Squash Committee Meeting 06 February
2009
‘Virtual’ General Meeting Conducted
Mostly by Email.
Official Version
Minutes of
Squash Business Plan preparation for Ups Club submission to ICR/RMH starting 21
January 2009:
1994-2007
Squash
Section Contribution to Business Plan Report for Ups and pH Management
Committee - Final Version Submitted 17 February 2009: Click
here for PDF.
From: Steve Edwards [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 18 February 2009 18:28 To: 'Taylor, Helen' Cc: 'Chris.Stott@icr.ac.uk'; 'Lionel.Gunn@icr.ac.uk';
'Louise.Johns@icr.ac.uk'; 'Laura.Robison@icr.ac.uk'; 'Mark.Sydenham@icr.ac.uk';
'Antigoni.Divoli@icr.ac.uk'; 'David.Roberts@icr.ac.uk';
'James.Darcy@icr.ac.uk'; 'Jonathan.Gear@icr.ac.uk';
'Neil.Goddard@icr.ac.uk'; 'Sandra.Edwards@icr.ac.uk' Subject: RE: Ups & pH Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats:
Final version 17.02.09 Dear Helen, I did write it on behalf of the section with the intention that it
could be attached to the main submission or be sent in as a supplement. It
was circulated in draft and final version form to the squash committee and
there were no complaints - so it is effectively cleared for wider
circulation. My only concern was that it shows that the RMH is a minor
participant in squash. On the other hand I think it would be good for the
ICR to know that their staff use the
facility a lot and might therefore help justify the contribution (queried
by Cathy Scivier) that they make. I also believe I’ve tracked down the
reason why ICR pays more to the clubs and can discuss with you at a later
date if you wish. I will be on holiday for a week from the 21st. Cheers, Steve cc Squash Committee ________________________________________ From: Taylor, Helen [mailto:Helen.Taylor@rmh.nhs.uk] Sent: 18 February 2009 14:11 To: Steve Edwards Subject: RE: Ups & pH Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats: Final
version 17.02.09 If you are happy with that – it looks very professional and has
obviously had a lot of work put into it, so it would be nice if the powers
that be could see it – only with your agreement though…. Helen T cordless 1093 ________________________________________ From: Steve Edwards [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 18 February 2009 14:02 To: Taylor, Helen Subject: RE: Ups & pH Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats:
Final version 17.02.09 Dear Helen, Thanks for the message. Just a quick question - are you planning to
send the squash report out as a supplement to the original Ups/pH business
plan submission. Cheers, Steve ________________________________________ From: Taylor, Helen [mailto:Helen.Taylor@rmh.nhs.uk] Sent: 18 February 2009 13:46 To: edwards@sketters.co.uk Subject: RE: Ups & pH Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats:
Final version 17.02.09 Thanks – have read now – very comprehensive Helen T cordless 1093
From: edwards@sketters.co.uk [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 17 February 2009 19:16 To: Helen.Taylor@rmh.nhs.uk Cc: Helen.Taylor@rmh.nhs.uk; Young.Lee@rmh.nhs.uk;
Nicola.Bixby@icr.ac.uk; Grace.Sharp@icr.ac.uk; Jonathan.Gear@icr.ac.uk;
Calvin.Stockdale@icr.ac.uk; Amin.Mirza@icr.ac.uk;
samantha.costigan@icr.ac.uk; Robert.Davidson@icr.ac.uk;
Elizabeth.Copeman@icr.ac.uk; Emma.Harris@icr.ac.uk; Jeff.Barley@icr.ac.uk;
karen.baker@icr.ac.uk; Mike.Walton@icr.ac.uk; Naomi.Miller@icr.ac.uk;
Nigel.Bush@icr.ac.uk; Bridget.Moore@rmh.nhs.uk; Emma.Allwright@rmh.nhs.uk;
Gary.Burkill@rmh.nhs.uk; Karen.Hawkins@rmh.nhs.uk; Ken.Davis@rmh.nhs.uk;
Mandy.Humphreys@rmh.nhs.uk; edwards@sketters.co.uk; Chris.Stott@icr.ac.uk;
Lionel.Gunn@icr.ac.uk; Louise.Johns@icr.ac.uk; Laura.Robison@icr.ac.uk;
Mark.Sydenham@icr.ac.uk; Antigoni.Divoli@icr.ac.uk;
David.Roberts@icr.ac.uk; James.Darcy@icr.ac.uk; Jonathan.Gear@icr.ac.uk;
Neil.Goddard@icr.ac.uk; Sandra.Edwards@icr.ac.uk Subject: Ups & pH
Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats: Final version 17.02.09 Dear Helen Please find enclosed the final
version of the Squash Section's contribution to the current club business
plan. This supersedes the previous versions which were only drafts. Kind regards, Steve cc Ups and pH Management Committee cc Ups Club Squash Section Management Committee ----- Original Message ----- From: edwards@sketters.co.uk To: edwards@sketters.co.uk Sent: Fri 06/02/09 3:46 PM Subject: Fwd: Ups & pH
Business Plan - Squash Report / Stats Dear Helen and Committee, Just further to Ups & pH Committee meeting earlier on, I enclose a slightly revised draft of
the Squash Section background and usage report that I tabled. Thank you also for the Ups and Downs promotional leaflets. I will
endeavour to spread these around as much as possible ! I will let the Squash Committee know about the decision to allow the
Sutton Police Belmont Safer Neighbourhoods Team join the Ups Club, and then
further to ratification of terms, join the Squash Section. Kind regards, Steve
From: edwards@sketters.co.uk [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 13 February 2009 15:28 To: Chris.Stott@icr.ac.uk; Lionel.Gunn@icr.ac.uk; Louise.Johns@icr.ac.uk;
Laura.Robison@icr.ac.uk; Mark.Sydenham@icr.ac.uk;
Antigoni.Divoli@icr.ac.uk; David.Roberts@icr.ac.uk; James.Darcy@icr.ac.uk;
Jonathan.Gear@icr.ac.uk; Neil.Goddard@icr.ac.uk; Sandra.Edwards@icr.ac.uk;
edwards@sketters.co.uk Subject: Update on Sutton Police & Stats 13.02.09 Dear All, Here's the
updated squash report which includes better stats on the squash usage I
promised earlier in the week. The key usage details are on page 3 and appendix 2. Perhaps uppermost in our current considerations about space to
accommodate any outside groups is the fact that last year around 60% of the
'peak' slots were fully booked on average. This value has been climbing
over recent years. The report is still in draft form (hence all colours!) and will only
go to Helen and the committee once you feel happy with it. Hope to see you for a drink tonight, or for a lunchtime meeting if
you feel this is needed. Cheers, Steve
From: edwards@sketters.co.uk [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 06 February 2009 19:29 To: Chris.Stott@icr.ac.uk; Lionel.Gunn@icr.ac.uk;
Louise.Johns@icr.ac.uk; Laura.Robison@icr.ac.uk; Mark.Sydenham@icr.ac.uk;
Antigoni.Divoli@icr.ac.uk; David.Roberts@icr.ac.uk; James.Darcy@icr.ac.uk;
Jonathan.Gear@icr.ac.uk; Neil.Goddard@icr.ac.uk; Sandra.Edwards@icr.ac.uk;
edwards@sketters.co.uk Cc: Helen.Taylor@rmh.nhs.uk Subject: Squash Matters
26.01.09 - Update incl Ups Club Matters 06.02.09 Dear Squash Committee, Re: Follow-up on 8 Point Email of 26 January 2009 Just a short (!) update on some of these points following today’s
Ups & pH Bar Committee Meeting: Point 5: Provision
for more Associate Members (AM) was debated. It was felt that it was too
early to open the gates to lots more people becoming AM’s as the amount of
work involved will be too much for the current system to handle. The
committee did not however rule out such provision in the future. In fact
they have sanctioned the proposal in Point 6 (Sutton Police Belmont Safer
Neighbourhoods Team) as a trial for generating more funds to cover costs
and to make better links with the community. The covering cost aspect is
important as we will have to be non-profit making to comply with Ups Club
insurance requirements. Point 6: Sutton Police
Belmont Safer Neighbourhoods Team: This was debated extensively. There was
a strong feeling that allowing this group to join is a good idea. It was
proposed that this be a test case for allowing external groups to join -
just has been the case in the past e.g. BIBRA and the HM Prison Downsview.
The extra benefit that could come
from this policy is the chance to interact more in the community and this
was felt to be a good thing to encourage. Particularly if it is good press
for the RMH and ICR. I am therefore actioned to gather your views and then
to draft ‘terms of reference’ under which the group will be allowed to use
the court. I will make provisional contact with the parties involved and
keep you all posted. Point 8: Future of
the Club: This was a major topic of debate and had many facets: (i) There are a lot of rumours circulating at the moment about the
future of the club. I’m not going propagate any of these! What is known is
that negotiations and correspondence is taking place between RMH and ICR
about funding levels for the club. The Ups and pH Bar Committee would
therefore like to convene a meeting in order to find out what is behind the
statements that the RMH and ICR have made which indicate a possible
withdrawal or reduction of funding. Much of this is covered in the Business
Plan which I have attached as a PDF. This has already been submitted to ICR
and RMH. (ii) Further to
the submission, the ICR and RMH have asked for more details on usage and
potential funds generation. They are particularly interested in the pool
and bar, and whether they can be self financing. I have indicated, in the
usage report that I promised (attached) and have now produced, that the
squash court can be self financing and is a significant attractor of
participants. The committee has attempted to catalogue other
participation, including running, yoga, tennis, badminton, reading, table
tennis, Hall booking etc. The feeling that perhaps the RMH and ICR think
the club is underused was considered, and thought to be a possible reason
for the RMH and ICR starting to have cold feet. Another possible reason is
that the club premises are sited near to land (Sutton Hospital) that may
well be up for grabs by either the RMH or ICR or both. One of the ideas of
a meeting would be to ask both parties face to face what their plans and
intentions are for future expansion. (iii) Linked to this is the matter of raising our finance to fill
the gaps if there is a corporate withdrawal. The matter of AM’s came up and
whether we could open up this category to ex-staff and other affiliations.
Currently there are insufficient ‘membership’ volunteers to cope with such
applications, but the committee did not reject the possibility and thought
that paying people e.g. students, to help with databasing and
administration could be a viable option. It was thought that by trialling
the Sutton/Belmont Police group that we would get an idea of whether this
can be rolled out further. There was a feeling that we should not gather a
head of steam on the general proposal until the meeting is held with RMH
and ICR, to gauge their views and to get some idea of the continued
availability of the current buildings to us. (iv) One factor involved in becoming ‘self governing’ is the
‘council rates’ we are charged. We are currently charged at a business rate
- which is approx £1000 per month. The total outgoings of the club is
around £23,000 pa, so if we can save on the rates using ‘charitable status’
(80% reduction) then we would halve our annual bills and perhaps make the
whole enterprise more viable and desirable to the ICR and RMH. The
committee agreed to look into the possibility of obtaining charitable
status. (v) Communications and RMH Participation in Sports and Social: The
issue of lack of general email access for RMH employees to onsite ‘sports
and social’ info was acknowledged by the committee. It is not clear what
commitment the RMH has to the sports and social activities because the
feeling was that it does not condone them being promoted by site-wide email
distribution. The committee felt this was a big hindrance. I said there was
evidence to show the detriment of the RMH policy as the RMH fraction of
participation in squash over 14 years was only 25%. It is even worse when
looking at attendance at squash coaching - with only a 10% RMH
participation rate - despite us pamphleting the RMH with coaching details
and asking friendly people to send RMH emails for us. The committee was
aware of the communication problem as it was in the process itself of
distributing by a hand a pamphlet recently commissioned to promote the club
(see scan attached). The issue of addressing how to have a seed change in
attitude was raised, but it was difficult to identify a RMH person or group
who outwardly supported the club and its contribution to the wellbeing of
its staff, The only group that has outwardly acknowledged the clubs
activities are a major benefit to employees is Occupation Health. I said I
knew the head of the unit and would try to initiate talks with them to see
if better channels of communication can be constructed. There was also talk
of manning a booth in the RMH canteen to promote the club. My personal view
is that this must be tried, but it has to be admitted that this is a slightly archaic means of
communicating in this day and age - the committee was frustrated with what
they considered an unhelpful RMH email policy. I leave this for your consideration, and would welcome any comments
on these points or those raised in the earlier ‘8-point’ email. Cheers, Steve Encl 07b business case revised dated 190109 from Amin-Helen 05.02.09.pdf 09c Squash Section
Business Plan Report for Committee Draft 3 060209.pdf 10b Ups and Downs (pH) Promtional Leaflet from Helen 060209.pdf
From: Steve Edwards [mailto:edwards@sketters.co.uk] Sent: 01 December 2008 16:25 To: 'Phil Hall'; 'Antigoni Divoli'; 'Chris Stott'; 'David Roberts';
'James Darcy'; 'Jonathan Gear'; 'Laura Robison'; 'Lionel Gunn'; 'louise
Johns'; 'Mark Sydenham'; 'Neil Goddard'; 'Sandra Edwards'; 'Steve Edwards' Subject: RE: Squash Christmas Social & General On the 18th Dec when the Ups Club are holding their open meeting. I
spoke to Helen Taylor (Chairman of Club) on Friday and she and the
committee are awfully concerned about the future of the club. I think it’s
safe to say that these are not rumours and that both the Marsden and
Institute are planning to cut back on funding for the club. Perhaps more
serious than this is the implied withdrawal of general support. I would urge all squash players to attend on the 18th, so please can
I impose on you all to spread the news. Helen has been tasked to prepare a business plan for the Ups and
Downs (Sports and Social) Club and I have been asked to contribute on behalf
of the Squash Section. One key issue is how many Marsden staff use the
facilities including the squash court. I’ll prepare some stats based on
what we have and I also plan to say that we ‘pamphlet’ the RMH canteen when
we have squash coaching. Unfortunately gone are the days when we used to ‘pamphlet’ the wards
and everywhere with news of all activities - people simply don’t have time
anymore. The problem of communication with the Marsden is exasipated
because we cannot blanket email all their staff to let them know what
wonderful facilities they have on their doorstep. So if you could also
raise these concerns with any of your Marsden friends, then maybe something
will eventually filter through to the senior managers and their IT dept
about this severe oversight in their communications by-way ! Cheers for now, Steve PS look out soon for more squash comms on the insurance meeting we
had in October, and the ensuing matter of our policy on Children and
Vulnerable Adults attendance and safety in general.
December 2008 Request from Helen Taylor to prepare a Squash Report for the Ups
Club Business Plan scheduled for submission to ICR/RMH for consideration of
the club’s future
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