Lowlands Annual Report for 2014/15 – ‘More people playing tennis more often’
Tennis members: The tennis section has continued to grow year on year as can be seen.
Summer
Summer Tournament: During the summer we ran 10 competitions and had a successful finals day
ever with 120 people in attendance. The finals day was organised by Kevin, Mike, Lorraine and many
other helpers on the day. The current champions are: Men's Singles: Tom Gait Singles: Nic
Gunby, Men's Doubles:, P. Rutland & L Munoz Zanni Ladies' Doubles: N. Gunby & C. Wynn.
Mixed Doubles: Peter Rutland & Nic Gunby. Senior Men's Singles: John Philipson, Senior Men's
Doubles: J.Philipson & J Mahmood , Senior Women's Doubles: Nicki Bean and Jane Tweedie,
Senior Mixed Doubles: H. Lewis & M Lewis. Junior finals day: Our finals day also include a junior
final. A new honours board has been established in the main hall.
Summer leagues: Mike Askew, Men’s Captain reported that 2014 was another challenging season
for Lowlands Men's Teams. New rules were introduced to nominate 5 players in Teams 1-4, which
gave less flexibility and player movement. In a tough season, 5 teams were relegated. Team 2 were
promoted back to Division 1 and Team 3 came 3rd in Division 2. The teams in 2015 are:
Men’s
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Team 4
Team 5
Team 6
Team 7
Division
Division 1
Division 1
Division 2
Division 2
Division 5
Division 6
Division 7
Captain
Martin Lewis
Abbas Merali
Mike Askew
Colin Bickle
David Knight
Awaits…
Cliff Gray
Ladies
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Team 4
Division
Intermediate
Division 1
Division 1
Division 3
Captain
Nic Gunby
Claire Fellows
Sophia Pittas
Katie Barnes
The Woman’s teams had a great year with Team 3 and Team 4 gaining promotion last year.
Match Days: We have now arranged 80 fixtures home and way for 11 teams in 2015. Thanks go to
Colin Bickle as Match Secretary. We have arranged for each team to play at least one home game
on a Friday to ease court pressures during mid-week.
1
Aegon Teams: Over the summer we have two Men’s, one Woman’s and two Junior Aegon Teams.
These are coordinated by John Philipson and their respective captains: Leo, John, Nic Gunby and Ian
Vidgen for juniors.
Wimbledon Draw:
 In 2014 we ran a very successful open Wimbledon Draw and 54 members had a fantastic day.
 The LTA changed the allocation formula to be based on the number of members Opted In.
 The Club did much work to encourage members to Opt in for Wimbledon Tickets and 200
members Opted in, which influenced our ticket allocation, which increased 50% of previous years.
 For 2015 Lowlands has 80 Tickets for the local ballot, which is the best ever….
 This year the ballot takes place at the AGM and the winners will receive their tickets directly from
the LTA and are required to pay on-line or by phone within 14 days.
Greenford and District league has been running for many years and started before the war to
encourage competitive but friendly tennis between large companies such as Glaxo, Kodak, CAV,
Barclay's British Airways, Metal Box Company and other similar firms. As it evolved, local tennis clubs
have been invited to participate - but the ethos remains the same. This year we are fielding two mixed
teams: Trish Fenech is captain of the 1st team Rob O’Neill is captain of the 2nd team.
Hatch End League/Riverside League.. Lowlands has a very active programme of ladies daytime
matches. Gladys Miller organises a wide variety of friendly matches with local clubs throughout the
year. There are also ladies daytime leagues that run, the Riverside leagues in the Autumn and the
Hatch End leagues in the summer. Lowlands field two teams in both these events. One Team,
captained by Gladys, plays in the top division while a newer team, captained by Anne play in a lower
division. In the Autumn Riverside league team 1 came a very creditable 3rd and team 2.
WINTER
Singles Box leagues: During the winter there have been 6 Unisex Divisions for singles box leagues.
These have been co-ordinated by John Philipson and managed on-line through Tennis Jeannie.
Winter leagues: There are 60 fixtures over the winter season in Middlesex Leagues including: Men’s,
Mixed, Ladies and Vets leagues experiencing great success. We ran 3 Men’s, 2 Laddies and 2 Mixed
due to the interest in competitive tennis.
Team
Men’1
Men’s 2
Men’s 3
Women’s 1
Women’s 2
Mixed 1
Mixed 2
Captain
Martin Lewis
Michael Askew
Colin Bickle
Nic Gunby
Jackie Moss
Jane Tweedie,
Colin Bickle
Division
Division 1 West
Division 2 West
Division 4 West
Division 1 West
Division 3 West
Division 1 West
Division 3 West
The Club also takes part in the Northwood Floodlight League organised by Vim.
Mixed Vets: We ran 4 Vets teams involving three new captains.
Mixed Vets 1
Mixed Vets 2
Mixed Vets 3 –
Mixed Vets 4 –.
Mike Askew
Colin Bickle
Tricia Fenech
Rob O’Neill
Division 2 West – 2nd place
Division 3a
Division 5a - Relegated
Division 7b - Relegated
Court Schedule: During the season we moved the Saturday Club session to 1-4pm to allow more
Open Play on the court schedule.
GB Vets. There are also four other Great Britain Vets teams.
2
Currie Cup: The 2014 entry for the Men's Currie Cup saw 13 pairs compete to get to the Finals which
were eventually won by Richard White . This year as we go to print the Men's semi Finals are: Fred &
George v Lee & Nish then Pete & Anu v Matt & Rob.
This year we had the 4th Ladies Currie Cup as we go to press the semi-Finalists on Friday April 10th
and will be: Katie & Sue v Nicki & Lorraine then Silvia & Hirbai v Marilyn & Helen
Currie Cup Finals Day 2015 is on Friday 24th April starting at 19.00 and as always we anticipate a
great turn out.
Shapla Cup: To provide competitive tennis for Men’s Teams 1-4, the Shapla Cup was introduced
and organised by Mike Askew, Colin Bickle, Gavin and Neville. This involved 24 players and was
very close and competitive over the winter. The Semi-Finalist so far will be Mike Askew and Gavin,
Neville and Colin Bickle. The final will be in May.
TENNIS MARK AND COACHING
Clubmark: Lowlands is a Clubmark Club and the LTA reviewed our performance against the
Clubmark criteria, which was awarded 5 years ago in 2009. Lowlands Clubmark was renewed for
another 4 years until 2017. A new plaque has been obtained. This year Clubmark has now been
replaced with Tennis Mark and we have introduced new enabling policies to provide a better
environment for ‘more people to play more tennis more often.’ See Appendix ‘A.’
Coaching: Coaching has continued throughout the club for all sections with activities daily. There is
a very strong adult coaching programme. The Coaches will be running an U18 team and U14 girls
team over the summer. We have brought in an additional coach to support Cliff. We are aiming to
strengthen the Junior programme as this is part of the Tennis Mark accreditation process. We
currently have 40 Juniors and 10-15 Juniors who regularly compete in competitions. We are aiming
to increase this to 50-60 juniors with 20 Regularly Competing Juniors, which is the average for a club
of our size. We established a Coaching Agreement with our coaches.
To support the increase of juniors, the coaching ask to remind members that 5-7pm Fridays the
Juniors need all courts to practice singles so please bear this in mind when making arrangements.
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
Ball management: Head Radical balls are provided for social sessions. Wilson balls are available at
the bar for purchase for personal use.
Environmental issues: We re-cycle balls from full member’s sessions. Please put balls in the shute
in the coaches shed after use and turn the lights off in the evening. To preserve the courts please
lock up the courts if you are last to leave.
Claytex Courts: The green courts were machine-brushed and extra top dressing applied after the
root barrier was completed in November 2011.
Mini Courts: The mini court was cleaned approximately after the root barrier was put in place. The
mini court was cleaned in the spring. Over winter the mini court tends to become damp.
On-line Club competition: As last year the Internal Tournament is by way of on-line process
building upon the success of the last few years.
3
Off Peak /Intermediate and Social Tennis sections
The Off-Peak Section is quite a nice mix of average to above players, who just want a friendly but
good game of tennis. Numbers are good at most sessions even with the weather we had over the
winter period, the hardy ones played through. Membership is near our limit of 50 with new
members joining in the last few months. Most are happy with the direction we are now going.
The Social Tennis Section continues with 58 members. More social tennis member have played in
the club tournaments this year (Ladies Currie Cup) which they have really enjoyed. Also we had a
tournament for social group last year which went well and so plan to do a couple more this year.
American Tournaments: There have been a number of American Tournaments involving Full, OffPeak and Social Tennis Players, which have been well attended. The latest one organised by Rosie
Knight took place on 28th March 2015 and also raised funds for the Max appeal.
Club Finances update from Kevin Tye
Some individuals have queried why the subscriptions have gone up by 5%, in a time of low inflation
and interest rates. The Management Committee is of the opinion that we will have some substantial
capital costs in the not too distant future, not just court surface replacement (estimated at £20'000 per
court), but also hall floor replacement, toilet refurbishment, replacement of the tennis shed, new
curtains and other "as and when" repairs that are required to a thirty year old structure (eg: the boiler
pump at nearly £2000). Currently the "sinking fund" sits at £69,600 (2015 accounts), the Management
Committee puts aside £15,000 per annum. This will be sufficient to replace the courts but as a club
we will not have the funds for much else.
The following figures (rounded up) are available in the annual accounts that the Treasurer runs
through at the Club AGM (at the time of writing I only had access to 2013/14 accounts);
 Sales £162,000 (Subscriptions £60,000, Bar £83,000, other incidentals (snooker, dance school,
hall hire etc) £19,000.
 Cost of Sales £77,000 (Bar Purchases, Tennis Purchases, Cost of Social Functions plus other
incidentals).
 Running Costs £77,000 (Bar Wages, Cleaning, Sky Sports, Insurance plus other incidentals)
 Net Profit £8,000.
Whilst we are profitable, we are offering the most competitive subscriptions of all the local tennis
clubs. We offer the best infrastructure of all traditional local tennis clubs; it is clear that we need to
raise more funds to maintain the standard of our facilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't tennis be it's own cost/revenue centre, then we'd be profitable?:It is clear that with the
exception of the bar, tennis subscriptions are the second largest revenue item (roughly £45,000).
However if the costs of our shared facility are allocated by membership (i.e. 50% or £77,000) the
tennis section would be make a substantial loss.
5% of a social membership is only £3.00 whilst 5% of a tennis membership is £14.00 - why
should we pay more?: Because Tennis have a 100% need to replace our courts, and a shared need
(50% need based upon membership numbers) to contribute toward other repairs and investments.
Even if the numbers worked out (which they don't), it is impractical to break Lowlands Sports and
Social into it's component parts, we are one Club and the benefits of being one Club are far too
numerous to mention here. Whilst we are financially in pretty good shape it is clear that we need to
raise more funds and this is one of the reasons that I am moving - to become more involved in the
revenue generation activities for Lowlands Sports and Social.
4
Kevin Tye looks back over the last 5 years on the Tennis Committee
Wedged as the Tennis AGM is between the two immovable objects of Easter and the Club AGM
(where we have to present the new Tennis Captain) I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person as
I have a long standing social engagement. As the departing Tennis Captain I really wanted the
opportunity of thanking you all for allowing me the honour of leading the Tennis Committee these last
five years. It has been hugely fulfilling and I have learnt an incredible amount. Thank you.
I have had the good fortune to head a Committee of really dedicated volunteers and I want to thank
them all for their contributions in helping me continue to ensure that Lowlands Tennis delivers a
quality environment for all our constituents no matter what ability or ambition they hold. Thank you.
Collectively this Committee has delivered real achievements and made a material difference
including:
 increasing the number of teams for floodlit and vets winter tennis ;
 adding three new internal winter tournaments with the chance for all members to get their
name on a "board";
 increasing the numbers of members across all sections;
 overseeing an expanded and better attended Finals Day;
 facilitating easier movement from the Social Tennis section, through Intermediates and onto
Full Members;
 increasing the amount of charity fund raising;
 managing an enlarged and improved Summer Championship with more ties getting played on
time ;
 embracing social media as a communications channel including the online calendar, facebook
and twitter;
 organising and documenting the Etiquette Committee to ensure fairness for all members;
 achieving an increased allocation of Wimbledon tickets;
 holding, and retaining the LTA's symbol of quality, Club Mark ;
 preparing a documented Annual Report on the years achievements;
 Head coach on professional LTA approved coaching services agreement.
It has been a privilege to be part of this Committee and I thank you all for the support, guidance and
hard work that you have given to Lowlands Tennis Club. Whilst it should not be fair to pick out one
individual from this team I know that they would all think me remiss if I did not mention by name my
senior partner throughout this time, always available to do the heavy lifting, many times the architect
of this Committee's achievements; Mike I want to thank you personally for everything you given our
club, without you we would be offering a severely diminished list. Thank you.
So now it's time to move on. Time to move on so that this Committee benefits from fresh eyes, fresh
ideas, fresh vision and fresh thinking. I know that you will all welcome Dave, I know that you will all
support Dave, I know that Dave will dedicate all his many abilities to you, I know that Dave will add
real value to this Committee so that this Committee can continue to add real value to Lowlands
Tennis. Welcome Dave.
As for me? You will read later that the Management Committee believes that whilst we are financially
in good shape and the figures presented at the AGM will bear this out, we as a Management
Committee believe we need to raise more funds and not just through raising subscriptions. I hope to
be moving on to Social Secretary and I see a vital part of that role as being a catalyst to increase cash
inflows to Lowlands Sports and Social.
So let me say one final thank you to you all, it really has all been an absolute and undiminished
pleasure. Thank you. Kevin Tye
5