BULLETIN 3
It is an age since a new bulletin has been added to this site. However, the Steering Committee have not been wasting time and progress is being made towards finalising the Design and completing the Business Plan. It is hoped that a final draft will be completed by the end of March.
There is still a need of a logo for the centre. At present just a couple of ideas have been sent in but it would be good if there were a few more to select from. Get your pencils out and send your ideas in to any committee member in the next three weeks. A decision on which logo to use will be made at the next meeting to be held on March 23rd 2009.
The Steering Committee recently registered ‘Reading Table Tennis Centre Ltd’ with Companies House with five members as Trustees. These were Peter Bradley (Chairman), Barry Carter (Treasurer), Colin Dyke (Secretary), Alan Dines and Peter Charters. Due to ill health neither John Cunningham nor Brian Halliday could attend to sign up as Trustees. It is the intention of the Trustees to add more once the project is proved viable. The next step is to register the business with the Charities Commission. Our stated objectives are:
(i) The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation in particular by the provision of facilities for the playing of table tennis.
(ii) By providing a facility that is friendly, welcoming and promotes and supports active lifelong participation in table tennis, from beginner to advanced, within the Greater Reading area and beyond.
(iii) By promoting participation in table tennis within the local community, schools, institutes and clubs in the interests of social benefit and welfare.
(iv) By providing young people with a focal point for the sport and to give the opportunity, through table tennis, to develop their physical and mental capacities fully and improve their condition of life in their leisure time activities.
(v) By providing young people with the opportunity to extend themselves to reach their full potential within the athletic sport of table tennis.
(vi) By engaging with the local ethnic, aged and disability groups to participate in the wholesome sport of table tennis.
(vii) By collaborating with the Schools Sport Partnership (SSP) in providing a table tennis facility for internal and inter-school competition and to retain those enthused by the sport.
(viii) By encouraging the local community and young people to engage in volunteering for other activities within table tennis such as umpiring, tournament organising, administration, catering etc.
The Committee, through Alan Dines, have submitted a building design seeking outline planning permission for a 16 table centre with a social area and viewing gallery. Negotiations are taking place with the Reading Borough Council Planning Department to overcome certain matters raised by them in conjunction with the design. Hopefully these will be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned in the near future.
The Business Plan is gradually coming together. It has been a mammoth task with the need to obtain quotations for the building, establishing what catering, office and table tennis equipment will be required and obtaining estimates for these. Then there was the major task of what charges to make for the use of the building by estimating the numbers of members, non-members, schools and other organisations that would use the building. A schools audit has been carried out with very positive responses. Other audits are taking place with youth and disability groups being contacted. This is because it is imperative that the proposed centre is fully utilised both day and night to make it economically viable. A weekly timetable of likely usage is being developed to show this. Membership fees and group usage fees are being calculated to ensure that the income can cover all the likely expenditure.
Funding of the project will be the next big step once the Business Plan is complete. The Steering Committee are working closely with the ETTA’s Regional Development Officer, Lisa Bosley, to establish where to apply for funding. Further details on this will be included in the next bulletin. In the meantime the Steering Committee remain confident that the project will come to fruition.
Peter Bradley – Project Leader