In December the Womens World Champions took on and beat the Mens 1st team while

In January - 2 new teams joined the Essex League formed from Club Nighters.

In February, Wilf Mann brought a team for a social match which demonstrated squash is a game for all ages – it was good to see current and past members, young and old play at the club.

In March, John Preston once again played for England O65’s in Edinburgh against Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The Balsham Bowl was won by Steve Cave and the Challengers Final was won by Bob Pattie. On the 9th Mar we saw an excellent Exhibition match involving Peter Nicol MBE vs John White. Also that month the Herts Under 15 team including club members Tim Dixon and Nick Mulvey won the Inter-County competition making Hertfordshire juniors Champs for the first time after beating Yorkshire in the Final.

Our Herts Mens County team reached the Premier Division for the first ever time.

In April the Mercedes Benz Herts Junior Open had a record 180 competitors over Easter weekend with great support from Catherine & Andrew Mulvey.

May – Jason started taking mini-squash into the local primary schools in readiness for the BAA Squash Festival. We held a social match vs Stevenage followed by Quiz Night organized by Kath Kemp and Andy Hannah.

A truly great year and we should pay tribute to fellow committee members and management team who have all contributed to the club’s success over the last year.

First the management team:

John Preston continues to serve the club in too many ways to list here but in particular ensures the club is maintained as a clean and comfortable place to play and socialize.

Phil Newman has provided excellent Friday night food and continues to ensure the beer is in great condition and that the bar is a welcoming place to relax after a hard game of squash

Thanks also to one of our juniors, Charlie Johnson, who has been particularly helpful in supporting John, Jason and Phil when needed.

Now the committee:

Emma Abegglen continues to serve as ladies captain and has now recovered from a long injury spell so good to see her back on the courts again

Kath Kemp has supported our social events and has also captained a successful side this last season

Richard Booth continues to supports our committee developing a long term strategy and has recently run a feedback survey the results of which were presented later.

Andrew Mulvey has quietly got on with providing IT support on many junior and senior squash events while doubling as our club photographer and helping out with the 200 club and the website – should also mention Catherine Mulvey here who although not a committee member also supports the club activities in many ways – not least of which are managing Junior morning and the Herts county junior leagues

Alastair Ambrose continues to captain the first team with considerable success. And, for their sponsorship of our National squad who did so well in Europe, should also thank both Alastair and Fred Cooke

Good to see the Nick Ridgway – our club captain – return to the courts after elbow surgery. Thanks to Nick for captaining the sides for another year and managing the recent repair works to the ladies and men’s showers

Thanks to Jeff Clare our treasurer for ensuring a full set of accounts. Jeff promised at last years AGM to set aside resource for ensuring we had a better system going forward. We now have all our accounts properly organised in Sage and should also thank Graham Michel for his work over the year to get this up and running. Also thanks to Sarah Poole who has been helping Graham with data entry and I hope both will continue to support the club manage it’s finances. Thanks also to Jeff for his continued contributions to junior coaching.

Thanks to Kevin Dunn as club vice chair and secretary and who is another club member who makes an enormous contribution to the club’s smooth running.

Now is a good time to look forward to the new season and, importantly, a new manager. The committee have decided to appoint Karen Selby as our new club manager and I would like personally to endorse this as great news for the club. Karen brings experience in small business management as well as a variety of squash and sports-related previous jobs. We have a short agenda item later for Karen to introduce herself to you. I ask you all to welcome her and take the opportunity tonight to introduce yourself if you don’t already know Karen. Committee and treasurer are recommending an increase in both subs and meter fees. There is a place on the committee and 2 proposals so will need a vote. Wishing you all a great new season.