Change to Membership Structure

Dear Members,

I am pleased to be able to let you know that at the Board of Directors Meeting held on 7 December the Board has decided that we will move to a new membership structure moving to a single Club membership, giving all full members access to all the Club facilities.  This change will be implemented from the new membership year starting 1 March 2023.

The Board also decided to move to an automated mechanism for renewal fee collection. This is also intended to be implemented from the start of the new membership year if such implementation is technically possible within that timeframe. If not, the fee collection changes will be implemented from 1 March 2024.

A few months ago, the Board set up a Membership Sub-Committee comprising of Neil Mayall, Tim Reilly, Janet Sutherland, and Mags Thornton. The objectives of the Membership Sub-Committee were to investigate how we can:

  • Present a more compelling offer to new and existing members by moving to a combined racquets membership that would include both tennis and squash/racquetball for all adult members (juniors already have access to both sports as part of their membership).
  • Simplify fee renewal and improve membership retention by moving to an automated mechanism for renewal fee collection.
  • Improve integration between tennis and squash communities within the club.

Having reviewed the recommendations from the Membership Sub-Committee the Board decided the following:

  • Adult Fee Restructuring:
    - All adult tennis and squash members move to a combined Full Club membership of £305 per annum compared to the current fees of £295 for tennis and £240 for squash
    - All adult members permitted to play either sport
    - All Adult members have full access to the Gym
    - Members no longer required to pay £4 squash court fee – courts would still need to be booked but would be free
    - Members no longer required to pay for tennis floodlights – courts would still need to be booked, and floodlights switched on and off as needed.
  • Automated Fee Renewal:
    - Memberships are annual, and automatically renew on the 1st of March until cancelled by member. Members will be reminded annually approximately 1 month before the renewal happens.
    - Fees will be collected automatically from a credit/debit card registered by the member – fees will be collected on an annual, quarterly or monthly basis dependent on members preference.
    - Likely to use a cost effective service provided by our existing partner, Globus (“Club Solutions”)
  • There will be an 10% inflationary increase for other membership types (Junior, Student etc), and an increase from £12/annum to £30/annum for Minis where a parent is also a member. 

Taking into consideration the current strong financial position of the Club the Board has decided that although this restructuring and collection change will lead to slight reduction in membership income, now is a good time to implement these changes.

We appreciate that members may have concerns or questions regarding these changes, and the Board welcomes hearing about those concerns and receiving the questions. We hope that you will broadly welcome these changes, and that we achieve the intended objectives of offering a more compelling membership, simplifying fee renewal, improving membership retention, and improving integration between tennis and squash communities within the Club.

I want to give a huge thank you to Neil, Janet, Tim and Mags for the great work they have done as the Membership Sub-Committee and in such a short time.

Best regards,
Arnold