AGM & EGM

The meeting was held via Zoom Conferencing Wednesday 25th November 2020

Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex KG KCVO ADC

Apologies for absence: Hugh Antrobus, Louise Barnfield, Edward Buck, The Earl of Buckinghamshire, Jeremy Bushell, David Godfray, Ian Goulty, Nick Hamilton, Mike Hayes, Mark Howard, Roger Pilgrim, Luke Readman, Bernard Weatherill QC, The Marquess of Zetland.

1. The retirement of DM Norman, President of the

Association, having served a third period of three years in accordance with Article 5.5 was noted. The Board’s nomination to re-elect DM Norman as President of the Association for a further period of three years in accordance with Article 5.6 was approved.

Mr DM Norman warmly welcomed everyone to the first virtual AGM in 113 years and said it would prove to be the Association’s finest. He reported the Chief Executive Mr CS Davies would choreograph questions later in the meeting and thanked the T&RA for putting together a virtual AGM as a result of the social distancing restriction regulations imposed by Covid19.

2. Notice of the calling of the meeting.

The Notice was issued in September 2020 and promulgated to Members along with the Annual Report. The authority for charities to hold their AGMs electronically was granted by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020.

3. The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at The Queen’s Club on 27th November 2019 were proposed by Mr H Johnsen, seconded by Mr D Sheperdigian and approved unanimously.

4. Matters arising from the Minutes

There were no matters arising not covered later in the meeting.

5. To adopt the Annual Report for 2019/20 by the passing of Resolution 1 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting. Mr David Watson welcomed everyone to the T&RA AGM for the year 2020 and made the following statement: It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the first, and hopefully the last, T&RA AGM exclusively by zoom. The playing season, which feels a lifetime ago, was brought to a premature conclusion in March this year with the imposition of a national lockdown. Whilst little comfort now, we were fortunate in having a winter season such that most major events were completed before Boris confined us to barracks. There were however sad cancellations of the schools Rackets doubles – for the first time since the war years (1942, to be specific) - denying those in their final year the chance to shine. The schoolgirls’ singles were a further victim, temporarily denting the huge growth in this area: Ladies Tennis Opens; British Open Rackets Doubles and a number of other events were sadly cancelled ; (Tennis) Men’s World Challenge was the most notable casualty. Even so there were significant achievements in the first half.

Rackets

Tom Billings fulfilled his determined ambition in taking the World Single Rackets title vacated by James Stout, with Tara Lumley and India Deakin winning the first ever Ladies World Doubles.

Tennis

We were delighted to see Camden Riviere return to full fitness and performing in imperious style taking both the singles and doubles events at Queen’s. Sadly, though, these all feel a long time ago. Post lockdown, the T&RA has been active in advising clubs and schools on rules for safe return to play and despite the huge frustrations we all share with the illogicality of the 86

ruling emerging from Number 10, we have been grateful for the support and careful adherence and patience shown by all. I must reassure you that we have been aggressively and intensively lobbying for permission to return to safe play and progress has been made. However – all is not gloom and doom! At the start of lockdown, we reached out to all clubs and schools to offer advice and assistance wherever needed. We were acutely conscious that the suspension of play and income could pose significant risks to our facilities and all those employed in the games. After a period of initial uncertainty, government support and the careful stewardship by Club Boards coupled with creative generosity from members and professionals alike, has ensured that no redundancies have been necessary. We have been pleased to support and protect the employment of some trainees, whose career ambitions will hopefully thus only be delayed, rather than lost. Finally, I wanted to share with you work undertaken by the Association against our strategic agenda: I) Improve the pipeline of professionals in Tennis and Rackets Given my clear statement of strategic priority and focus on developing and enhancing the professional ranks, you will forgive me for dwelling on the Investing in Professionals (IiP) initiative, led by John Whiting on behalf of the Tennis Committee, and the recipient of this year’s Volunteer of the Year award – the Maltby Salver. This programme which aims to recruit and train four new professionals a year for perhaps all of the next decade has benefitted from intense support from some 40 volunteers working in teams on Attract Recruit Retain. The professional community has played a big part in this too and we are now offering the higher-level training courses and opportunities to all professionals to encourage them to develop a broader skill set and increase their value to their profession and beyond. This is an exciting programme and I wanted to thank all those who have contributed so generously both time and money to bring it to fruition. We will be giving regular updates on progress in newsletters and other social media. Given the similar issues amongst our Rackets professionals, it is our aspiration to establish a similar scheme to Rackets in future years and early discussions have been positive with the RPA. II) Grow participation in particular through attracting and retaining youth and through enhancing or building new facilities In terms of our physical assets: - The rebuilt Rackets Court at Harrow was commissioned and is in active use. - I hope that many of you watched the time lapse photography of the daring replacement of the Bickley floor at Moreton Morrell which has proved a triumph. - The Hyde have secured their freehold and moved to charitable status to protect court for the long term. Sadly, at present, we don’t have any new courts in prospect in the UK (although we are all impatient to play Bordeaux and we wish every success to our colleagues in Sydney, Washington and Charleston in their endeavours). In association with the Dedanists’ (Foundation and Society), a wide range of youth Tournaments and training events have been delivered and the enthusiasm for the Real Tennis among the younger generation continues to grow – even so with an average age of 53 we need to work hard on our demographics. In Rackets, the Noel Bruce had record participation and the Schools events now benefits from a full range of girls’ events at the same time. We have also been working with the Rackets community to boost participation and consider ways to help the youngsters with the escalating costs, so they continue to play when they

leave school, as well as reintroducing the Development Squads. Again, the pandemic hasn’t helped, but an exhibition event was held at Wellington which allowed large numbers of boys and girls to watch from the galleries, all carefully social distanced from the players below. III) Enhance marketing and media profile of both sports The website is currently being rewritten and relaunched with a modern feel and the regular newsletters are received and opened by more than 3,000 people each month. Facebook reach and engagement has more than doubled and Tweets and Instagram engagement have grown exponentially. In a busy world the competition for attention is huge but electronic reports and streaming from all Clubs is growing steadily and helping access to our games. We can always do more! We are just embarking on a total rewrite of the RTO system using modern tools and technologies that will facilitate mobile access and will permit much greater connectivity to and from a range of applications. This will take a little time but is an exciting and critical development for our members and for the pro teams IV) Attract corporate sponsorship The teacher’s report is that we could do better. Clearly the Tournament context has not been conducive to attracting new sponsorship and the commercial world will remain challenged as we emerge into a new world, but if we are to raise our profile and offer attractive financial opportunities to young professionals, we have to find ways to bring more money into the game. Your help in this would be much appreciated – we have engaged professional consultants to assist us but whilst both games have a number of attractive and unique features – the main sponsor for Real Tennis remains elusive. We are pleased to continue to nurture our partnership with Brown Advisory, as the main sponsor for Rackets, and intend that this continue to thrive well into the 2020s. Mr DM Norman thanked Mr DK Watson for his review. No questions were received from attendees. In accordance with Article 32.2.2, the Annual Report of the Company for the 2019/20 season was adopted with alacrity, having been proposed by Mr G Stogdon and seconded by Mr R MacAlister. (Ordinary Resolution 1 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting).

6. Mr AC Power reported on the Financial Status and made the following statement: The T&RA has weathered the Covid 19 storm well financially. As at year end 2019/20 the T&RA had £2,43k in funds under management – £1,710k in unrestricted funds, £480k in restricted funds and £240k in endowment funds. The unrestricted funds are held to ensure adequate income generation and to provide a firm foundation for future grants; there are seven restricted funds, these funds having been donated for specific purposes e.g. for the training and development of professional coaches’ while we can only use the income from the endowment fund for development of the games. Total funds on the balance sheet have risen to £2.63 million by the end of the first quarter of this financial year reflecting a rebound in stock markets globally. In terms of the T&RA profit and loss statement, for the year 2019/20 we posted a small loss of £22k compared to a profit of £80k the previous year. This primarily was due to a significant increase in the size of grants authorised, which have been paid or accrued. Grants totalled £123.8k compared to £44.4k the previous year, a difference of £79.4k. We manage the finances in three categories: - Regular expenditure; this covers principally subscriptions less the cost of supporting members, including the hard-working office staff, marketing, IT & communications. In 2019/20 there was a modest excess expenditure over income of £17.8k as membership was flat but staffing levels had been increased to cover the surge in membership the previous year - Tournaments; sponsorship and donations exceeded tournament costs by £19.2k prior to allocation of staff costs to support the organising of tournaments. This was similar to the previous year. Tournaments up to June 2020 had not really been affected by Covid. - Development; this covers court & facilities building and refurbishment, the recruitment and training of professionals and encouraging participation in the two games. There was significant investment in the first of these two items in 2019/20. As noted earlier, The T&RA authorised £123.8k in grants, with £94.7k being for court development primarily to Eton, Hyde, Manchester and Moreton Morrell. Investment in professionals was also increased, rising to £22.7k last year compared to £2.9k the year before. - The objective is to breakeven on Regular activities and Tournaments over time. In contrast, development costs are expected to be funded by the returns on our investment portfolio - interest, dividends and capital gains. This will not be true every year as development expenditure, particularly on courts is lumpy in nature, and investment returns will vary depending on stock market conditions. Turning to the outlook for 2020/21, aspects will be affected by Covid, notably tournaments. as few will occur. On regular expenditure, there has been a small decrease in membership; however, the lower subscriptions will be offset by lower staff costs, with some staff furloughed for three months. More will be spent on upgrading RTO, but this expenditure will be deferred to 2021. The T&RA will continue to invest heavily in courts and especially professional development, albeit the level of grants for courts will be down reflecting the very high level of spending on court development in the 2019/20 year. The high level of investment in professionals will continue as they are the lifeblood of the games. Finally, interest and dividends are expected to be lower than last year, as companies cut dividends during the pandemic. However, capital gains should be higher given the strong performance of stock markets in the latter part of 2020. Mr DM Norman thanked Mr AC Power for his update and reported that he was pleased to hear that the T&RA finances were in good shape. He asked that this report be sent out to the membership and Mr CS Davies said he would action. In accordance with Article 32.2.2, the Trustee’s Report and Financial Statements for the twelve months ended 30 June 2020 were adopted unanimously having been proposed by Mr J Larken and seconded by Mr N Kenyon. (Ordinary Resolution 2 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting).

7. In accordance with Article 50.4.1, haysmacintyre were appointed as registered auditors to carry out an Independent Examination of the Company’s accounts for the financial period 1st July 2020 to 30th June 2021. (Ordinary Resolution 3 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting). Mr B Compton proposed and Mr C D’Oyly seconded. This was carried unanimously.

8. In accordance with Articles 20.2, 23.1 and 23.2, Mr C Vigrass was re-elected as a Director of the Company, with effect from 25 November 2020. Mr G Quarry proposed, Mrs L Ronaldson seconded and this was carried with acclaim.

Trustee of the Company with effect from 25 November 2020, by the passing of Resolution 4 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting. Mr J Larken proposed, Mr M Bailey seconded and this was carried unanimously. Mr DK Watson wanted it noted to thank Mr James Coyne for his great efforts serving as Rackets Chairman and to welcome Rory Sutton and his Committee. Mr D K Norman and Mr CS Davies echoed this sentiment.

10. To announce in accordance with Operating Procedure 11.1 and 11.7 the re-election of Mr RG Paterson and Mr O Saunders as members of the Tennis Committee; and in accordance with Operating Procedure 9.1 and 9.2 the nomination of Mr PJ Sutton, Mr MA Bailey, Mr CM Oliphant-Callum, Ms L Van der Zwalmen, Mr LD Symonds, Mr ERB Hyde, Mr JA Blackburn and Mr TH Billings as Members of the Rackets Committee, with effect from 01 April 2021.

11. The Board’s proposed increases to Individual, Associate and Affiliated Club subscription rates in accordance with the schedule (below), by the passing of Resolution 5 in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, was proposed by Mrs J Newby, seconded by Mr J Sheraton-Davis and carried unanimously.

Individual Full Membership Subscription Rates at the age of joining 2020/21 2021/22

70 and over 28 -69 £36.50 £37.00 £65.50 £66.50

21 -27 Under 21 or Full Time Students and under 28 £39.00 £39.50 £15.50 £15.50

Associate Membership Subscription Rates

All ages £29.00 £29.50

Affiliated Club Subscriptions

Clubs/Schools/Universities with own court (all full time students) £160.00 £162.00 Nomadic/Evening clubs (without court) £80.00 £81.00

12. Mr CS Davies executed this phase of the meeting and invited Mr C Vigrass for a brief statement from the Tennis Committee.

Mr C Vigrass responded that, until 24 November 2020, there was much uncertainty on the release of lockdown and so it was difficult to forecast. However, singles was now possible and hoped that socially distanced doubles would be equally inoffensive. The T&RA had pledged prizes to promote singles competitions. Juniors and disabled players had been unaffected so they could play in bubbles. Hopefully the World Championships could be played in May 2021 and a meeting would be held in January to check if travel restrictions would apply.

Mr CS Davies thanked Mr C Vigrass for his update and invited Mr RD Sutton for a brief statement from the Rackets Committee.

Mr RD Sutton responded as follows: Project Restart - the good news is that schools Rackets is being played. There had been no play at Rugby at this time which is a concern. Doubles at schools was under review. Adult play was on hold due to Covid restrictions and tournaments had been cancelled until the new year. Format and timing for the new year are being reviewed. Elite Rackets – one exhibition had taken place, which was very well supported and it was agreed to roll-out more widely, although currently on hold due to travel restrictions. Doubles World Challenge Eliminator and Challenge to be confirmed. A review of the doubles WC process was underway with the RWCC and NARA. Use of a doubles ranking systems was also being discussed. Schools – singles and doubles tournaments were looking to be rescheduled in March, possibly multi-venue or reduced format. The loss of Noel Bruce as a season opener was a pity as this normally drives participation through for the year. Again, losing the U21 and U24 provided a further risk in ‘losing’ interest of players. Future of Rackets - conversations with Malvern and Rugby still due to go ahead post lockdown. Mr CS Davies thanked Mr RD Sutton for his update and then introduced members’ questions submitted in advance of the meeting.

a. What consideration is being given to understanding the effect of Covid on clubs, and what could be done by the T&RA to assist any clubs that are found to have long term adverse effects post Covid, whether directly related or not? Mr C Vigrass responded that the T&RA stand ready to help Clubs where needed and the situation is kept under review by Mr CS Davies and at board meetings. The position remains as set out in the Annual Report.

b. What specific funds are held by the T&RA (ie: what makes up the c£2.4m in the accounts), what are the permitted uses of each of these funds including mandated restrictions, who qualifies to receive grants and what are the release parameters? As a reminder in his earlier statement Mr AC Power detailed the funds held by the T&RA to be: £2,430k in funds under management – £1,710k in unrestricted funds, £480k in restricted funds and £240k in endowment funds. As a reminder, the unrestricted funds are held to ensure adequate income generation and to provide a firm foundation for future grants; there are seven restricted funds, these funds having been donated for specific purposes e.g. for the training and development of professional coaches’ while we can only use the income from the endowment fund for development of the games. Total funds on the balance sheet have risen to £2,630k by the end of the first quarter of this financial year reflecting a rebound in stock markets globally.

c. What plans are there, or protocols are in place, to review/ assess performance relating to the way the games are run in the UK in light of any known issues and the likely changes to the sports dynamic post Covid? Mr C Vigrass outlined the strategy for the future of Tennis which had been reviewed by the Tennis Committee for the next ten years. Issues identified were professional recruitment, demographics, participation, marketing, communications, diversity, safety, role of the T&RA and IRTPA, uniqueness of our games. Some of these issues are being addressed directly (such as IiP). Review to be continued post COVID, once we understand the new landscape.

d. Could you provide a little more detail on how you’ve been trying to persuade government to allow more play on Rackets and Real Tennis? Mr CS Davies had encouraged members to lobby their local MPs. The T&RA had been proactive with various government departments, DCMS, coordinating with Sport England and Badminton England and Squash for Rackets. The LTA took the T&RA arguments to these bodies and results have been positive. Tier 2 is much more relaxed and Rackets has returned to a bubble system. Under 18s and disabled players can play. Grateful thanks should go to the Restart teams who have supported his efforts: - Tennis: Ronald Paterson, Owen Saunders and Chris Lintott; Rackets: Rory Sutton and Karl Cook.

e. What data, evidence or information has the T&RA of the actual transmission of the current Covid virus by people's engagement in 1. Tennis lessons; 2. Tennis singles; 3. Tennis doubles Mr CS Davies responded that the advice has been largely driven by legal requirement and Sport England guidelines and in conjunction with other NGBs, always with a mind to encourage safe Tennis (and Rackets). Keeping at a safe (social) distance is paramount, although there is still evidence to suggest that COVID is more likely to be spread by airborne transmission –

the aerosol effect. This is the more likely risk in any indoor sport; hence safe distancing is imperative. One on one coaching and singles is therefore about as safe as it is possible to be for an indoor sport. Socially distanced doubles is also OK but the fear is that competitive doubles would encourage closer proximity Tennis, and hence increase the risk.

Mr DM Norman thanked Mr CS Davies for his clear explanation. Mr DM Norman wanted to focus time on the IiP programme stating that it was the most important key initiative in arguably the past ten years. He asked for an update on the programme to be distributed to all members.

13. Under any other business, Mr DK Watson invited Mr John Whiting, the facilitator of the IiP programme to give an overview of the Investors in Professionals scheme. Mr J Whiting first thanked Mr C Snitcher and many patrons behind the Real Champions’ Club (RCC). He said that the IiP is in great shape at the launch stage. It is run by the Operational Continuing Improvement Panel; mentoring and funding are in place. It has an excellent website, usefully based and vibrant. Booklets are being prepared for professionals and apprentices. Training pathways have been produced by many of the top professionals who had given considerable time. There is heavy emphasis on business, commercial and marketing skills. The focus is for professionals to make a big difference to their clubs, improving footfall, revenue for their own salaries and sustaining of their clubs. Prince Edward is their Patron and has agreed to present an annual award ceremony to apprentices and professionals. The focus is to produce professionals with scratch singles figures in handicap, there being many professionals who have handicaps in the 30-handicap range. The hope is to bring on board four apprentices each year. The T&RA is covering £50k, RCC up to £40k and the Dedanists’ £8k each year, so this is a considerable investment. Mr S Brewerton has interviewed five candidates all of a good standard. All existing professionals will have their own log book charting their achievements or projects. Mr DM Norman thanked Mr J Whiting and his colleagues for this wonderful initiative and hoped that a similar programme could be filtered into the Rackets world. Mr DM Norman thanked Mr CS Davies and his team for the virtual AGM and stated going in 2021, the T&RA is looking very good and constructive. Zoom participants were encouraged to stay online to watch the virtual awards ceremony.

With no further business, the meeting closed at 1910.

Extraordinary General Meeting 2021

The meeting was held via Zoom Conferencing Tuesday 23rd March at 1845

1. Apologies for absence: Alan Lovell. Mr DK Watson welcomed everyone to the virtual EGM, held as a result of the social distancing restriction regulations imposed by Covid19.

2. Notice of the calling of the meeting.

The Notice was issued on 31st January 2021 and promulgated to Members. The authority for charities to hold their EGMs electronically was granted by the extension to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, valid until 30th March 2021.

3. The Special Resolution was summarised by Mr DK Watson which proposed to amend the Articles of Association by adding the following text between Article 32.1 and 32.2 and re-number Article 32 accordingly.

Other general meetings may be held at any time.

Any AGM or general meeting called under this section may be held as either a physical meeting, or a meeting by video conference, an internet video facility or similar electronic method allowing simultaneous visual and audio participation, or any combination of such methods, as may be decided by the directors.

Furthermore, it was proposed to remove reference to the Chairman of DBTRAF from Articles 1.1.21 and 20.2.

All present unanimously agreed the amendment to the Articles. Mr CS Davies also noted there were a further 51 proxy votes dutifully received in favour of the amendment. The motion was carried with over 75% of members present and voting by proxy in agreement, in accordance with Article 49.1. 4. Dr M Bellis asked whether it is it proposed that when restrictions are lifted, AGMs will continue to be held online, or in mixed format (in person and online) or will they revert to being in-person only? Mr DK Watson responded that the T&RA were planning for future AGMs to be hybrid – so members are encouraged to attend if convenient, but we also plan to run a live stream.

Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex KG KCVO ADC

5. Any other business.

Mr PG Cattermull asked for a summary of where we were regarding emerging from lockdown. Mr CS Davies responded and stated that Tennis Clubs and Rackets courts may open no earlier than 12th April 2021 for individual or same household use only. In addition, one-to-one coaching by a professional is also permitted from 12th April. This date is provisional on the UK’s fulfilment of the government’s four tests, around vaccination deployment and impact, infection rates and NHS hospitalisations, and status of any new variants of the disease. Currently the UK appears to be on course to fulfil these requirements but the situation may change. Confirmation was still awaited as to whether two players from different households can play against one another, based on the concession that Tennis is, by definition, a socially distanced sport. Further relaxations are permitted once we reach Step 3, no earlier than 17th May, at which point the rule of six or two households will be able to mix indoors. This will be a further step towards normality on the roadmap, and more sporting opportunities will be permissible. Mr PG Cattermull asked a supplementary question as to whether the T&RA had considered a vaccine passport scheme. Mr CS Davies considered this as something not yet considered although was concerned that simply being vaccinated did not guarantee the player was not a Covid-carrier.