Chat from the Chair –Spring 2012 Edition
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Firstly I would like to begin by thanking the 186 members who attended the recent AGM- it may be a club record. The outgoing club president Dr.Eric Brierley opened the meeting and was presented with a small gift in recognition of his work and support for the club over many years. Burt Stubbs was elected as the new President and has already expressed his wish to meet members and listen to their points of view. We were also sorry to see Derek Alsford, Todd Hughes and Tony Mullinder leave the Management Committee, but welcome Simon Cox, Fiona Quade, and Chris Raleigh as new Management Committee members.
Many of you present at the AGM took the role of “critical friend” to the Management Committee and were constructive in your comments demonstrating that you have the best interests of the whole club at heart. Thanks go to Keith Barron for his thorough budget presentation and Tom Knight for his presentation of the proposed new membership categories; both of these took hours of work and discussion and debate by the working parties and at the management committee meetings. Full details of the budget and the proposals are posted on the Club notice board. One of the tasks of the newly formed Management Committee will be to revise the Club’s rules where appropriate.
There were no formal presentations by the sports professionals on the evening but there have been presentation evenings for both Squash and Tennis and these will be repeated in the future.
Simon Cox, Chair of the Squash committee, has highlighted the following in his report. …That at every level there are a now additional team entered at into the various leagues, this includes three ladies team at a time when some clubs are struggling to field one ladies team. Funding has been secured from Hants SRA to get more girls involved in Squash. Saturday squash sessions are a great success as are the am racket ball sessions. There are school links with 3 secondary schools as well as sessions being put on for local beaver and scout groups. World-class players were involved in the squash-open day and the finals of the inter-county racket ball and regional coach’s workshops were held at the club. Tim Vail reached the final of the BSPA in November, only narrowly losing 3-2 in the final. There are 3 professional players at the club ranked number 63,116 and 157. The role of honour displayed in the Squash seating area confirms how successful squash is at the club and we are grateful for the hard work done of the squash professionals in partnership with the pro-active squash committee.
The Tennis report highlights the success of the mini-tennis and the junior squads with wins at county level at under12 and under18 age group by both boys and girls. Links with 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school have continued to flourish. The tennis programme is continually revised with new sessions added for all abilities. Mark Wallis, Chair of the Tennis committee, has made sure that this is a high agenda item at their monthly meetings. Mix-ins, tournaments, match play, fund raising events and the Tennis Open Day have all met with success. Several of the men’s teams have gone unbeaten and there is an additional ladies team entered into the forthcoming summer league.
Chris Wilkinson has resigned as Director of Tennis and will be working out his 3 month notice period. We are sorry to see him leave after 10 years of working at Lee which has seen tremendous improvement in all aspects of tennis and of the club’s standing both locally and in the county. Chris has over the last 2 years been increasingly involved in developing different strands to his career, notably his commentating for Eurosport, ITV 4 and the master’s series. More recently he has had considerable success in managing GB junior teams notably the under 14’s who have become European champions. We wish him every success in the future and offer him our sincere thanks in raising the profile of Lee tennis.
You will be aware that the fitness class programme has gone from strength to strength
with Dena developing a very comprehensive programme which has been a key consideration when looking at new membership categories. The therapy room under her guidance has flourished with Ellen and Kate’s promotions and services proving popular with members throughout the year.
This last year’s entertainments programme has been a huge and notable success for the Club. There has been increased use of the catering services and the hire of the function room. The functions and events over the Christmas and New Year period were very well attended by members, as were the various Centenary celebrations. The quiz nights, comedy evenings and special dining events continue to be popular. Thanks go to all the staff, and to the members for supporting this very comprehensive and successful entertainments programme. Congratulations must also go to Denise and her team for being awarded the Caskmarque Certificate of Excellence for cellar –keeping and delivery quality of the beers on offer and also achieving 5/5 from Gosport Borough Council for our Food Hygiene standard – very few food outlets achieve that level of excellence.
The refurbishment of the front of house, as agreed at the November 2011 General Meeting, is now being actioned, with the family/accessible toilet installed and the other works going out to tender in the near future.
LOST is a unique members club with a proud sporting and social tradition and I know all of us want the club to prosper and to continually improve to meet the needs of its members. The club would not operate if it were not for the volunteers who work on the various committees and working parties along with the Club’s dedicated staff. The Chair’s Thank You Party is scheduled for Saturday 19 May 2012 and the Management Committee will be inviting to this celebratory evening all of those who give so much of their time and energy to the Club. We look forward to meeting you.
Best wishes
Barbara Wilkie
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