Trustees’ Annual Report
for
,
Maresfield Lawn Tennis Club (Charity No 1116960)
For the period
1 January 2024 —- 31 December 2024
Introduction
This Annual Report by the Trustees of Maresfield Lawn Tennis Club (MLTC) covers the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. It also provides a forward look between the end of the reporting period and date of publication for completeness.
Charity Name and Registration Number
The Charity is Maresfield Lawn Tennis Club and is registered with charity number 1116960. MLTC is unincorporated.
Registered Address
MLTC’s Registered Address is: Batts Bridge Road Maresfield UCKFIELD East Sussex TN22 2HN
Trustees
The Trustees making and approving this Report are: Mr Keith Springer (Chair) Mrs Alexandra Rothery (appointed 1 March 2025) Mrs Anne Eden-Green (appointed 1 April 2024)
Mrs Petrina Voelcker Mr Paul Reilly Mrs Camilla Gilbertson Mrs Janet Primrose Mirs Carol Sturt Dr John Lutkin Mr Timothy Cottingham
Charitable Object
MLTC has its objective the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation for the benefit of the inhabitants of Maresfield and surrounding districts by the provision of facilities for the playing of tennis and touch tennis to support youngsters and disabled players.
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Trustees Annual Report MLTC 2024 Charity No 111696
Structure and Governance
:
The Charity, which is an unincorporated association, is managed by a Committee comprising of 10 Trustees. Officers are elected annually at an Annual General Meeting with nominations open to, and invited from, all members of the organisation who are over the age of 18. The Committee meets quarterly. The Head Coach is also a Trustee and attends meetings as the group ensures that tennis development plays a major part of its considerations. Only members of the organisation are entitled to vote in an AGM. The Articles empower members to raise special resolutions and call for Extraordinary General Meetings should they disagree with a decision or direction of the Committee. Again, only members of the organisation are entitled to vote in an EGM.
The Committee considers all aspects of the running of the organisation, and routinely reviews all aspects of the operation of the Charity: Junior Coaching and young people (taking reports from the Head Coach) Financial matters (taking a report from the Treasurer) Membership issues Safeguarding Club play and Matches Grounds and Maintenance including court re-surfacing Fund-raising and participation in external events for the purposes of Promoting the Charity and its Objectives
Our business plan and mission statement The comprehensive Risk Analysis and Management Plan
MLTC has a number of written policies in force, including:
Bullying and harassment policy and procedures Complaints handling Conflicting interests Financial reserves policy and procedures Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures Internal risk management policy and procedures Risk management Safeguarding policy and procedures Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
These are reviewed for relevance and contemporariness.
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Activities and Promoting the Charitable Objects
The club is committed to provide a welcoming and accessible environment for all tennis enthusiasts whilst also adhering to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
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The club continues to hold periodic Open Days and other events to encourage the game of tennis among adults and juniors. We had a constant trickle of new members and players new to tennis throughout the year.
The coaching team at Le Tennis has provided coaching to Maresfield Lawn Tennis Club for the past 30 years, for all ages and abilities and for recreational players to national standard.
Throughout the last year the coaching team has provided camps and fun days for children and young people from the local community. Our links to 13 local primary schools has been established over many years and we provide weekly coaching as part of their wrap around care provision.
Activities at the club provide children and young people with a safe environment where they play sport and develop friendships. We have also provided coaching for a ladies group and cardio tennis for all. Le Tennis prides itself on being inclusive for all and our programme is accessed by children, young people and adults with additional needs such as neurodiversity, physical disabilities and visual impairments.
Having a strong female coaching workforce, we also have a passion for encouraging and supporting females in sport. As part of this commitment, we have run girl only events called ‘She Rallies’. These have been very popular. In the last year we also ran a coaching course for young people from a local school who have social, emotional and educational needs that cannot be met in mainstream schooling.
Le Tennis has also run two charitable events specifically to raise funds to give to a special care baby unit and a local hospice and an additional event for the club.
We understand that financial restraints can act as a barrier to sport for some. Consequently, Team Le Tennis also commits to offering financial support to several families each year by providing free or discounted squads. Team Le Tennis also supports young people taking GCSE / A level PE and the Duke of
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Edinburgh Awards. We provide practical help with video analysis, feedback reports (DofE) and work experience. We encourage young people to take the LTA coaching assistant courses and will offer them holiday work. Team Le Tennis is also proud of the fact that we have had several young people obtain scholarships for university in America, providing them with the opportunity to study and play there. We also have former players who have accessed top universities in the UK, such as Loughborough and Bath, and play tennis in their teams.
Finally, many former players have gone on to have successful careers as adults within sport, be it coaching, sports psychology or as physiotherapists.
Financial Review 2024
The Charity had a satisfactory year financially. There was an inflationary increase in Membership fees and therefore despite a reduction in membership numbers, our membership income was only marginally lower than 2023. A solid surplus of £14, 553 was realised by additionally earning income from tennis camps, recovering ever rising floodlight costs from users and earning interest on the bank deposit account. We also received £1,023 from two successful fund-raising events — a quiz night and a tennis tournament.
There were no major expenditures during the year, with our largest costs relating to routine court cleaning and repair and floodlight maintenance costs. This allowed us to grow our cash reserves during the year ahead of significant resurfacing and floodlight replacement costs expected in 2025.
The Charity maintains reserves to enable replacement of its facilities — renewal of the tennis court surfaces and floodlight replacement being the priority items - without which it would be unable to deliver its objects. At the end of December 2024, the reserves stood at £102,697, fully realisable as cash. The accounts have been prepared under the receipts and payments convention in 2024 (refer to Section A and Section B below).
Forward Look
This Section covers the period from the end of the reporting year up to the point at which this report was submitted.
In the coming year we are exploring the possibility of obtaining a Wealden grant to contribute towards the costs of resurfacing some or all the courts in
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disrepair and replacing the halogen floodlights with LED, as the former are not only costly and almost impossible to source but also environmentally unfriendly.
We will be re-surfacing courts 1 and 2 and quotations are currently being sought. This is necessary, as they have already lasted longer than expected but . court 1 is no longer draining properly, making it unplayable during the Winter months and the surface is now beginning to ‘scar’ significantly. Both courts need to be completed at the same time, as otherwise, they will not be the same height nor condition.
There are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that cast doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.
Public Benefits Statement
The Trustees consider that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
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Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) LARS ent ~—
Full name(s) | Keith Springer Camilla Gilbertson
Position (eg Secretary, | Chair Treasurer
Chair, etc)
Date 2avA My 2027Sreiee
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Trustees Annual Report MLTC 2024 Charity No 111696
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF MARESFIELD LAWN TENNIS CLUB
| report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Maresfield Lawn Tennis Club for the year ended 31st December 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
| report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination | have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent Examiner’s Statement.
| have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirements that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
| confirm that there are no other matters to which your attention should be drawn to enable a apo of the accounts to be reached.
Mr Duncan Lyne Braeside Cottage Underhill Maresfield East Sussex TN22 3AY
Date: so BIDE ce
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Trustees Annual Report MLTC 2024 Charity No 111696
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Section A Receipts and payments
Unresticiodfunds Restricted funds Endowmentfunds Total funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A‘ Receipts
[Floodlight cost recovery Ss | AUT eeTT | 48
IGuestFeesOT 0
[DonationsEeee |eee
[Fundraising02 PL
[interest on deposit account | 4 | PE 69
a Os 0 Os
Sub total(Gross income forAR)| sto} { [PT]
A2 Asset and investment sales,
see table).
es
Subtotal] |
A3 Payments
[Water Electricity, Internet | 8 et | | Te
[Gieaning[Maintenance0Sand Gardening ———SSC~C‘C~‘~t'YC«|PESSS (ddd 05
[CTA Registration, League Fees, tennis bals |——4,0r6| [———-eePOC~'i|0 |__| {__4,016|
[BankTECharges =
[Othertos [PP]
Subtotal] tvs} {CL
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
ee
Subtotal]|_____|
Net of receipts(payments) 14553)) 4 14,553
AS Transfers between funds ee |
A6 Cash funds last year end 88,1444; 88,144
Cash funds this year end 102,697] [iY 102,697
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Trustees Annual Report MLTC 2024 Charity No 111696
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
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Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
Total cash funds
Fund toe which asset Cost (opti \ Current value
belongs ost (optional) (optional)
Fund to which asset Current value
belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
Fund to which Amount due When due
liability relates (optional) {optional}
B5 Liabilities | . | |
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Trustees Annual Report MLTC 2024 Charity No 111696