MINUTES OF SQUASH COMMITTEE MEETING on 17th February 2026
PRESENT: Roger Tames, Wayne Eastaugh, Andy Smith, Bob Aynsley, Lesley Vitty, Stuart McNaughton, Dave North, Allan Curry.
APOLOGIES: Keith Linsley, Tim Barker.
IN ATTENDANCE: Richard Vitty
AGENDA ITEMS
Minutes of previous meeting:
• No outstanding matters
Summary of Reports submitted prior to meeting:
• Adult Coaching (BA) - Groups continue to thrive and have 69 enrolled on present courses. The beginner end has spaces and hoping the social media campaign will get a few more involved, especially at this level. Recently, BA has had a few taster sessions with great success in terms of group participation and membership.
The England Squash visit went very successfully, and both the Marketing guy, Tom and his cameraman were very impressed with the club and the welcome energy, fun and inclusivity they witnessed, and they are back preparing an expose re. Northern’s successfully integrated Adult and Junior programmes to put on their website. They also liked the Walking Squash initiative, and since then BA has had a number of enquiries from Kirsten Todd at England Squash and has been writing a couple of reports for them so they can try and expand the programme out nationwide.
• Wazygoose etc (WE) – Total membership - 410 (coaching - 6, daytime - 20, guardian - 7, student/over 16 – 33, juniors – 157, over 21 – 175, veterans – 10, staff – 2).
Internal Leagues - 68 players in current session. Runs to Friday 6th March 2026
Wazygoose - WE’s primary focus is still on the Group Membership feature (for family/joint/corporate). I'm hoping to get this complete soon!
• Maintenance (AS) - The floor of court 3 has been completely sanded and the lines repainted. This has removed all of the staining and black marks.
Heaters/controllers on cts 1,3,4 not working properly following recent resets – engineer coming out 18/02/26 to investigate and hopefully fix.
Replacement light tubes are still being investigated.
The meeting thanked AS for his recent efforts in getting ct 3 floor and court heaters sorted.
• Ladies’ Squash Report (LV) - Ladies 1: Currently bottom of Division 1 after two matches, sitting 11 points behind 3rd place. Ladies 2: Holding 3rd place in Division 2 after three matches. Ladies 3: Positioned 4th in Division 2 after four matches.
• Squash Coaches Update (LV) - There are 18 active squash coaches within the club: 9 Level 1, 7 Level 2, 1 Level 3, 1 Level 4, Coaching qualifications continue to be monitored, with fdollow-up actions taken as required.
• Teams/County/Club Play (DN) - Teams in Men's League:
Northern 1 - 1st in Premier Division - unbeaten and 58 pts ahead of 2nd placed team
Northern 2 - 3rd Divn 1 - play-off place
Northern 3 - 9th Div 1 - almost certain to relegated
Northern 4 - 8th Div 2 - relegation place
Northern 5 - 5th Div 3 - safely mid-table
Northern 6 - 4th Div 5 - could finish 3rd (play-off)
Juniors - 1st Div 5 - only lost once and 29 pts ahead of 2nd placed team
County - Nothing to report.
Club Play - Numbers remain healthy - 12 plus every session
• Health & Safety (KL) – nothing to report.
Court Bookings
Following a few recent submissions from members commenting on restricted availability of courts for members to book during midweek peak times and at weekends, a full discussion took place about possible solutions.
The following were agreed:
Coaches to not pre-book courts for individual coaching during midweek peak times (5 pm to 8.20 pm) and at weekends when courts are booked for group coaching/club play.
Adult Cub Play will commence at 5.40 pm (from 7th March) for a 3 month trial period. This will free up all courts at 5 pm for members to book.
BA to use cts 2-4 at 5 pm/5.400 pm on Sundays (leaving ct 1 free for members to book)
Sunday team matches to use court 1 from 6.20 pm and court 2 from 7 pm (freeing up ct 2 for members to book at 6.20 pm)
9.00 pm and 9.40 pm courts to become off-peak.
The benefits and revenue from the Junior and Adult coaching programmes were noted during discussions and it was felt cutting back on these would be detrimental.
RT to communicate decisions to members.
Membership limit
RT proposed we should look at the effect on court availability if membership reached 450. Meeting agreed to this. It was also noted that the committee will be looking at membership categories before the 01/9/26 renewal date.
Elite Coaching
Meeting agreed this should be looked at (if necessary) once Cai Younger’s future intentions are known.
England Squash grants
BA has submitted bids for extending Liberdade programme and to generate interest in Squash 57 (Racketball).
Social Media Advertising
Agreed to continue using Adam Coates services when needed.
AOB
150th Anniversary Dinner - RT to reserve 2 tables for squash members and families/friends (if this is to proceed).
Next Meeting
Monday 30th March - 7.15 pm
