Old Polo Thread

Had a meeting with David the finance chap at PH this afternoon at his request. Initially he was wanting to find out why we haven't been paying our monthly session fees since he's been on sick leave (last December).

I explained the situation as I saw it, including the lack of 1/4 of the lights since the start of our agreement and the issue of being moved from our agreed Wednesday night slot by the netball group. I also revealed that we had only collected £135 since last November and had no other funds to draw upon. I also pointed out that the lights were constantly on despite no other groups seemingly using them/paying for them.

The current suggested way forward is this:

• PH invoice us for £135 in lieu of all sessions to date (end of September) - which we pay immediately.
  
• That we agree to sign up for a 5 month (clock change to clock change) agreement that covers the cost of the lights and gives us priority booking for one night per week.
  
• That we pay by BACS upon monthly retrospective invoice.
  
• That PH fix the broken light prior to next payment and adjust clocks.
  
  
  

I also met with Dale the Operations manager to discuss the issues.

Re. netball - there was and is no agreement between PH and anyone else regarding use of the external courts. Dale's view is that we were manipulated by the netball organiser into believing they had a right or booking of the courts and went on to say that they do not have a key. His interpretation is that they saw we had a key and only when we had opened the court would they then come along and imply they had a booking arrangement. He cited long running political issues between the netball group and PH - none of which should concern us. We can choose any regular night we prefer from henceforth.

Re. broken light - he has agreed to fix the light ASAP.

Re. lights always on - he thanked us for pointing this out. However it appears that the basic timer does not allow for the lights to be operated on individual days, only on a 24 hour basis. This doesn't look likely to change - hence we can tacitly use the courts at any other times (although we'd have no rights as such and could be asked to move/end the session by PH staff). He also said that are comfortable with leaving the lights on (since the shooting) for security/community reasons.

Re. clock change/lights timings - I mentioned that the clocks would be changing soon and that our ideal time of light duration going forward would be 6pm-9.30pm + 15m to get clear.

Re. court cleaning - I mentioned that we are happy to clear the new moss growing on the far corner if they were happy to let us. Agreed on both counts for us to proceed (NB. I will buy a decent wide yard brush and some algae treatment this weekend).

Summary

We need to, as a group of regulars, decide whether we are comfortable and capable of paying £100 per month x 5 months to take us through to the next clock change (Spring 2012).

If the regular group comprises of:

Neil; Chan; Adam; Ste; Rob; Emyr - then we would each have to find £17 per month guaranteed for 5 months. That's around £4.25 per session/£85 total.

I'd suggest we also charge £4 per night session for irregular players that goes into a kitty to subsidise the above to try and bring the regulars bill down. 1 extra player per session = £16; 2 extra players = £32 - which could easily bring the monthly cost down to £10 each for the regulars.

The expectation is that I will pay the £135 outstanding (he gave me an invoice) ASAP and that we will reply shortly to confirm the agreement.

Guys - please let me know what you think and any other issues that relate to PH that you can think of. I need to see/know that 6 regulars will step up and agree to pay for the 5 month duration before I can go back and agree on our behalf.

Please sign below if you are happy to proceed:

1. Neil £17 per month max.