1 Attendance Marc Shipley, Mandy Forster, Kevin Forster, Tracey Coats, Mick Barnes, Ian Davies, Connor Snaith, Mark Flynn
2 Apologies Neil Woodward
3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting – Minutes of the Meeting 13th September 2021 agreed.
4 Matters Arising
4.1 Northumbria Squash Winter Leagues
- Underway.
- Next scheduled match is against Ashington to be played at Concordia.
- 3 games scheduled over 3 nights Mon/Tues/Wed in two weeks time.
4.2 Dashboard
- Walkthrough by Marc who invited suggestions from the Committee for any further useful information that could be added to the current content.
- A revised version is to be placed on the Notice board each month.
4.3 Enhancement of Wazygoose Boldon Squash Website
- Marc explained the Pen Pictures are to be forwarded to Wayne for upload to our club page.
- Photographs for the Notice board and Wazygoose still to be updated.
4.4 Update on Squash court lights
- Kevin reported that courts 3 and 4 lights are to be replaced 19 & 20 October.
4.5 Squash Contribution to Club
- Marc reported that £490.55 recently transferred to the Club bank account.
- He also reported that funds to help enhance the squash club are building steadily within the Squash bank account.
- Marc asked the Committee to think about what upgrades we can do to ensure we not only retain our current membership but also look to enhance it.
- In response to Ian’s suggestion that a glass-back court is the best way forward, Marc explained the difficulty in his attempts to obtain building quotes but he is continuing to pursue this. Suggestions included:
- Improvements to the staging/seating areas, which would enhance viewing of games and competitions
- Improvements to the Ladies Changing Room, especially since the recent flooding of the carpet from the roof overflow
- Installation of camera and screen(s) to view games, including connection to a screen in the Bar
- Re-installation of a water fountain.
- The Committee agreed that the members should be invited to put forward suggestions.
- Mandy to email all members via Wazygoose.
4.6 Club Executive Committee Feedback
- Marc reported on the current financial status of the Club.
- He explained to the Squash Committee that the banking facilities for the Club are currently complex and that he has suggested to the Treasurer that we should move away from using cheques and switch to online banking.
- This is being progressed.
- Trading is down, and the Executive is looking at ways of cutting costs.
- In order to cut staff costs, reduced opening hours (Winter hours) will be introduced from 18th October.
- Function Room Bookings – the Executive has agreed to rent the room to a florist to run a number of classes from 25th November.
- The Executive has agreed to the Music and Social Night in the Bar on Sunday 14th November, featuring ‘The Racket’ and other performers from the Club. This is a Club fund raising event.
- World Squash Day held on 9th October
- 11 juniors and 15 adults attended during the open day (2 of whom came as a result of media publicity).
- Advertising Boards
- Marc had explained to the Executive that the Squash Committee is looking into the potential of updating the advertising hoardings in order to raise funds.
5 AOB
- Club Handicap 2021 - In response to a query raised about this completion Kevin explained that it is to go ahead during November & December this year but scheduling dates is proving difficult because of the team games.
- Possible dates to begin are 24/36/27 November.
- Finals Night likely to be on Saturday 11th December.
- Following some discussion about the Handicap Auction/Cheese & Wine morning that used to take place successfully in a bygone era, the Committee agreed it may be a good idea to reinstate it this year as a fun social morning prior to the start of the competition.
- Mick and Ian agreed to act as auctioneers and progress this idea.
- Kevin reported that we have a £200 ‘Bounce Back’ grant from England Squash that could be used for this event.
- Ian asked Marc to pursue the matter of a portion of the money given to the Club from Marston’s that is earmarked for Squash only.
- Marc to raise this with Dave Gilbert, Club Treasurer.
- Marc explained that it would be beneficial to have more Squash representatives on the Club Executive Committee and in view of this, at Ian’s suggestion, we should look to invite more people on to the Squash Committee.
- Mark F reported that he has spoken to the Vertu Regional Manager regarding the Advertising Boards, who is in favour of supporting the Club.
- The current boards need some attention and this is to be rectified.
- The Committee unanimously agreed to control any advertising revenue received as a result of the Squash Committee’s efforts, in the same way Cricket advertising revenue is controlled by the Cricket Committee.
- The Committee thanked Mark F for his work to date, and to finalise the plans.
- Connor suggested a return to 1 hour court times which may prove popular with a number of members.
- Suggestion made to trial a £4 hour long session over Saturday and Sunday.
- Marc to discuss the viability of this on the Wazygoose system with Wayne.
- Committee members to canvass opinions and report at next meeting.
- Tracey also reported on the under-use of the courts over the weekend and suggested mini handicap competitions that could help boost court usage.
- Connor then suggested granting free court time over each weekend to boost usage.
- Action – Committee Members to put forward any further ideas and Kevin, Tracey and Marc to progress ideas.
Date of Next Meeting – Monday 8th November at 7pm.
