Chairman’s Annual Dinner Speech 2017

Good evening Ladies

Welcome to our 27^th AGM and our 2^nd AGM Dinner at the Cricket Club.

I hope you will enjoy your meal and the wine provided by the Association. The bar is available should you wish to purchase additional tipples.

May I remind you to fill in a Charity Proposal Form for the draw later.

Before we begin our meal, let us have a moment of reflection.  I am sure you will agree that whatever our own personal circumstances, we are incredibly fortunate and privileged compared with many in the world. We should remember to have an attitude of gratitude and look for opportunities to share our good fortune.

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I hope you have all enjoyed your meal and I take this opportunity to thank John and his team for their excellent service.

There are copies of last years’ minutes on each table.  Are there any matters arising from these?  Could we have a proposer to accept the minutes please?  Now a seconder?

We continue to be well supported with 220 ladies playing in the Vets and Super Vets.  No doubt you have all had some “You cannot be Serious” and “You should have gone to Specsavers” moments?  However, your commitment to fair play and enjoyment of tennis is without question a most valuable contribution to ensure the continued success of this Association.  Thank you very much for your participation.

A quote from one of the most successful lady players, the great Martina. “It is often said that it is not whether you win or lose that counts, …….. but whoever said it probably lost”.

The Association is run by a small Committee of 6 ladies and I would like to thank them for their hard work – organising the leagues, the website, keeping the accounts in order and all the necessary admin work including the organising of this evening.  Offers of help from members are very welcome.  Also, we are always open to comments and suggestions.

Very sadly last year we lost one of our members, and former Secretary, Sheila Caban.  Sheila was a prominent tennis figure and I am sure is missed both on and off the court.  A donation of £150 was made from the Association in her memory.

Last year we donated £250 to each of the 3 charities you chose.  Missing Persons UK, Diabetes UK and the Leicester Hospitals Charity.  The  certificates are displayed on the board.  This year we will again be donating to 3 charities of your choice, at £500 each, and the draw will take place before the prize giving.

I am happy to introduce Steve Good who has kindly offered to be our photographer this evening.  Thank you Steve.  We will call the winners and runners-up of each division to collect their prizes and have pictures taken together.  Steve will also be happy to take pictures for anyone who would like them.

I now ask Lynn Norwood to give the Treasurer’s Report.

Is there any other business?

In that case I am delighted to introduce our guest speaker, Mr Alan Gray, who  is a former Wimbledon Umpire and his speech tonight is aptly titled “You cannot be Serious”.

Anne Lucas

CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL DINNER SPEECH 2016

I hope that you have all enjoyed your meal, and I thank John and his team for looking after us so well.

The association continues to be well supported with 220 ladies taking part in 14 divisions plus 74 players in the Super Vets and I am sure that you have all had some great tennis.

Sadly last year we lost one of our founder members, Joyce Butterfield, who I am sure many of you will have known as a very active tennis player and her many other contributions.  A cheque for £100.00 was donated to the Parkinson’s Association in her memory.  We also lost a dear friend, Kathy Geddes, who most of you would have known as Kathy Bakewell.  Kathy is very much missed.

Last year we donated to 2 charities; The CLASP and the Alzheimer’s Society, both receiving cheques for £250.00.  This year we intend to donate the same amount to 3 charities and the draw will take place later.

This is my first year as Chairman and I would like to thank the Committee for their valuable support.  We do have some changes within the Committee.  Mary Jarvis is standing down after many years of being our Treasurer and we thank her for doing a fabulous job for us and we would like to now make a small presentation to Mary.

Lynn Norwood is our Tournament organiser with the help of Cheryl Arlott.   Lynn is standing down to become our Treasurer and I am sure that you will all agree that Lynn has done an excellent job and we are grateful to her for her hard work.  Cheryl continues in her role and also organises the website so thank you Cheryl.  Val Noble has offered to join the Committee and take over from Lynn as the Tournament organiser subject to your approval.  I am sure she will do a great job.  We thank our very efficient secretary Liz Harris.

Thank you to Mary Vesty our SUPER  Super Vets organiser who happily continues in this role for us.  Unfortunately Mary is unwell and unable to be here tonight and we wish her well. On behalf of the Committee I would like to thank you all for your participation.

A couple more thank you’s to Sandra Middleditch and Val Lord for being our photographers for the evening.  The pictures will be posted on our website and we present a small token of our appreciation to them both.

We have come across a long abandoned shield and we are not really sure of its original purpose but we would like to press it into service again so we are open to suggestions as to how it can be best used.  So we would be grateful for any feedback.

Before I ask Mary to give her report, I wonder if you would like to join me in a toast to all those who have a special birthday today, including of course Her Majesty the Queen.

ANNE LUCAS

Chairman’s Annual Dinner Speech 2015

I would like to start my Annual Report by saying a huge thank you to four ladies who are here this evening for their foresight in recognising the need for a tournament for lady veteran tennis players in Leicestershire. They are Jan Provis, Thelma Bull, Joyce Adams and Gill Thompson.

They are just four of the original committee members of seven who are able to be with us tonight. I am sure you didn’t ever think the organisation would become such an amazing success? From a very small beginning we have grown to become one of the largest veteran ladies tennis organisations with over 250 members. Jan, Thelma, Joyce, Gill, please take a bow ladies and let us salute you.

The Committee continues to work very hard on your behalf and I would personally like to thank everyone for their continued support and the efficient way in which they all contribute to making the LVLTA so successful. Lynn Norwood and Cheryl Arlott continue to organise the Winter Tournament in which over 250 members play. Mary Vesty oversees the Summer Supervets and Mary Jarvis looks after our Finances.

Cheryl has been instrumental in getting the website up and running so we can all be kept informed of what is happening within the organisation. This year we were delighted that Liz Harris agreed to join us to become Honorary Secretary. Sandra Middleditch continues to be our Honorary Photographer and she will be on her feet soon to cover the presentation of prizes.

This is my last AGM as Chairman as I am retiring from the Committee and Anne Lucas will be taking over from me? I know that Anne will make a very efficient Chairman and I hope you will all join with me in voting her into that position shortly.

I hope that you have all filled in the slips you were given on your arrival to nominate your favourite charity, as once again we are able donate two £250 cheques. The draw will take place later in the meeting.

You have all received a pen this evening as a momento of our Anniversary. Would you please see Liz later who will give you pens for those members of your club, not present this evening, who have also played in the tournament this year. You were also given a questionnaire about LVLTA clothing. Do please fill them in and Liz will collect them later.

Finally I would like to thank all the staff at Devonshire Place for their support in the organisation of this event.

Wendy England

Chairman’s Annual Dinner Speech 2014

Welcome to Devonshire Place once again for the 24th AGM.  I hope you have enjoyed your meal and we will endeavour to get through the business of the AGM so we can get on with the main event of the evening.

The Committee continue to work hard on your behalf.  Anne Lucas has joined us this year and I know she will be a very efficient member of the Committee.

Once again we have had a good entry for the winter tournament, over 250 ladies playing during the winter months.  Lynn continues as Tournament Director,  joined this year by Cheryl who has taken on responsibility for half the divisions.  I am sure you will all agree that this has worked well.  Tournament Director is a big job and we are very grateful to Lynn and Cheryl for so ably managing the organisation of the groups.

Mary Vesty continues to organise the Super Vets Tournament, played during the summer which Mary does most ably.

Mary Jarvis remains as Treasurer looking after the finances of the organisation and has once again agreed that we can give £500 to charity.  The Committee decided to donate £250 to 2 charities and we will make the draw for those charities at the end of the AGM.

This year has seen the introduction of LVLTA.com.  We are hugely grateful to Cheryl for the efficient way in which she has organised this and I know she would like to say a few words about it in AOB.

On a sad note I have to inform you that Pat Walne has resigned from the Committee.  Pat has worked tirelessly over the years for LVLTA taking over as Tournament Director in difficult circumstances.  We have benefited from her hard work and experience.  Again I stress that we would welcome new members onto the Committee as we must move forward to continue to thrive with fresh ideas.  Please speak to one of us if you are interested in joining a lively Committee dedicated to promoting Ladies Veterans Tennis in Leicestershire.

Finally, my thanks to the staff at Devonshire Place and Carly, in particular, for their support in the organisation of this event.

Wendy England
Chairman