Richards Bay Squash Club Monthly Report

November 2009

1. Donkey Derby

We held the Donkey Derby at the end of October. It was attended by app 150 people, and everybody had great fun. We had the services of a professional auctioneer, which worked great. A lot of hard work was done by the organizing committee, which attributed to the success of the evening.

The Donkey Derby has made a net income of about R47k! Taking into account the current economic environment, we’ve amazed by what happened.

The main club benefitted out of about R10k in bar takings. The squash committee has decided to hold it only once a year, as to try not to water it down. In future we’ll attract other people as well, people that’s got money and like to gamble…

2. Club Champs

In the last 2 weeks of November we’ve held our 1^st Club Champs in 3 years. Unfortunately some of our players had to pull out either because of work or injuries. But alas we had about 26 players joining in on the fun. Quite a few old members returned, and we had the odd golfer playing as well. Next time we’ll notify the members a few months in advance to give everybody ample time to organize their busy lives.

Club Champ is Hyno Reddinger;

Shield Winner is Kumaran Poonan; and

Ladies Champ is Camilla Howard-Browne

Congratulations to all of them. And now the challenge is up for the rest of the players to get them off their thrones.

3. Family Area

The squash committee has been approached by its members for the need of a family area. They need an area where their kids can play safely and noisily, whilst the mothers can still watch the squash game. The problem with the club building currently is that the smokers go out the front door and the kids follow them, which leaves the mothers running after the kids.

We’ve identified the area next to court no 2 as a possible area that can be used. Another option was to break down all the internal walls, but that proofed to costly. We propose the following:

· Replace the windows on the pathway to the proshop with aluminium windows;

· Replace the windows on the parking side with an aluminium sliding door;

· Put a roof up over the sliding door to prevent rain coming in;

· Built a precast wall from the side of court no 2 to the current precast wall next to the road ;

· Paving the whole area;

· Plastic chairs will be provided for.

This family area will have a dual purpose in that there won’t be any sweaty men standing outside the main entrance smoking and there won’t be any screaming moms running after their children. The above changes will be paid for by the squash club. All the changes are temporary, because if a 4^th squash court are being built, as per the municipal plans, it can be broken down without any major costs.

We’ve submitted a proposal to EXCO, and are awaiting their approval. We’ll keep everybody posted.

4. Squash Court Keys

The locks will be changed early January. Please make sure that you swap your old keys during that first week of the new year.

5. Upcoming events

Early in the year we’ll hold a squash mini league, to get everybody back into shape after the holidays and there will be some fun days as well – golfer vs squash player/curry cup. We’ll put the dates and entry list up the notice board and will communicate via the website and emails.

Regards

Squash Committee