ISRC Squash Club
AGM 21 November 2017 – Minutes
Attendees: Keith Hooton (Chairman), Helen McAndrew (Treasurer), Jonathan Dart (Membership Secretary), Kevin Waring, Rick Loveday, Brian Ellis, Richard Brown, Neil Miller, Patrick St Leger
1.	Apologies: Tony Dean (Secretary), Diana Stewart, Geoff Elcome. Jonathan Dart agreed to act as Secretary for the AGM.
2.	Minutes of previous AGM – not available
3.	Actions Arising – not available
4.	Update: Keith Hooton presented his report.  Some poor financial management had left the general club short of funds and subject to HMRC penalties for failure to meet legal requirements on tax.  The bar had also been loss-making.  Keith had contributed to turning this situation around, resulting in cancellation of the HMRC fines and improved bar management and appearance. Comments:
a.	PS asked whether there had been malfeasance with club funds. KH felt there was insufficient evidence – financial management had clearly been sloppy.
b.	HM proposed a vote of thanks for KH’s sterling work on club management – agreed.
5.	Treasurer’s Report – see attached from HM. Comments:
a.	NM asked: Are we getting VFM from cleaning payments? KH thought yes, others disagreed. BE offered to sweep/clean the courts on a regular basis (Action BE).
b.	KH raised the cost of replacing extractor fans (£500 each). There was general agreement that this was not an urgent priority but KH offered to discuss with Tony Dean (Action KH).
c.	RB suggested the heaters be serviced; KH agreed to look into this, as well as possible replacement of the fluorescent lights with LEDs (Action KH).
d.	General agreement that we needed to conserve money for eventual future floor replacement. At the moment this was not urgent (though lines need redoing).
6.	Membership Report. JD reported we were down to 43 members, from 62 in 2016/17. Some of this was due to weeding out inactive honorary members, the rest part of a general decline over the years. None of those leaving had expressed dissatisfaction; people were leaving as part of normal turnover, but we were not getting enough replacement members. KH mentioned we would need to seek a reduction of the Squash Club payment to the main club, but that ultimately we needed more new members. Discussion of how to do this was deferred to AOB.
7.	Team Report. KW reported that things were going well, with the team gaining promotion. KH reported that we were now fielding a junior team in the Herts U19 leagues, but most ISRC players were at the young end of the U19 spectrum. Asked about the possibility of a ladies team, HM felt there were not enough female players, and those were not yet good enough.
8.	League Report. KH reported that there were six leagues, with most games played every month. A record high proportion of members were active in the leagues.
9.	Competitions Report. KH reported good participation in the three competitions.
10.	Ranking Systems changes. KH presented a new methodology with a more rigorous statistical backing. He had been applying it for two months. This includes:
a.	Performance in competitions being included
b.	Match scores (games not points) being included, not just wins/losses.
For those of you who are interested, there are further details regarding how the new ranking system will work here - http://www.icklefordsquash.com/docs/ickleford%20squash%20ranking%20system.docx. 
KW recommended an external website which could enable players to track their performance down to the points level.
11.	Election of Officers:
a.	Chairman: KH re-elected unopposed
b.	Secretary: KW elected unopposed
c.	Treasurer: HM re-elected unopposed
d.	Membership Secretary: JD re-elected unopposed
e.	Committee members re-elected unopposed
f.	Social Secretary: NM elected to this new position
12.	Squash Section Social events. Suggestions included:
a.	Mixed doubles event. (Action: HM/KH to look into this).
b.	Summer BBQ. (Action: NM)
c.	Regular viewing evenings for televised squash (Action: NM)
d.	A squash tour (Action: NM)
13.	Any other business. 
a.	PS offered his house for the next and future committee meetings and AGMs, given how noisy it was at the Club bar.  (Action: KH and KW to bear in mind for next meetings.)
b.	NM said that the changing rooms were disgustingly dirty and that it was embarrassing to invite visiting teams to use them.  KW offered to “blitz” them the weekend of 25/26 November. (Action KW)
c.	JD asked for ideas on how we might attract new members. Suggestions included:
i.	Signage at the club which could be seen by cricketers or footballers. (Action: KW to discuss graphics with James Atkins?)
ii.	Targeting of young footballers who might prefer an indoor sport. (Action: NM?)
iii.	A regular entry in the Comet on ISRC. (Action RL)
iv.	A redesign of the Squash Club home page (Action: KH to discuss with James Atkins?)
v.	Notes on supermarket message boards. (Action: JD)
vi.	An email to all members asking them to contact friends and relatives. There was little/no enthusiasm for offering financial incentives. (Action: JD)
vii.	Direct contacts to secondary schools (eg St Helena’s). (Action: NM?)
viii.	Offering members the chance to pay by Direct Debit (Action: For discussion at next Committee meeting).