118th Annual Report for the year ended July 31, 2007

Grace Park
Lawn Tennis Club Inc

118th Annual Report and Financial Statement

Year ended July 31, 2007

NOTICE TO MEMBERS

The 118th Annual General Meeting of the Grace Park Lawn Tennis Club will be held on Sunday, December 9, 2007 at 5:00pm in the Clubhouse,
6 Hilda Crescent, Hawthorn.

AGENDA

1. To confirm the minutes of the 117th Annual General Meeting held on December 10, 2006.
2. To receive the 118th Annual Report, Accounts and Balance Sheet.
3. To elect office bearers for 2007/2008.
4. To elect Auditors for 2007/2008.
5. To elect Frank Field of 2 Elgin Street, Hawthorn as a Patron of the Club
6. General Business.

By order of the General Committee

J Miles
Honorary Secretary
 

GRACE PARK LAWN TENNIS CLUB INCORPORATED
6 HILDA CRESCENT, HAWTHORN, VICTORIA 3122

Office Bearers 2006/2007

President: Mr Terry Stone

Immediate Past President: Mr Austen Diggle

Vice Presidents: Messrs Brian Gedge & David Allison

Honorary Secretary: Mr John Miles

Assistant Secretary: Miss Ola Luczak

Honorary Treasurer: Mr Stuart Rogers

Assistant Treasurer: Mr Sebastian Sauvey

General Committee: Messrs Brett Browning, Barry Schmidt, Colin Davis, Nigel Munro, Anthony Lam,
Mrs Sandy Gedge

Life Members:  Mesdames M Court, S King, J Vatovey, Drs J Diggle*, J Henley, Messrs P Cash,
P McNamee, M Rose, A Mulhauser*, K Rogers*, T Rush, F Sedgman, S Sharman, A Diggle, W. Arthurs

Patrons: Mr J Herring*, Mrs D Diggle

Club Administrator: Mrs Sandra Stone

* Deceased

Legend
Present =P Apologies = A Non Attendance = * Resigned = R
 

118TH ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JULY 31, 2007

TO BE PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS
AT THE CLUBHOUSE ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Committee I submit for your consideration the 118th Annual Report, together with the audited statements for the year ended July 31, 2007.

A great year for the club was saddened by the passing of
John Herring – Club Patron, Former Secretary and member for over 50 years.
Felice Pitella – Club member of 25 years, businessman, painter, sculptor

On behalf of the club, I pass on our most sincere condolences to their families and friends.

Under the expert guidance of Brian Gedge the committee decided to ‘drought-proof’ the club by installing a 100,000 litre underground tank. This tank now services courts 1 to 5 and also the front garden. I must commend the committee for their foresight in taking on such a substantial project and also thank the members for their patience during the reinstatement of the area.

It was originally envisaged that the Club would need to issue a Levy notice to members in order to cover the $35,000 cost of the tank installation. However, the strong financial position and good management of the Club has enabled us to avoid a levy. A very satisfactory position all round.

Our State Grade men’s and women’s pennant team both performed well but bowed out in the semi finals. Congratulations to Captain Kristen Van Elden, State Pennant Player of the year for the second year in a row.

Men’s Veterans Section 1 lost in the grand final. Grade 5 Ladies, consisting mainly of juniors, won their section but lost in the finals play off. Thanks to Colin Davis, Sebastian Sauvey and Sandra Stone for their huge amount of work in running 21 teams in the winter, along with the Bayside Summer Competition teams.

The Bayside Juniors were very successful, winning 4 pennants in the winter season – well done to all concerned. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sandra for the great job that she has done in running the junior teams over the past year.

I am sure night competition and squash pennant have once again been great stress relievers to many of our hard working members. Thanks to Sandy and Brian Gedge (tennis) Graeme Rough and David Allison (squash) the club remains as vibrant as ever and the bar till continues to tick over at a very rapid rate.

Finally, the midweek ladies section 4, captained by Jane Cash, made it to the semi-finals after moving up two sections.

Our sponsors for the year 2006/07 once again provided much needed financial assistance for our top level teams. Our major sponsors are as follows:
Dunlop Slazenger
Cantwells Property
Triangle Corporation
O’Loughlin Design Service Pty Ltd
Studio Craft Picture Framers
Duncan Thompson Extensions
Yonex
Oakley Thompson & Co.
Prince

Membership numbers at the 31st July, 2007 were as follow:

Country Non-Playing: 1
Country Playing: 1
Full Playing: 232
Full Playing Gold: 6
Honorary: 3
Junior: 266
Life: 12
Non-Playing: 30
Non-Playing Gold: 3
Patron: 2
Provisional Playing: 36
Social: 12
Special Junior: 2
Temporary: 4

Total 610

Our membership has shown a slight increase in number, and still remains at a very healthy level.

Through our committee’s and bar convenor Brian Gedge’s decision to not continue with a full time bar manager, we are once again able to see significant financial benefits. Also, the decision to use casual bar staff has seen a substantial increase in bar profits.

Kevin Gill must be thanked for the many unpaid jobs he performs on maintenance of the club during the year.

The gymnasium continues to serve our members and acts as a great attraction to potential new members who are thinking of joining the club. Kirsten Sutherland and Sam McLean, through their company ‘Pulse’, are great assets to our club and many of our members are enjoying a new lease on life due to their training methods.

Stuart Rogers has carried out his role as Treasurer in an extremely professional manner. We sincerely thank him for the enormous amount of time that he has put in to keep the club’s finances in order.

Club Secretary John Miles continues to perform his role admirably – it takes a lot of hard work, which is greatly appreciated.

Sandra Stone our Club Administrator is to be commended for her approach to all matters pertaining to the daily running of the Club.

David Allison worked tirelessly once again this year in running the Club Championships over the Labour Day weekend in March. This year’s Championships saw Paul Lord win his 11th Men’s Open Singles title. Ola Luczak won her 2nd singles title.

Kim Tram has continued to play an instrumental role in the preservation of the Club’s history. Through his company ‘Studio Craft’, he has framed more of our historic club photos, including one of our winning A Grade team in 1945 which includes the great Frank Sedgman.

Tony Lam and Sandy Gedge have put in an enormous amount of work to maintain the club’s website, we thank them for their expertise.

Austen Diggle, our immediate past President, continues to be a great help to both the Committee, and myself personally, with his vast knowledge of the club.

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank all of our outstanding Club Members. Thanks to your continued support, Grace Park is still regarded as one of top clubs in Victoria.

Terry Stone
President
 

WINTER PENNANT TEAMS 2007

Men’s Sunday Pennant Teams

Men’s State Grade                                                   Men’s Vets 1
Mark Van Elden                                                         Steven Park
Adam Hubble                                                             Greg Crump
Michael Staniak                                                        Brian Williams
Matthew Hicks (c)                                                    Colin Davis (c) 
Kirk Jackson                                                              John Miles
Justin Robinson                                

Men’s Vets 2                                                              Men’s Vets 3
Terry Stone                                                                Michael O’Bryan
Nigel Munro                                                                Graeme Lamb
Allan Fryday (c)                                                        John DeKever (c)
Michael Erkisen                                                         Ron Stasiak
Rowan McIntosh                                                       Glen Mackie
Dennis Bridgland                                                       Dimitrios Andrianopoulos
Barry Schmidt                                                 

Men’s Grade 4                                                           Men’s Grade 10
Garvesh Raskutti (c)                                              James Morris (c)
Jimmy Dougherty                                                    Marcus Matear
Dean Seeley                                                              Oliver Schatt
Craig Weller                                                               Charlie Sheahan            
James DeLeijer                                                         Brett DeLeijer

Men’s Grade 15
Brett Browning (c)
Connor O’Bryan
Rohan Browning
Jackson Land
James Richards
Peter Robinson