The Mote Squash Club
Willow Way • Maidstone, Kent • ME15 7RN
Tel: 01622 676 977
Chairman's Report Attached for discussion and approval at the AGM
Annual General Meeting – September 2026
Chair’s Report
Introduction
This year the AGM is Friday 18th September at 7.30. Club night will stop for the duration and the bar will be half price from the start time. Please do come along, this is your chance to put forward your suggestions on the running of the club.
I’m pleased to say the existing committee members are prepared to stand again this year and I’d like to extend a formal welcome to Jon Ford as Club Secretary, replacing Matt Baker (whose continuing knee problems have finally forced him to stop playing).
Nominations are open should anybody wish to join the committee, either standing in an existing role or as an additional member. Should you be interested please let Jon or me know. New members would be welcome and it doesn’t need to be in a specific role, it can simply be as a volunteer.
Our trustees, Paul Newvell, Steve Wentzell and Jeff Root, have also confirmed they are happy to continue.
Huge thanks again this year to our sponsors; Steve Lowe (whose Elsatex banners enhance the appearance of courts 1 and 2), Clive Franklin (CAF Ceramics), Jason Goodayle (S&G Process Engineering), Steve Wentzell (Capital Cleaning ) and Marcus Robson (DMS Communications). I can’t stress enough how valuable this support is for the club and others would be most welcome.
The Club continues to rely on the goodwill of its members and in particular its volunteers: Chris Cox for health and safety, Martyn Smith for maintaining the leagues, Luke Mount for social media posts, Joe Wheatley for cheffing (and all the other things), Neil Reading, our Jack of all trades and Jason and Claire Goodayle for all the maintenance (including covering cleaning duties when Rhonda is away).
Finance
As at 31/8/26 the cash balances of the club were:
31/08/2026 31/08/2025 Difference
Current/Business £22,237.49 £27,677.52 -£5,440.03
Deposit/Savings £11,776.24 £11,640.41 £135.83
Total £34,013.73 £39,317.93 -£5,304.20
At first glance this is disappointing, until we consider the one-off cost of refurbishing courts 1 and 2, @ circa £6,000 in December 25. The underlying figures are therefore pretty consistent and slightly ahead of August 24, when balances were around £32,000.
The Committee recommends £nil increase in most renewal subscription charges. As per last year we are asking for payment to be made during October. A £25 late payment fee will apply to renewals after this date. These membership fees have not increased now since October 22.
We do think a couple of small changes to fees are to be recommended:
• A new category for full members under 30 @ £90
• An increase in fees for off peak and senior members of £10.
If we look a little more closely at court bookings, we see they are down 7% (Oct to Aug), replicating the 7% reduction in usage from 2024 to 2025.
Court use comparison
25/26 24/25 dif % diff
Oct 477 484 -7 -1%
Nov 544 474 70 15%
Dec 507 434 73 17%
Jan 512 581 -69 -12%
Feb 485 491 -6 -1%
Mar 489 510 -21 -4%
Apr 395 434 -39 -9%
May 395 486 -91 -19%
Jun 467 492 -25 -5%
Jul 378 541 -163 -30%
Aug 314 401 -87 -22%
total 4963 5328 -365 -7%
But if we exclude team matches, club nights and tournaments – and then see how the times of court usage have changed between 24/25 and 25/26 – we get a more nuanced picture.
% diff in Court Usage
Court timings
before 4.30 -3%
after 4.30 -19%
Total Diff -13%
It looks to me as if the club is being used less now and at different times of the day than traditionally.
It feels like something worth discussing at the AGM. Perhaps we should consider moving peak court times to an earlier start and introducing a more varied coffee and tea choice. Off peak courts would then resume from (say) 8.00pm.
Membership
Total number is 165, compared with 173 August 25 and 184 at August 24. As usual these numbers are from the system and may contain some duplication or mis labelling. The profile by age is:
If we look at the age profile of members, we see that 41% are over 55 and 49% are over 50.
If we exclude juniors those percentages rise to 46% and 55%.
Again excluding juniors, 15% of our members are over 70.
Maintenance
The showers in the Gents changing rooms have been the subject of lots of attention this year. We have spoken to the plumber who installed them (Paul Wakeling for those with long memories) and he has been back several times. There seem to be 2 separate issues, mechanical failure and low water pressure. The equipment is old and has let us down recently but shouldn’t be responsible for pressure reduction. We removed 2 showers that were no longer thought to be needed, given the reduction in court usage. We hoped that may have had a co incidental beneficial impact to the pressure – sadly it hasn’t done so. In any event, we are replacing the existing 2 showers with 3 new units, hopefully by the time of the AGM. Replacement cost is £936.
The pressure issue has been escalated to the cricket club (our landlords). The groundsman has reported reduced pressure too; he has been told that the water company reduced pressure. We have gone back to the landlord and queried this – the suspicion is that the installation of the pure water tank is causing the problem. I hope to have an update for the AGM.
We seem to have an ongoing issue with the fire exit door to the back of court 1. It gets opened and propped but isn’t closed. Please remember it is an emergency and security feature. If it is left open then it is doubtful the insurance cover would respond in the event of a claim. It shouldn’t be opened but if it is please make sure you close it again.
Thankfully we have seen a much reduced incidence of taps being left on this year. Can I ask again that the last person to leave the club checks the changing rooms and toilets.
Bar
Russ has had a busy year, starting with the Christmas party. We took a small gamble this time and held the party at “Twixmas” but it was well supported and good fun. My thanks to Russ and Nicki and all the bar team.
During the year there have been a number of private parties, the club summer BBQ and the April quiz night. Next quiz night is 31/10 – with Steve Wentzell back as Quizmaster and Joe delivering his signature Thai Curry/Veggie Lasagne. Cost is £10 a ticket. We hope to see you there. With the reduced member numbers and falling court usage these events are critical to the Club’s finances and therefore to its future.
Club Captain’s Report
Teams
Summer 25 - 1st team finished 10th in Div 1, 2nd team 5th in Div 4.
Winter - 25/26 1st team finished Winners Division 2 (Congratulations to you ) and 2nd team finished 4th in Division 4 of Kent Priory League.
Summer 26 1st team currently 3rd in Division 2 and 2nd team currently 7th in Division 3 with 4 matches left to play.
Thanks to Mark Steeden and Luke Penna for running the teams and for all players who have supported the club in partaking in the matches.
Mote Graded 2026
The Graded Event took place in January. We had a full 64 player draw which made for a busy day at club. The 2027 event is already in the calendar for 2/1/27.
Thanks to Joe Magor for organising.
PSA 2026
Some quality squash over Friday and Saturday with the Men’s winner Oliver Tate and runner up Jake Sim Basker. Friday the courts were free of charge for members and a Graded event ran alongside the PSA on Saturday which kept the club busy throughout the day. Thanks to Ben Ford for organising and Nick Peel for officiating over the 2 days.
Juniors
Luke Mount has been running the Thursday evening and Saturday morning groups this year. Many thanks to Luke and to Andrew Long, a fairly new member who plays in our 1st team, who helps coaching on a Saturday morning. Thanks also to parents for supporting whenever needed,
We are actively looking to increase our junior numbers, so if there are any Juniors that want to give squash a try please get in touch. Sessions return Saturday 12th September and Thursday 17th September.
2025 Junior Closed was held in December
Main winner - Lyubi Tinchev
Plate winner -.Robin Long
Awards
Gethin Carlile - junior player of the year
Michaela Seaman - most improved player
The Mote will be hosting the Kent Junior Closed over the weekend of 21/22nd November
Redevelopment
To nobody’s surprise, there has been no progress with the cricket club project to demolish and rebuild. I suspect we will reach the end of our lease in April 2028 before any work is completed. In that case I have had verbal confirmation that they will be happy to extend our lease on current terms and simply move to a rolling 12 months arrangement.
S Hazzard
Chair
8/9/2026
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