Walthamstow Cricket Tennis and Squash Club
48a Greenway Avenue • Walthamstow, London • E17 3QN
Hi everyone, please find attached our annual report prior to the Section AGM next Thursday. Please make an effort to attend, your input and support of the section is greatly appreciated.
See you all Thursday...
Squash Section AGM:
Annual Report
November 2024
After the challenges brought by the pandemic and the closure of the courts through flooding, the Squash Section are delighted to report squash has more than bounced back with participation rates at the club the highest they’ve been in years.
Court usage during both peak and off peak times is up, the leagues are thriving with over 100 players playing in the most recent cycle, the ladder has around 75 players playing in any given month and the Junior Section is the busiest anyone can remember with over 70 juniors attending regular coaching sessions.
The driving force behind this boom has undoubtedly been our Head Coach Trevor Grinsted who arrived here just over 3 years ago. The committee would again like to put on record their huge gratitude for all the work Trev has done for the club.
But this success would also be impossible without our members. And we would also like to thank all of you for helping create a such friendly, welcoming club with participation, enjoyment and friendly competition at its heart.
The Squash Committee
The Squash Committee currently consists of 8 volunteers: Diane Weaver (Squash Chair), Robert McKill (Club President), Mark Gallagher (Membership Secretary), Edwin Cadenhead (Club Treasurer), Luke McLaughlin (Men’s Team Captain), Josh Cole (Secretary), Kyle Anderson, Patrick Batuka (Leagues & tournaments) and Trevor Grinsted.
After several years with a much smaller committee and significant internal disagreements, the committee feel a corner has been turned and we’re starting to become a much more effective unit to support squash at the club.
We are still keen though to add more members to the committee to improve its diversity.
Please do get in touch with anyone on the committee if you would like to help out, or just want to know more.
Finance
Membership Subscriptions continued to show a healthy increase from the same period last year up £9.5K
Court Lighting showed a modest increase from same period last year from £16K in 2023 to £17178 2024
Squash Contribution to main Club Overhead was increased from £1299 to £1500 per month £18K per year and which is the highest contribution from Sporting Sections.
Court Refurbishment was completed in September at a cost of £6000
The Covenant Monies held on deposit is now standing at £335,127.00 £50K of this amount is to Squash benefit and £50K for Tennis as this is only interest baring account held.
Court usage has increased to near capacity particularly during peak times due to Team Matches both Men & Women Teams + Competitions, Juniors and club Leagues and Ladders all mainly due to the energetic head coach who we thank for all he does at the Club. A special thanks also to Patrick Batuka who is organising popular competitions for members.
Despite having what seems a healthy financial club the overall Finances shown in the club accounts confirm that for yet another year we are just about breaking even which is not sustainable for a healthy future. Everyone is aware of inflation and how our household costs of our facilities have increased similarly and cannot be absorbed forever.
If we are to progress and improve finances, it will give us more opportunity to invest back into the Sporting activities and Club facilities such as the bar and social areas.
We expressed the same dilemma last year and the year before but despite a small increase in membership fees we have not moved forward. The main income for the club is THE MEMBERSHIP ANNUAL FEE which must be addressed if we are to progress in any way.
The Squash Management Team recognise that the squash roof as reported last year was way past it’s sell by date and Court usage is approaching the recognised England Squash Limit of 50 Players per court. Squash is in discussions with Architect and Builder to determine how we can extend Squash Court availability and to include Padel Tennis which is reportedly the fastest expanding sport in the country and one of the best Revenue makers a club could have. This of course will incur costs, and your committee is also investigating the possibility of interest free loans and grants to help support the project.
Tennis who has used £65K of Covenant money to refurbish the three Tennis Courts have been quick of the mark and secured Planning permission, Funding and Grant to build a Fourth Court in the top end of the car park. Tennis will be financing this objective from Funding /Grant or if Grant does not come from their own finances in the Tennis Section account.
Squash is hoping to replicate this model and will keep Squash and club members informed on our progress.
When a business is running at break-even it must improve revenue intake, and our main revenue intake is annual membership.
As stated, Membership Fees are our main income along with Court Lighting fees and with our current annual fees listed below and Court Lighting Fees which have not changed for over 20 + years membership and court lighting charges must be addressed.
Membership Statistics: Family Membership. 14 families. ( 33 players). £444 p/y
Full Paying Members. 107 £288 p/y
Junior Members. 49 £20. p/y
Senior Members. 17 £264 p/y
Student Member. 3 £84 p/y
Young Adult (18-25). 7 £144 p/y
Total 216
Junior Programme
Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of our recent boom in participation has been the thriving junior section. There are currently 76 youth players enjoying at least one weekly coaching session, and this number has exceeded fifty for the last 9 half-terms running.
Many juniors have been consistently playing and improving over the two and a half years Trevor has been at the club. The leading 6 juniors train together on Tuesdays, most have gained experience in the internal adult league, and 5 have so far have gone on to represent our adult teams over the past 12 months with 3 of them winning matches. Both Jason Lane Gandarias and Rhys Evans have now left us for university and we look forward to seeing them when they return for holidays.
Across the programme 4 of our players are currently in Essex Development squads with Carlos Williams progressing to the full Boys U11 county squad. Ameena Moghal could also represent Essex at Girls U11 level.
The aim of the programme is to create adult players that enjoy playing squash with as high a playing standard as possible – and the signs are the programme is meeting that aim.
Leagues and Ladders
The leagues and ladders have been the driving force of the recent upturn in participation. Kester Bearne used to maintain these, Trevor progressed them and now Patrick Batuka oversees this part of the club.
The Main League has 15 divisions of 6, totalling 90 players and including 12 teenagers. There are 4 more divisions containing 30 junior players. We had a record 101 players play at least 1 match in the Jan/Feb league.
The Lunchtime league started in January 2024 with 13 players and now has 30 players, boosting off-peak court use. Breakfast league started over the summer and has had some impact so far encouraging players to play 6-8am. ‘Team league’ has come and gone with limited participation from those that represent our club at team level.
The main Ladder has 143 players in the whatsapp group and has 70-75 actively playing in any given month. Racketball and Youth ladders are more volatile with numbers and can reduce down to 3 players or expand quickly to 20 players. But Racketball retains a healthy number of players largely playing in private groups.
Thanks to Trevor the leagues have also driven a very large take-up of Squash Levels, the global squash ranking system, that allows players at all levels to track their progress. The club now has far more players involved (131) than neighbouring clubs Woodford Wells (33), Connaught (19) and Redbridge.
Team Squash
Our Women’s team, captained by Lucy Pope, won the Essex team league in summer 2023 before the Essex league was disbanded. Our strongest female players have subsequently found a team in the Middlesex ladies league to play for.
We have two Men’s Teams competing in Essex Div 1 West. In the most recent Summer league Walthamstow Blue (captained by Luke McLaughlin) finished 3rd and Walthamstow Red (captain by Stephen Turnbull) finished 5th
This current winter league is the first time in a number of years we haven’t split resource evenly between the 2 teams. The blue team has been positioned to win the division so that we have a team in the Essex Premier division from September 2025 if not sooner.
There are a lot of success stories with our 2 teams with lots of available adults as well as teenagers Jacob S, Jacob C and Nataniel now established as part of the squads.
The club entered a Racketball team in the Essex Team open held at Woodford Wells in the summer.
Coaching team
The club is currently in the healthy position of having 8 active coaches. Head Coach Trevor Grinsted (a Level 3 coach), Level 2 coaches Gail Farrow, Luke McLaughlin, Sagheer ‘Shaze’ Shahzad, Deniz Bozdemir and Vicky Ashworth. Level 1 coach Rhys Evans was part of the setup before he moved away for university. Jacob Steward and Jacob Crockford have passed level 1 and are now active. We have 1 more currently taking the course.
These 4 new level 1 have been part funded by a donation from Chris Knightly work place. The level 1 course costs £150 and the agreement with the new coach was that they paid for it, completed it and when they have the certificate the club would reimburse half of this at £75. The £300 received from Chris employer paid for this.
Trevor, Gail, Deniz, Luke and Shahzad are all available to coach one-on-one sessions to any member. In addition Vicky Ashworth is available for cover and will coach the odd one to one session.
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