Cheam Squash - Update on Re-Opening & Membership Renewals

Hello All,

I hope this mail / update finds you and yours all well in these times of COVID and you are looking to get back to some form of normality in the not-so-distant future – I definitely am!

I wanted to send an update out around a couple of things, namely “Return to Squash” and also a note around membership renewals, approach to an AGM – and to also to ask for you to support your squash club in these somewhat difficult times!

So here goes!!!

Return to Squash.

So, as you may notice – the government is getting ready to back off some of the covid related restrictions – and as this happens, hopefully it means we can start getting back to some form of squash.

We have no exact guidance from England Squash at this point, however the dates of release of information are as follows:

- W/C 22nd March - Sport England will announce return to indoor-sport plans

- W/C 22nd March AFTER Sport England announce plans, England Squash will release guidance for squash clubs

We do know that indoor gyms are looking to open on / around 12th April – so we are hoping to see some alignment with this date, however we need to see the guidance from England Squash

As soon as I am in the receipt of the various updates – I will send a note out to the club with further details.

We will be spending some time now – looking at getting the club ready to re-open!

Membership Renewals.

Whilst I am sending this communication – I also want to update all with regards to Membership. As you know the membership is due around this time of year.

The committee are acutely aware of the lack of squash we have been able to play this year. Regardless of “Open times of Cheam Squash” over the last yeartime on court – we still have financial commitments we have to cover – examples being buildings rent, MyCourts booking system subscriptions etc.

Whilst we have had some of our management costs covered by the government schemes – the big-ticket items still need to be covered – this isn’t just for the benefit of Cheam Squash but also sports club as a whole

With this in mind, we are going to have to ask for the standard renewal cycle to be in place. I appreciate that this is a hard message, but without this, the financial viability of the club will be significantly compromised – and I think we all agree that we want the club to be in a healthy position so we can enjoy it for years to come. I thank you all for your support!

In terms of costs - We are going to keep subscription and court booking costs at the SAME PRICE at last year – but depending on numbers of people renewing / financial position (once we have been through this renewal cycle) we may need to look at amending costs of court bookings.

I Do want to gauge the view on this approach to membership – and want to understand if you, as a club member are OK with this approach and happy to support this renewal cycle – so please do let me know! (all feedback is good feedback).

The committee are hard at work at looking at ideas and approaches to help us return from squash, looking at events, get ready for squash videos etc – which we will start releasing – if you have ideas that you wish to call out / add – please feel free to email me directly and we can add to the list (just respond to this note).

Finally – AGMs are going to be difficult in these times – so I am going to propose that the next AGM done via email – as mass gatherings simply are not going to be able to happen. I will be asking for a vote of approach – so we can re-appoint the committee /get your blessing for direction of the club – with a simple acknowledgement back via email – more to follow!

Let’s start rebuilding the Cheam Squash (& Racquetball) community on the back of COVID and let’s make it a more fun and vibrant place to be than ever!