Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 23rd March 2022 at 7.30 pm.
As many of you know, we were unable to hold an Annual General Meeting earlier this year due to the Government restrictions around Covid-19 with lockdowns and restrictions on gatherings of people.
We think it’s important, however, that all Members have the chance to review the Institute’s progress and receive an update on our club’s current position. So, to this end, we held a ‘virtual’ Extraordinary General Meeting in the form of a Webinar on Zoom at 7:00 pm on the 30th November 2020.
The Club's 2019 financial accounts that were prepared for the March 2020 AGM, have been signed off by our Accountants, Folkes Worton, and are available to view below on this AGM page.
[All remaining in place except Ed Davies, until a full AGM can be arranged]
Q: Will the date for acceptance of 2019 vouchers be extended?
A: Yes, in view of the current lockdown, the Committee is looking at extending the acceptance of 2019 vouchers until 4 weeks after the lockdown is lifted.
Regards,
Jerry Roper, Chairman SISC
(A recording of the EGM 2020 Meeting has been uploaded to our Facebook page, a link to this is at the top of the club website homepage.)
Last year in 2019, I am really pleased to report again that the membership numbers were maintained at a level similar to the previous year. Throughout the year, and at the beginning of this year up to lockdown, we have again seen increased numbers of members coming in and using the Club, and enjoying the facilities we have to offer.
The increased number of events being organised in the Club continued to be successful throughout 2019. Examples of these include the free and easy evenings and afternoon tea events. Snooker celebrity events also continued into this year, as we invited Barry Hawkins in January. These things seem a distant memory since lockdown this year, however, we hope that we will be able to resume with these in the new year.
Last year, we also further improved the Club infrastructure and facilities, re-decorating the Mixed lounge and Dining room, and carrying out a major investment with the overhaul and replenishment of the main Snooker hall roof. This should now serve the Club for a significant number of years to come.
The Committee continued to keep a close eye on finances throughout, and hard copies of the accounts were published in March 2020 and put on the noticeboard outside of the Secretary’s office. Copies were also put on the Club’s website in preparation for this EGM meeting.
The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in March 2020, resulted in us having to postpone the AGM and close down the Club for a number of weeks. However, the Club continued to be an important facility for many of our members during this time, with our extended car parking facility providing continued safe access to the town centre shops and facilities throughout the lockdown. When the first lockdown ended, the club premises also provided a much-valued place for members to come out to, many for the first time since the start of the pandemic. We have also had 53 new members join so far in 2020, even with lockdown.
With regard to Covid-19, Committee and Staff have worked hard, carrying out extensive Risk Assessments, putting in place Notices and Guidance, and Policing to enable Members and Staff to make use of the Club Facilities as safe as possible and minimise risks to all people who visit the premises.
Income reduced during the lockdowns and reduced opening hours, however, Members of the Committee and the Staff worked hard to ensure that we claimed all possible Grants and Government Support throughout these periods, enabling us to retain our Staff while they were on Furlough, and maximising our finances, thus keeping the Club in a good position financially at this current time.
On the investment side, we have greatly reduced spend this year, however, we did take the opportunity during the initial lockdown to re-decorate the Bar, Snooker Room, Function Room, and both Entrance Foyers. We have received very positive feedback on the results of this from Members.
Overall, I believe we have some time to go before we will be able to return to anything like the amount of attendance and use of activities (e.g., events and facilities hire) that we used to have, so we anticipate reduced income for a considerable time to come, while still having a certain amount of outgoings to pay for in order to maintain the club.
As a consequence, we will be minimising further investment spend, and keeping a very close eye on income and expenditure to ensure that the Club’s finances remain on a sound footing.
Looking forward, we are aiming to organise more events as soon as restrictions are lifted, and we sincerely hope that this will encourage current members and also new members to come in and enjoy using the Club.
As ever, we are always open to ideas and feedback from members on ways to further improve things within the Club. Please feel free to approach any member of the committee, or use the suggestion box in the Mixed Lounge, so let’s work together towards ensuring we all use the Club as successfully as possible again this coming year.
Lastly, it is really important to recognise and give thanks for all of the work that everyone has done running the Club. This includes all of the Club’s Staff, and also our Committee members who again gave up their own time on a voluntary basis to help run this Club and make it something I think we can all value and are proud to be part of.
And finally, of course, I would like to thank, on behalf of the Committee, all of you Club Members who have continued to support, enjoy, and be part of this very special Social Club.
Thank you all.
a) Total income up by £19,181 = 8.8%
b) Surplus for the year: £1,260 compared with a deficit of £11,756 in 2019
c) A significant sum spent on roof repairs: £47,000, part funded by a £35,000 repair and maintenance fund
d) Net assets: £306,992 compared to £340,732 in 2019
e) Net current assets: £88,517 compared with £118,062 in 2018, reflecting expenditure on roof repairs.
f) £10,000 still remaining in the Maintenance and repair fund + £4,000 in the entertainment fund
a) Significant Government support received this year:
i) £25,000 one-off grant for the initial lockdown
ii) Furlough support ranging from 60% – 80% of Staff’s wages until 30th October.
iii) 100% Rates Relief claimed from Dudley Council
b) Good support and attendance from Members when the club re-opened in July:
i) Catering food sales reached 74% of 2019 level
ii) Bar sales reached 76% of 2019 level
iii) Snooker income reached 94% of 2019 level
c) Another £10,000 of investment made in the club’s fabric and infrastructure including new chairs and floor for the Dining room, and more decorating improvements on the ground floor.
d) Cash position overall is still healthy.
e) Current asset at November 16th 2020 stood at £97,029 compared to £88,517 at the start of the year.
f) Ongoing, we will be continuing to claim Government furlough and grant relief while we are in the current Tier 3 measures set for Dudley Area.
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PRESIDENT : D. HORTON
Vice-Presidents:
R.OWEN, J.ROWLANDS.
Life Members:
R.A.BAKER, MRS A,R.BOWDLER, MRS H.COWLEY, MRS A.DAVIES, G.B.GENNER,
R.OWEN, J.ROWLANDS, K.DAVIES, R.PEPLOW, JERRY ROPER, KEVIN FRANKLIN
RECORD OF COMMITTEE ATTENDANCES 2019
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
We submit herewith the report for the year 31st December 2019, combined with the audited statement of the accounts. There has been an increase (£4,671) in income across the bar and catering departments in 2019 compared to 2018. With the help of the coffee sales, the catering department made a gross profit of £3,909 and the bar, a modest increase in gross profit of £762.
There has been an increase of £13,999 in subscription and the car park receipts compared to 2018. Subscriptions were up by £4,671, and the car park receipts were up by £9,307. Room hire has shown a modest increase over 2018 with income rising by £621. This is mainly due to the increasing use of the rooms for various activities provided by group members such as U3A, Salsa, Chi Baton Yoga, Stourbridge Speakers, clog dancers, and Spanish lessons. Club members are free to participate in any of these activities should they wish to do so.
Staff salaries increased in 2019 by £13,152, which is due to the 2018 increase of 38p per hour in the national minimum wage, which came into effect on 1st April. Of the four main activities, Snooker is the best performing, with a net surplus of £20,642. The Bridge section income shows a sharp decrease from the £3,350 net surplus received in 2018 to a net surplus of £2,502 in 2019. Badminton showed a net surplus of £1,266, and the table tennis net surplus stood at £1,845. The shop units continue to provide a steady income into the club, but bank interest remains low due to the current prevailing low rates for savers.
The Committee authorised expenditure of £57,221 for repairs and renewals in 2019. The main costs incurred were the replacement of the main roof above the snooker room (£45,000) and replacing the floors in the kitchen and restaurant areas. The lounge and restaurant also underwent a facelift to make both rooms more appealing to the members. To pay for the increased repairs and renewals, the Committee took £35,000 from the maintenance fund, reducing it to only £10,000. This needs to be recuperated to fund future repairs and renewals.
This factor, along with the continuing increasing costs to run the club on a daily basis, necessitated the committee to come to the decision to moderately increase subscriptions in 2020 to help pay for these unavoidable costs and to ensure the club continues to thrive. To encourage more use of the club, the Committee also decided to increase the amount of vouchers required to be purchased by members when availing themselves of the use of the car park facility at the club.
2019 has been a difficult year for the club, not helped by the uncertainty over Brexit and continual increases in costs of goods and services. Due to the financial astuteness of the Committee, the year-end has only shown a small surplus of £1,260.
The club membership showed a small increase (9) in membership during 2019, with the year closing with 780 members compared to 771 members in 2018. The membership includes 12 (13) life members, 22 (21) family members, 3 (1) intermediate members, 3 (1) junior members, 28 (26) members from the Stourbridge Lions group, and other affiliate groups. (Figures in brackets denote 2018 numbers).
The use of the function room for people using the mobile skittle alley is available for hire. This makes for a great, fun evening and is a unique way to celebrate a family function with a difference. The Lions club continues to hold charity fundraising events including their quiz evenings, casino nights, and battle drives. A number of club social events with entertainment and a buffet were held during the year, including the increasingly popular lounge nights, which are free to members to attend and are put on in the relaxed atmosphere of the lounge. The function was used by many members for their own family and social events, including family celebrations, office parties, tribute band evenings, and Christmas group parties.
Bingo is held in the main lounge area every Tuesday evening at 8 pm for an 8:30 pm start. It is always a relaxed and enjoyable social evening and get-together. Open to all members.
Facilities and equipment are available for members' use. Since the table tennis facility moved to its own room, its use has increased, and this section is growing from strength to strength. They now have two teams entered in the local league. They would, however, still like to welcome additional members to join them.
This year the Badminton section has entered three teams into local leagues and is doing well again so far this season.
Some members have been selected to play this year for the Worcestershire County Masters teams:
Steve Cuts, Sally Bangay, Jerry Roper, Reggie Baker, Jan Hewett, were also selected to play for Worcestershire in the Inter-County Team Challenge weekend event in January. Jerry and Reggie were part of the over 60’s team, which won that Division one in the event.
Our junior coaching club is still running on Tuesday evenings with Reggie Baker from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm, with signs and contact numbers on the noticeboards.
The Bridge Club meets on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings at 7:15 pm and on Monday afternoon at 1 pm. The Bridge section is working hard to promote bridge in the local area. Bridge lessons continue on Tuesday afternoons, headed by Roy Withers. Students in this group have been learning to play bridge for over 12 months and are advancing well.
Georgina Lineker and I started lessons for absolute beginners in January, and currently, we have 11 students, with a further 4 set to join us at the end of January/beginning of February.
We have two social events in 2019, which were well supported, and we are planning another two events in 2020 which we hope will be as successful as those before.
If you have any interest in playing bridge, please contact us – you would be very welcome.
No report was done for 2019.
4 teams entered the Stourbridge and District Snooker League for the 2018/2019 season, 4 teams representing the club, including the 4th team, the West Midlands Police Snooker Team, who play for the club and whose members are also members of our club.
In the 2018/2019 season, the club's ‘A’ team, having won promotion the previous season, held their own in the Premier League, finishing in 9th place. The team’s most consistent players were Ashley Aston with 14 wins and Paul Garbitt with 12 wins. Ashley also had the team’s highest breaks of 77 and 69. The ‘A’ team’s Alan Cope also won the league’s over 45’s individual competition.
The club's ‘C’ team finished bottom in the 2nd Division, and the club’s ‘D’ team finished in 5th place. Paul Robinson was the D team’s most consistent player with 15 wins.
Member Harry Jones lost in the final of the league’s over 65’s competition.
The West Midlands Police Snooker Team had a disappointing season, finishing in 10th place in the league. The team’s most consistent player was Kevin Franklin with 15 wins and Gavin Sloan with 12 wins. The team’s highest break went to Mark Sheehan, who compiled a break of 65. Kevin Franklin had a break of 62.
The Arthur Kimberley Handicap Knockout was won for the second year in succession by Paul Garbett, who beat Graham Lewis in the final by two frames to nil. Paul had a 73 break in the first frame and breaks of 45 and 39 in the second frame.
The Summer League was won by Paul Bate.
The Snooker section held another successful exhibition match in January 2019, with the current world champion, Mark Williams, entertaining another sell-out audience of club members. During the exhibition, Mark compiled a 129 break, missing the blue from the spot when the maximum was on.
In accordance with rule 6(a), the following members retire: Ruth Gwynn Thomas, Andrea Haynes, Alison Bowdler, Jerry Roper, Trevor Billington, and Edward Davies. Alison Bowdler, Jerry Roper, Trevor Billington, and Edward Davies offer themselves up for re-election.
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