Attendance - Marc Shipley, Mandy Forster, Kevin Forster, Tracey Coats, Russell Hughes, Ian Davies, Mark Flynn, Neil Woodward
Apologies - Anita Hammond, Connor Snaith, Mick Barnes
Minutes of the Previous Meeting • Minutes of the Meeting 10th January 2022 agreed.
Matters Arising/Action Points
4.1 Action Point Update:
- 4.5 Mark – To liaise with Ian regarding tree pruning in advance of new advertising hoardings being erected.
- 4.5 Mark – To investigate if Vertu Motor group willing to supply t-shirts and hoodies with club name and advertising logos.
- 5 Mandy – To attend England Squash ‘Club Safeguarding’ Webinar on 3rd March.
- 5 Mandy – Write to squash members about damage to court floors from blood injuries and perished racket grips.
- 5 Marc – to raise at next Executive Committee meeting the need for replacement Fire Exit doors.
- 5 Kevin/Tracey/Mandy – Provide estimate for Ladies Changing Room update.
4.2 Northumbria Squash Winter Leagues
- 1st Team currently 5th in Division 2.
- 2nd Team currently 1st in Division 4.
- 3rd Team currently 3rd in Division 4.
4.3 Dashboard
- Marc did a walkthrough of the Dashboard and explained that the blue line in the ‘Court Bookings’ graph represented the number of bookings Mon-Fri and the orange line the number of bookings Sat-Sun as a comparison since reducing the weekend booking fee to £3 per court.
- Marc reported that £958 of court booking payments has been sent to the Club Treasurer this month plus £42.75 of membership fees. o Squash bank account healthy. o 156 members to date.
4.4 Enhancement of Wazygoose Boldon Squash Website
- Photos to be uploaded.
4.5 Squash club maintenance/improvement
- Mark confirmed that Vertu Motors is going to replace the advertising boards and sponsor the squash club, however some preliminary work is required to prune the trees and Ian offered his assistance.
- Mark is to look into further advertising by Vertu Motors on the courts and potentially on the TV monitor in the main corridor, along with a potential supply of t-shirts and hoodies with the name of the club and advertising logos.
- Marc reported that the TVs and the one in the Bar are now up and running and the court TVs now mirror the marking tablets.
- Kevin has offered training to Committee members and the Team players/markers.
- Kevin and Tracey gave an update of the state of the cleaning – sadly it is inconsistent, especially the showers, and they will continue to monitor the situation.
4.6 Club Executive Committee Feedback
- Marc reported that the Club is still attempting to find an electrician to do the necessary certification.
- The Cricket section has asked for funds to secure a cricket wicket cutter at a cost of £7,000.
- The Bar is still struggling for sufficient staff cover.
- Replacement fencing and posts was discussed and is being progressed. £2,500 has been donated to the Club by Brian Thubron to help with the fence costs.
- No new Club memberships to report.
- A letter of complaint from a squash member regarding the state of the Club premises and the parking issue was discussed at length and a formal response from the Executive Committee is to be sent.
- AOB
- Mandy explained that as the Squash Club Safeguarding Officer she has been invited to a ‘Club Safeguarding’ webinar being run by England Squash on 3rd March.
- Mark queried whether the impending price rises in the cost of Gas and Electric will result in an increase in club fees. Marc responded that no impact is expected and the Treasurer deals with the overall Club fixed rate contracts.
- Kevin reported that 16 adults and 2 children attended the February Sunday Social, resulting in one definite new member and potentially more.
- Kevin raised the issue of the inadequacy of the existing fire doors, particularly the one behind court 3 that lets in rainwater, and the fact they are often left open at night is a security risk. He suggested an approach to the Executive Committee to fund new metal fire doors – agreed by the Squash Committee.
- Kevin raised the matter of damage to court floors caused by blood injuries and also disintegrating racket grips – the Committee agreed that Mandy should write to all members advising them of the following club and England Squash rules:
- o Stop playing if any blood injury occurs
- o Use the First Aid kit
- o Do not go back on court if the injury is still bleeding
- o Report blood on court to either Kevin or Marc as soon as possible, do not attempt to clean the court floor
- o In addition, racket grips showing signs of deterioration must be replaced immediately. Racket grips are available to buy in the main squash corridor.
- The Committee asked Kevin, Tracey and Mandy to give serious consideration to how best the Ladies Changing room can be updated and to provide an estimate.
- Russell suggested that further advertising flyers could be given out at the micro pub in Sea Road that his son is currently working in.
Date of Next Meeting – Monday 14th March 2022 at 6.30pm
