and visitors? Can we set up sessions for people in their 20s and 30s?

Should we advertise? Can we get in all the people who came to red nose day for a try out? Can we have a dedicated session for the waiting list? Who will coach the newbies?

New venues likely locally soon, which may change the whole dynamic of pickleball. OVERALL VIEW – club ethosrequires that we grow – promoting pickleball. If we capture more people, we have strength and depth in all abilities. We should not fear growth or competition. We will all continue to enjoy playing. Committee can be trusted and empowered to manage the growth. Need to make sure plans and changes are fully communicated to members.

5. Club constitution

Papers had been circulated in advance with suggested changes to the constitution. RO explained them in turn

• Tidy up of language to aid clarity – proposed Stuart Cockerill, Seconded Andy Auge de Rancourt – unanimous in favour.

• Proposal to cap committee at 9 people. Thought to be workable number, but as the club grows, in future it may make sense to have more, so may be better not to have a cap. Proposal to have NO cap to committee numbers – Proposed by RO, seconded by MS – 29 for and 7 against – therefore this was approved.

• Proposal for defined committee roles – Chair, Secretary, Treasurer. There was a discussion about having Coach, orthe need for every committee member to have a defined role. The committee can agree the role for each member, but thisdoes not need to be formalised in the constitution.

Proposal for defined committee roles as officers of the club – Chair, Secretary, Treasurer­ proposed by Linda Powell, Seconded by Sue Smith – 34 for and 1 against. Therefore this was approved.

• Proposal that the roles of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer should be specifically elected by the AGM (instead of agreed within the committee as at present). Proposed by Mike Rogers, Seconded by Simon Crewe – unanimously approved.

• Proposal that the outgoing committee should determine the process for election of the following year’s committee –proposed by Katherine Rogers, seconded by Elaine Leitch, unanimously approved.

• Proposal for 50% of the committee plus 3 other members to be a quorum for a General Meeting – proposed by Phil O’Hara, seconded by Anna Russell, unanimously approved.

• Need for constitution to be in line with code of Not practical for whole committee to hear complaint.

Proposal for complaint to be heard by a sub-committee of 3 members of the committee chosen at random, and for any appeal to be heard by a different 3 members. Proposed by Mark Powell, seconded by Paul Grinham, unanimously approved.

RO confirmed with the meeting that there were no other parts of the constitution which anyone would like to review or comment on.

6. Re-Elections, Elections and

As per the club constitution, the committee resigned.

BC, CF, LL and RO indicated they were willing to serve for another year.

Additionally, Andy Coult, Karen Jones, Katherine Rogers, Simon Crewe and Simon Mansell had all offered to stand.Statements from all 9 had been circulated in advance.

There were no further nominations, therefore all 9 were duly elected. Proposed by John Russell, seconded by Richard Cairns, unanimously approved.

7. AOB – MS, WB and DT were thanked for all their hard work and dedication to the club and presented with an Acer.

Meeting ended at 10pm