DUE to the government’s ‘Rule of Six’ announcement, Wellington Tennis Club held their annual meeting on Wednesday of last week via Zoom video conference.

Chairman Sue Rackley reported that the club’s membership numbers were stable in 2019 and generated an income of £4,300. Many more played regularly during the winter club sessions as this was reflected in an increase in light fee revenue.

A lot of competitive tennis had been played in the summer of 2019 with the annual Wellington School match, three teams fielded in the West Somerset league, a summer tournament, Finals’ Day and a Wimbledon tournament. They also re-entered the Winter League and played friendlies against Hemyock and Wiveliscombe during the rain-soaked winter months.

A team captain Patrick Hamilton reported that they had been promoted to Division One and Janet Dobson said there had been ‘a good team effort’ for B team to finish 4th in Division 4. C team had some close matches but were demoted and they needed a more consistent team. However, at the same time it was good to have so many youngsters playing and those new to competitive tennis gaining experience in this team.

The club had an income of £44,955, driven by grants they had received for the third court, but after a ground rent increase to just under £2,000 and spending £4,000 repainting and repairing the courts and paying deposits for construction work, the excess income over expenditure was £26,678.

The chairman pointed out that the Lawn Tennis Association recommended a sinking fund of £5,400 a year to save for the re-surfacing and re-painting of the courts in the future, so it was essential to drive membership and maintain a steady income from court hire fees to manage to save this amount every year.

Head coach Dan Sizer reported that junior coaching sessions had increased in numbers in Redball and Orangeball sessions and Cardio tennis had managed to run throughout the winter. Recently, numbers had doubled at Cardio, so this might generate new memberships.

Termly family tournaments had also proved popular with 18 parents joining the parent/child in May 2020 to play more tennis with their child. Dan had also started monthly adult coaching clinics and the first two had been full.

Simon Cross was re-elected as vice-chairman and Margaret Staker will be their new treasurer with Janet Dobson and Patrick Hamilton remaining on the committee.

The club’s excellent website is updated regularly – visit clubspark.lta.org.uk/WellingtonTennisClub to see what the club offers.