This season I intend to put out occasional messages to keep all the members of Gosport Borough Hockey Club informed of what is happening, in particular about what your committee is dealing with. I appreciate for some this may be information overload but many of you have said you wanted to be better informed about what is happening within the club as a whole.
I have been told that some members are unhappy about the increased fees you are now paying and that this has been accompanied by rumours that the club has accumulated substantial cash reserves.
As the end of last season was drawing to a close the committee recognised that we needed to increase our income – our fees – in order to cover our increased costs in the immediate future. The AGM of the whole club supported this step.
As explained at the AGM, the club finished last season with a bank balance of a bit below £10,000. Since then we have had to pay various charges such as insurance, affiliation and competition entries as well as the first instalment of pitch hire so the balance now stands at a little over £6,000. To put this into context, despite us getting a good deal at St Vincent, £6,000 would only pay for four (and a bit) months of our pitch hire costs this season.
As the bulk of the members’ fees start coming in from September the bank balance should rise to a healthier position. We all need to pay our share for this to happen. It is perhaps worth reiterating that no member, including coaches or committee members, receives payment for what they do for the club.
On another subject, the captains will be in touch with you about the future of all six adult teams very shortly. In brief the club intends to try to keep all six going, but with the numbers of players we have, we will have to keep this under constant review. If you want to keep three women’s and three men’s teams at the club, please be available as much as you can and bring other players into the club.
Ali Nichols