Minutes of the Bolton Tennis Committee meeting held at 7pm on Friday 9th August 2024 at Lostock Tennis Club.

Present: Messrs. Al-Chalabi, Broughton, Caswell, Maslivec, Pearson (in the chair), Prince, Saunders, Taylor, Ms L Cartwright, S Francis, Ms Morley.

Apologies for absence: Messrs. Nuttall & Smith, Ms K Caldwell, Ms Perry & Mrs V Browne.

Minutes of the June and July meetings: These had been circulated and were agreed after a small correction to the June meeting.

Matters Arising: We have paid out the loan to Markland Hill and we now have all the details from Walmer.

Correspondence: We had some which would be considered at the end of the meeting.

League Reports:

Men’s League:  There were only 5 abandoned matches this season as opposed to 30+ the previous season. We had 4 player absences, 5 late match cards and one occasion were a team could not be raised. There have been no real issues. I have just had a few requests for eligibility checks.

Mixed League: There are a couple of issues regarding eligibility and placement of players in teams that could affect the teams below. These are currently under investigation.
It was suggested that we should have a specific time of day as well as a date when player registration will close.
A member of Lostock had produced a computer program which could surpass our present system of checking on Google Sheets. We will investigate further.

Ladies League: None

Junior League: This finished in early July. There had been no rain-offs. We have had three no-shows. One club played 4 ineligible players, so the score was reversed.
We need a new Junior Match Secretary. We will advertise in the newsletter making the point that the Junior League may have to fold.

Winter League: The Committee held a short meeting this week to consider whether a match fee price increase should be brought in for the coming season prior to contacting teams for confirmation of their continuing involvement. The match fee has remained at £5 per player per match for many years and at the previous meeting it was felt that the match fee should increase to £6 per player per match, due to increases in the court hire at the Arena and increases in the cost of balls. However, with grateful thanks again to the donation of left over balls from the tournament, this year we need only to purchase a very small number of balls compared to previous years. This could potentially allow us to continue at £5 per player for another season. 
The Arena have increased their court hire costs for the coming season, but as previously, the Arena payments would be offset by David Lloyd where more matches take place and court hire is less expensive. We are therefore waiting for a response from David Lloyd confirming their court hire costs before making a decision on match fees. 
The start date for the coming season will be Friday 27th September, the Arena already being booked. 

Treasurer: The Loan for Markland Hill for £5,000 has been made (so they can purchase new floodlights). Walmer have also had a loan of £2,500 paid towards their resurfacing of courts project. Unsure if anymore is required at this stage for Walmer.

Consideration of trophies in the future as they currently cost more than the league entry fees cover so either we need to reduce the trophies costs or increase league entry fees in the future in my opinion.

Consideration of what we have insured is needed in the future as the insurance premium we pay is £2K plus which seems exceptionally high for a league. 
All Sponsors of the tournament have been invoiced just waiting on payments to be made. 

Other matters - DJ has been booked for the presentation (it is a company I have used before)

AOB / Presentation have we followed up with Mercure to see if their venue is suitable for us for the 2025 presentation given the price differential they are offering?
Two Committee members will arrange a visit quite soon.

The General Secretary said that team fees have stayed the same since the time of Gordon Ashworth. They may be due for an increase. We will have to think about the true value of insuring the trophies.

Tournament: We have a review meeting on the 20th.
Report by Alan Prince:
Although the weather was changeable throughout the 9-day tournament, we were fortunate that rain did not impede the progress of the matches to any important extent. We were particularly lucky that the forecasted rain on finals day did not arrive until evening and so we were able to get through all the finals in dry weather. It was especially fortunate as it would not have been possible for us to use the Arena which is the usual backup in case of bad weather.
Overall, the entries in most of the senior events were fairly comparable to last year with increases in the women’s doubles and also the handicap men’s singles. The main change was the level mixed doubles which decreased by 6 from 14 in 2023 to 8 this year. Sadly, the U14 Girls singles, U18 Girls Doubles and junior mixed doubles were not able to run due to insufficient entries.
In the handicap events, the number of close matches (6-4, 6-4 or closer) was 47 out of 107 i.e. 44% - fairly comparable to what has been achieved in recent years.
Finally, our main thanks go to Andy Taylor, the Tournament Referee, who ensured that all the finals were reached by the scheduled date. As I know from previous experience what a huge effort it is to organise all the matches successfully. Could I also thank Liz Perry, our Tournament Secretary, for all her hard work in particularly in the preparative stages. Our thanks are also due to the three host clubs and their committees for allowing us to use their facilities and finally to our own Tournament Committee for regular meetings throughout the year to help make the Tournament the success it is.

Presentation Evening: We still have no presenter. A suggestion was put forward which will be followed up by the General Secretary.

Dunlop: It is the last year of sponsorship from Dunlop. The only other possibility is Head which can be followed up.

Social Media: The Communications Secretary said this item is not needed as a permanent item on the agenda.

LTA Network: The next meeting is in mid-September, a chairman’s meeting will also be arranged.

AOB: The question was asked as to how many clubs had LTA membership.

Date and Time of Next Meeting: 7pm Friday 20th September a week later than normal when the Chairman would be available.

Correspondence from a club:

Present: Messrs. Broughton, Caswell, Maslivec, Pearson (in the chair), Prince, Saunders, Ms L Cartwright, Ms Morley.

It was pointed out that this could not be regarded as a true appeal under the rules as it had not been accompanied by the required £20 fee. However, the Committee agreed to consider the points raised.

This had been received from a club penalised on the application of rule 7c, when the Match Secretary had mistakenly given permission for players to play in a match when they were not eligible. Whilst it was agreed that the club had acted in good faith, particularly as it had consulted with the Match Secretary, nevertheless the rule had been broken. The committee unanimously agreed to stand by its original decision and award the sets won by the ineligible players to the opposition.