Chairman’s Message
Dear fellow Members,
It was a great shame that we were not able to reopen the Club fully on Monday as we all hoped. Nevertheless, there is much sport taking place, not least our own Tennis Club Championships. The grass courts look fabulous despite the rain not letting us get full use of them.
That leads me to offer our congratulations once again to Cameron Norrie, who reached the finals at Queen’s last week – his third ATP tour final in recent weeks. Also two more of our first team players, Anton Matusevich and Arthur Fery have won through to the final round of qualifying today for Wimbledon. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have three Roehampton Club Members in the first round next week alongside Andy Murray!
We are also able to welcome back from Florida University – Annabel Fuller. Annabel has offered to play 72 holes on Monday 28th June to raise £1,000 for the Laurie Todd Foundation in memory of Granville Lloyd. Members have signed up to play 9 holes with her and the Club will donate monies for all birdies and eagles scored. If you are playing on Monday please let them through to achieve their target!
Tipping
Many Members have taken the opportunity to watch the Euros football at the Club taking advantage of our improved food and beverage services. We are aware that there has been the odd glitch in service standards recently for which we apologise and steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence. On the other hand, some Members have been keen to express their appreciation of the normally excellent catering service provided by tipping staff. It has long been the Club’s policy that there should be no tipping. Instead, staff receive a payment twice a year from a staff fund established out of our subscriptions. Staff are eligible for this provided they have been employed for a minimum of six months and have performed well. Accordingly, we respectfully ask Members not to try to tip staff.
Tree work
Members may recall that there was recently an incident of a tree collapsing on the boundary by the 13th tee falling into Clarence Lane. Following that the Club commissioned a comprehensive survey of all the trees on the Club’s estate by an independent arboreal specialist. That survey is now underway beginning with all trees on the Club’s perimeter. The expert has already advised that one of the large lime trees near the main entrance gates on the boundary with Roehampton Lane must be taken down now due to disease. Members will therefore see that tree disappear in the next few days. Depending on the expert’s continuing survey and advice, other tree work may be necessary. We are taking his expert advice on what species can be replanted to maintain the number of trees on the estate.
AGM
This took place on Tuesday as previously advised on Zoom. I understand that some Members were not able to join because of technical difficulties beyond the Club’s control. The Board and I regret this. Nevertheless, a quorum was present in person. We also received 492 proxies from 121 shareholders. The 2020 Annual Report and Accounts were received. BDO LLP were reappointed as our auditors.
In the absence of an election to fill the vacancies on the Board following the retirement by rotation of those Directors whose first term had expired, the AGM voted to approve the reappointment of the following Directors, all of whom were standing again:
David Burditt
Mohamed El Guindi
Graham Huntingford
Patricia Morgan
On behalf of us all, I congratulate them and thank them for their willingness to serve another three years.
Informal Online Forum
Following the AGM, this Forum took place. Including Directors, 36 Members took part.
A variety of topics were raised, following a presentation by the Chief Executive and Chairman of Finance Committee. If any Member would like a copy of the finance presentation it can be found after login on the Members’ website under ‘The Club’ navigation tab and then click ‘Committees and Minutes’ followed by ‘AGM’.
Minutes of the Forum and of the AGM will be posted on the Clubhouse noticeboard in the usual way in due course. We are very grateful to those Members who gave up their time to take part in both the AGM and Forum which are important events in the Club’s calendar.
Staffing goodbyes
We have some long standing staff leaving the Club to either retire or take up new and exciting challenges in their careers. Paul Swain – Maintenance Manager, Criscia Walker – Front of House Manager, Gill Lemore – Tennis Professional and Joe Biggs – Golf Professional all depart soon and we thank them for their commitment and dedication to the Club over many years and wish them well for the future.
Best wishes,
Alan