Saltford Lawn Tennis Club Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2023
Charity number: 1183060
This has been another significant and successful year for the club which is detailed below in the Annual Report and accounts.
Objective
Our charitable objective is to promote community participation in healthy recreation by providing facilities for playing tennis for the benefit of the public in Saltford and the surrounding area.
Overview
The club has three outdoor all weather floodlit courts with a clubhouse which has been replaced during the year. The club is an open and friendly community club which is run by volunteers. There were no paid staff during the year as we had outsourced the provision of coaching to Team Bath from University of Bath.
This has been a year of significant investment for the club which has transformed the facilities as we completed the long-planned project to replace the small and dilapidated clubhouse. This has been a significant project for the club over many years and has only been possible by a number of members volunteering their time to support with fundraising, grant applications, planning applications, vendor selection and project management. The build project commenced in February 2022 when the old clubhouse was demolished and completed in early June 2022, with a formal opening event in July 2022.
The new clubhouse is double the footprint, which is now suitable for the number of members and players in our coaching programmes. The clubhouse has a disabled toilet, kitchen facilities and more space to enable us to run community events.
Two further investment projects have been completed this year which has been the replacement of the fencing on the two short sides of the courts and the installation of a new smart access gate. The smart gate access system is a significant step forward for us and was part of the new clubhouse project as it increases accessibility to the courts for all members and the general public. The gate links to the floodlights so it makes it easier for both members and the general public to play for longer hours through the winter months.
We constructed a permanent cycle stand adjacent to the courts, which is available to all (not just users of the Club) to promote cycling to the courts and the village hall.
We have 15 (2022: 14) main volunteers who are either committee members or hold specific roles within the Club. They have volunteered time and skills across a wide range of activities including organising the in-house tournament; managing club sessions, holding two Open Days, organising and running fundraising events, managing the membership database; financial record keeping, social media, marketing, project management of the Clubhouse replacement project, safety and welfare and maintenance. These members have been supported by a further 24 members. We are grateful to all the members who volunteer and have enabled the club to have a successful year both on and off the court.
On Court activities
Membership
At 31 March 2023 we had 191 (2022: 205) members which is in line with prior year and as a result of the number of first year members renewing has led to a record membership income in the year.
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Saltford Lawn Tennis Club Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2023
Charity number: 1183060
We provide a discounted first year membership for adults and families which gives a low cost entry point to enable more people to access tennis. Members are able to book courts for free, gain discounts on group coaching sessions, participate in club nights and the annual in-house tournament as well as represent the club in league matches.
Court hire
Our courts are available to hire by the general public through our website and the mobile ClubSpark Booker App. All three courts are available for the general public to hire (when not in use by the Club) at a very competitive price of £6, or £11 with floodlights, per hour per court. We are registered with LTA Rally which increases our profile as non-members can find and book local courts
We had 176 hours (2022: 256) of general public court hire of hours which generated a financial income of £1,062 (2022: £1,834). The number of hours and income reduced from the prior year due to the very wet and cold winter weather. However, the number of bookings demonstrates that the Club is open and accessible to the general public.
League
We fielded three Ladies and two Mens teams in the Avon Tennis Summer League which enabled more members to play competitive league matches. We entered two teams into the Avon Tennis Mixed Winter League which ran from November to the end of March.
We were proud to attend the Avon Tennis League Awards evening in October 2022 where the Club received the LTA Club and Peter May, Trustee received the LTA Volunteer of the Year for Avon County for 2022 together with two of the Ladies, and one of the Mens teams also collecting awards for winning their division. In addition Peter May went on to be awarded the LTA Volunteer of the Year for the South and South West region.
In-house tournament
Our annual inhouse tournament was again a huge success and really brings the whole club together. We had 47 members take part in the tournament with ages ranging from 12 to 77 years old. We were delighted that the Ladies draws had a 33% increase in entrants in the singles and 40% in the doubles.
We held an inaugural Award evening which was attended by 40 members and celebrated the winners of the in-house tournament as well as generating funds for the Club.
Coaching
In October 2022, we finished the contract with Team Bath (from University of Bath) our coaching service provider due to changes in their coaches and coaching programme. We reviewed the coaching needs of the Club and following interviews, we recruited a new coach who commenced a coaching in February 2023 following a three-month gap. We initially implemented one evening of coaching and have now built out to a full programme across two afternoons/ evenings and a Saturday morning. The coaching is open to the general public as well as members.
Open days
We held one LTA open day in May 2022 which was a great success with the coach providing coaching taster sessions and many members volunteering to support the afternoon. We had 50 members of the general public attend and many joined the coaching programme afterwards.
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Saltford Lawn Tennis Club Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2023
Charity number: 1183060
In July 2022, during the biannual Saltford village Festival week, we supported the Saltford Sports Club Fun Day Sunday event where we provided coaching taster sessions as well as free play to members of the public. It was a great success even with approximately 50 children and adults enjoying playing tennis for free on a very hot sunny afternoon.
Charitable activities
In November 2022, we organised a fundraising Ladies doubles tournament which raised £200 to enable a Club member to provide tennis equipment for children in her home village in Uganda. The funds raised enabled the local children to play tennis through hiring a court for them to use for a year. In addition, the Club donated a spare mini net, a selection of racquets and balls. We were delighted to receive thank you letters from the children.
In addition, we donated three spare nets to St Bernard Lovell Secondary School.
Fundraising
During the year we held two very popular quiz nights which were run jointly with the Saltford Community Association. We also held a few skittles evenings as well as the In-House Awards dinner at the Saltford Sports Club. The events generated a net surplus of £2,368 (2022: 1,327) for the Club in addition to supporting the village hall and Sports Club.
Off Court activities
The Off Court committee has continued to work closely with the Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) Council through its Community Asset Transfer (CAT) of the courts and 99 year long lease. The Club completes an annual report to the Council to demonstrate compliance with the requirement of CAT and lease. As at 31 March 2023 we had met the requirements of the CAT and surpassed many of the agreed targets.
The Off Court Committee has worked hard to complete the planned improved facilities which has been its main focus for a number of years. Although, the committee plan to continue with improvements over the next few years, they aim to ensure that the Club remains accessible and open to all to play and that it is run in a financially sustainable manner.
The trustees completed an annual risk assessment and continue to mitigate the identified risks as well as improving the Club’s facilities and processes.
Review of financial results
The main income for the Club is membership fees which are paid annually on 1 April. This year we have achieved another record for membership income of £13,205 (2022: £11,973) as a result of membership retention and attraction.
Annually, we review the cost of all membership categories to ensure that all classes get value for money that the Club remains affordable and accessible to all who want to play whilst ensuring the Club is financially secure building sinking funds for future requirements.
The Club uses the LTA ClubSpark platform for its website, membership database, court bookings and coaching programme as it has an online card payment facility. The coaching contract with TeamBath ceased in October 2022. Up to that date the Club collated income on behalf of TeamBath (The University of Bath) £9,586 (2022: £20,544) which was then paid to TeamBath on a termly basis. Following the cessation of the TeamBath contract, the Club contracted with a new coach and
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Saltford Lawn Tennis Club Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2023
Charity number: 1183060
commenced a new coaching programme in February 2023 which resulted in Club receiving a net income of £850 after deduction of coaching costs. (2022: £239).
The Off Court Committee were successful in gaining a grant from Enovert Community Trust together with CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) funding from the Council which totalled £31,250 (2022: £14,825) to support the funding of the Clubhouse replacement project.
During the year the Club completed the repayment of its Floodlight loan and began repaying quarterly instalments for its interest free ten-year loan of £10,000 from Avon Tennis.
The Club has continued to manage its financial position carefully through attracting and welcoming new members, being open and accessible for public hire, holding fundraising events, applying for grant funding and interest free loans, whilst carefully managing its costs.
The Club has spent £84,357 (2022: £20,964) in improving its facilities with building a new clubhouse, replacing fencing and installing the smart gate. At 31 March 2023, the club now has an asset of the clubhouse and fencing totalling £96,072.
At 31 March 2023 the Club had cash funds of £36,905 (2022: £78,847). The cash funds are significantly depleted, following the completion of the major infrastructure improvement projects in the year. However, the Club has a five-year forecast and with improved facilities we are now generating more income which will enable us to continue to improve the Club’s facilities and to build its sinking funds for future projects.
The cash funds are held across three bank accounts, the current account for the Club’s ongoing working capital requirements and two saver accounts for designated funds. The first designated fund was for the clubhouse replacement project and the second which is a Savings account is for the Sinking Fund for the court resurfacing and floodlights replacement.
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examlner's Report Report to the trusteesl membèrs of Salfford Lawn Tennis Club On accounts forthe year ended 31 March 2023 Charlty no Ilf any) 1183060 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('Ihe Trust'l for the year ended 31 March 2023. Responslbllities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("Ihe Act"). I report in respe¢t of my examination of the Trust's accounls carried out under sectlon 145 oflhe 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(51(b) of the Act. I have completed my examlnation. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ") in connection with the examination which gives me cause to balieve that in, any material respect: a¢¢ounting records were not kept in accordance w¥th section 130 of the Act or the aountS do not accord with the accounting record5 Independent examiner's statement I have no COnmS and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understsnding ofthe accounts to be reached. Please delete Ihe words in the brackets rf they do not apply. Slgned: Date: 16 January 2024 Name: Andrew Brooks Relevant professlonal quallficatSon(s) or body (If any): HMRC Bristol Address: 14 Anson Close Sallford Bristol BS313DY IER October 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brlef detalls of any items that the examiner wishes to dlsclose. No matters of conrn found. IER October 2018
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALE5 Saltford La4Yn Ttrnnls Club 1183060 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forthe perrod from 01104r2022 31103f2023 To Section A Receipts and payments Unrestrlcted funds toth Restricted funds Endowment lunds Total funds Last year to tho n•awl£ totho noavvt£ tothg to thè n•aresi £ A1 Receipts Memb&fship Inmrno Visrtoit Fees Publi¢ Court Hirt MiSeJ$ ifjterest Fundrawty Even Grants LoBn$ Club ¢oathwvJ Match Fees LVJMS 6ath UrHVer5ty(f¥j Sub total(Gmss incom8 for AR) 13,205 13,205 11.730 114 1.834 20 12 1.328 14,815 10,000 998 196 1.062 1,062 ID64 31,Z50 106 31.250 1,734 751 70 9,S86 751 70 9,586 20,544 01.ST2 61.572 A2 and Invlm•t ul•8, Is•• tsblo). Sub total 61,572 81m2 81.834 A3P Awon LIA Temis Bd1• 8ANES Rent 500 595 495 431 392 1.102 1.J27 EledrKrty 863 Addilior)al cts Hile Salllord Mernbe15h Club MHIDion3rKe Loan Repayment 240 10 JO7 530 687 1.750 530 fLI 498 84,367 850 490 20.964 7YJ PrOjeWOk Club C(HLuYJ Water Markeb 94,3S7 182 166 9,416 t03.513 166 9.416 t03,613 20,$81 47.493 Sub total A4 A88et and Investment pvrcha•e$, see table) Sub total 103,513 103,5t3 47.493 Net of reeptsl(payments) AS Transfers betweèn funds A6 Cash fund$ latst year tnd sh funds thi$ year end 41, 41.942 14.342 78,847 36.90 78,84Y 36,905 64,505 78.647 2W01r2024 CCXX R18cwnts ISSI
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrèstricted funds lo neare8t£ Restricted funds to nPaTest £ En(lowment funds Categorle$ Detall¥ to nearest£ 81 Cash funds Lloyds Cuff•nt A¢¢ount Lloyd5 Regual Savlnlls Account 26$ Lloyds Inslanl Sa¥erAceouni 36,431 Total cash funds 36.90S Unrestricted funds to re$l£ Restrlcted funds to neorest£ Endowment funds to nearest£ Detall8 82 Other monetary assets to whkh Currentwdluè Detslls ¢c6t (Optio B3 Investment assets Fundtowhkh Detslls ¢bse c0st{optka1j Cwrentvalue onal B4 Assets retain¢d for thg charitys own use 69,363 Fund iowhkh Amountdue Dètails LTA club10 LoaD B5 Liabilities Sb3n8d by0 or Iru5W on beharf of all the tsu5t88S Date of roval E4ci4WEL +Y4 Th1 IC(a Mfv4 21 /1 Iz4- 24 CCXX R2 arxI)5 ISSI IrJ)24