Since the AGM, we've been working to be ready to incorporate the club as a Company Limited by Guarantee, but this is taking much longer than we'd expected. The company has now been setup ready for incorporation, but working through the bank's identification requirements for the directors and the company has been very time-consuming. We're nearly there now, and as soon as we can, we will call the EGM.
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We are delighted to announce that we have started a junior coaching programme in conjunction with Salcombe Primary School.
The programme will run on Friday afternoons for 10 weeks as a timetabled lesson. We also hope to start another junior coaching initiative from mid June. Thanks to Mike White our new coach for initiating this. Mike is also available for individual lessons. Contact details for both our coaches are on the Coaching page. We've now completely switched over to the LTA-supported ClubSpark system - of course it's different to the old Google sheets, but you'll soon find it much easier to use. It's also much easier and more flexible to administer!
The old Google Sheets system has been discontinued. Following the decision after lockdown not to enter the South Hams Tennis league due to the geographic distance between competing clubs, we now play friendly league style matches against similar minded clubs. Last year we had some thoroughly enjoyable matches, and today we hosted the first ladies match of 2023.
Yes the sun shone, the wind blew and a great afternoon's tennis was played by both teams. In a closely fought match Kingsbridge Park were victorious by 42 games to 33. Their first couple battled hard to secure all 4 of their sets whilst their second pair again won their first 2 sets by pipping the opposition on a tie break, but then went onto surrender their final 2 sets to our first pair. The match was played in an extremely competitive spirt as expected, but the fairness and friendliness between the teams makes these matches a load of fun. Playing for Salcombe today were Chris Coles, Caroline Evans, Heather Bennett-Earle and Jennie Sprague; playing for Kingsbridge Park were Katie Roche, Sonia Harrow, Verity Robinson and Lesley Healey. The afternoon concluded with a cuppa and lemon drizzle cake – is there a better way to spend an April afternoon? Salcombe welcomed a team from Thurlestone for a friendly men’s doubles match on Saturday 15 April. In a close and entertaining match played in glorious sunshine, Salcombe gained local bragging rights with a closely fought 5-3 victory. The encounter was enjoyed by all and made extra special by a delicious match tea. We look forward to the return fixture at Thurlestone later in the year.
We'll shortly be switching over to the LTA-supported ClubSpark system. The new system will accept bookings for play from 1st May onwards, and the old Google Sheets system will be phased out over a three week period, starting on 17th April.
Further details will follow shortly. The Club held a very well attended Easter Bonnet Tournament on Thursday 6th April. The event was a "round robin" format on both courts with a tie break final which was won by Tess Brownill and Heather Earle. Well played both.
Tess also managed to win the competition for Best Bonnet, so double chocolate rations for her! Many thanks to Jennie Sprague for organising. Last year's accounts are now available via the Links page.
We recently received a statement from SHDC saying that the S106 money received by the club was used appropriately and that the correct application procedures were carried out. The email from the Director of Strategy and Governance reads:
"Further to our recent meeting, I can confirm that the Council are satisfied that the S106 funds allocated for improvements to sections of the pathway at Salcombe Tennis Club were properly awarded and have been used appropriately in accordance with the applications dated 3 December 2021 and 7 April 2022." We really hope that this eases any concerns about the way we have gone about this process - if you have any questions, please contact one of us here on the committee so that we can explain things fully. We know that rumours about misuse of funds are still circulating, but those rumours are totally unfounded and we would like to reiterate that the club has not acted improperly in any way.
On 25th January, we had an onsite meeting with the SHDC representative for S106 funding. They stated that they were confident that the S106 funds had been used appropriately on the project to improve the part of the path between Onslow Road and the side entrance to the tennis courts, which was the subject of our application in December 2021. We reported this to the town council at their meeting on the evening of 25th January, and the district council subsequently confirmed their view in writing to us yesterday. |