Introduction

Welcome to the Spalding Hockey Club Treasurer’s Report. This might become a more regular edition, depending on feedback and what there is to report from within the club.

The main purpose of the report is to reiterate statements made at the AGM earlier this month, and to provide further details on topics discussed.

Firstly, I would like to echo Elaine’s comments about outgoing Treasurer Richard McKenna who has assumed the role for the past few seasons. He performed fantastically well in the role and I am now already seeing some of the regular challenges he faced throughout that period! Thanks Richard and for the handover and offer of support where possible in the coming weeks / months as I find my feet.

My sole aim as Treasurer is to ensure the finances of the hockey club are healthy to allow us to prosper for many years to come. I believe the club can achieve this without the need to inflict continuous increases on members, and for that to happen we must be more proactive as a club. There are currently over 230 members, between us all we should be able to spread the load to organise and participate in activities that will generate club funds to provide positive financial returns. We all need to stop relying on the goodwill of a subset of members and have more involvement overall.

I would like to see the c£1800 deficit of last year turn into a profit of at least that figure, but ambitiously see no reason why it cannot be more.

 

Member Account Balances

In taking over as Treasurer I have reviewed the member accounts and naturally there are some players who have outstanding balances from last season. Some of these are too high for a self-funding social club and I am proposing to implement measures to prevent any member racking up a debt that sees the club suffer.

The first step to do this is to again plea to all members to set up a recurring direct debit. This will take money from your bank account automatically every month up to a value of £50. If you haven’t got a balance of greater than £50 it will take your balance. Please be assured money WILL NOT be taken from your account if you do not owe anything. With this in place we are assured that people’s balances will not be spiralling out of control and their debt becomes unmanageable. Direct debits also significantly reduce administration time for the Treasurer, which as a volunteer in place to help you the members, I ask you to help me too!

For anyone who doesn’t set a direct debit up I will be looking to implement a new policy as follows:

Two consecutive months of paying nothing from your account, you will receive a warning, and your team captain will also be notified. A third consecutive month of non-payment will mean you become unavailable for selection until you have paid your balance. Naturally we do not want to prevent players playing, we are a hockey club after all, but we cannot allow players to play without paying either as this isn’t fair on the members who diligently pay to play. We also want to be able to offer hockey to all members, so if you do have any financial difficulties, please contact me to discuss a payment plan if needed. 

 

Member Categories

Another review that has been undertaken has been on the member categories assigned to players. It has found a huge disparity in certain player’s statuses, which means the club is losing money collected in annual subs and match fees. This has resulted in categories being brought in line with where the committee believe they should be.

As a reminder there are the following categories with description below:

  • Saturday morning junior: Any player under the age of 13 that attends junior training on Saturday mornings
  • Student / Unemployed: Any player playing senior hockey that is in full time education (not earning a wage of any description) or claiming job seekers allowance
  • Adult Member: Any player playing senior hockey
  • Social Member: Any person involved with the club in a social/non-playing capacity
  • Dormant Member: Any person previously playing that no longer participates in club activities

 

Contactless Card Reader

It was mentioned that acquiring a contactless card machine will allow us as a club to take ad hoc payments from members at the pitch side, and to use on social occasions to take payments.

Researching into the costs, there is a card reader that has a one-off cost of £35. This will accept contactless, chip and pin, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Transaction fees are 1.69%.

This proposal will be put forward to the committee for approval to allow the club to make payments more rapidly and not be penalised for members not carrying cash with them.

 

Club Lottery Saturday Bonus Ball Fund

There are three lottery bonus ball competitions that have been running for several years. There are many numbers remaining to be signed up to, at a cost of £4 per number per month, with the possibility of winning £34 per week.

If you would like to purchase one of these balls can you contact me. I will need you to set up a standing order for the relevant competition. Numbers available are as per below:

Game 1

Account 404301 61208047

Numbers available:

6; 10; 11; 15; 16; 17; 18; 20; 21; 22; 24; 26; 27; 29; 31; 32; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 43; 45; 46; 47; 48; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59

Game 2

Account 404301 61208047

Numbers available:

1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59

Game 3

Account 404301 71358170

Numbers available:

1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 8; 9; 10; 11; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 21; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59

 

Other Fund-Raising Ideas

As club members, we are always looking for ideas of how to raise funds, so please reach out if you have ideas and this can see us replenish the bank accounts. Naturally, any volunteers to help the committee with these ideas will also be welcome.

 

Any feedback on the above will be gratefully received in order to keep communications open in and around the club.

Please support the club and the committee to ensure your future hockey is safeguarded.