Devon County LTA AGM 2008 Minute 9.1
Minute 9.1 of the Devon County LTA Annual General Meeting 2008 as circulated gives a false impression of the business of the meeting. We live in an age governed more by impression than rigour, making this a matter which requires immediate correction to avoid further damage to the Summerway Club.
Consequently, the document below requesting the redrafting of this minute was sent to Mrs Peroni in her capacity as the Secretary of Devon County LTA on 23rd January 2009.
The document contained no web links. Any links below to aid cross-
Other Relevant Considerations
I tried to access Devon LTA’s Constitution and Rules via the County’s website without success, and apologise if I missed something. As far as I am aware, the affairs of Devon LTA are managed by a Council. While Summerway is fully affiliated, the DCLTA Council appears rather remote to us and not directly accessible except by correspondence. Are the DCLTA Council’s minutes available for inspection by affiliated clubs in the interest of openness, or are they are regarded as confidential to the Council itself?
I raise this point because John Allen was quoting “the official view of Devon LTA”. Presumably, the views expressed to ECC will appear in the DCLTA Council’s minutes. Access and reference to the location of the relevant minute would be helpful for purposes of verification. It would be interesting to learn exactly how this view was reached.
It is imperative that this document and request is not interpreted as an attack on the DCLTA or any person associated with it. Most of us are volunteers, and tennis needs us – ALL of us. We are grieved by what has happened, and wish for any breaches between individuals and organisations to be healed as quickly as possible, with the natural order and amicable relationships fully restored. The loss of the Club to the City, Exeter’s citizens, the children, community including less privileged families and tennis itself is something which must be prevented. Summerway Tennis, born with such vision, must not be allowed to vanish into oblivion because local government has lost its way and sense of values.
We wish to campaign for Summerway until ECC recognises its actions and failure to consult are a crime against the community, and makes restitution. It is vital that events are properly noted in the records of all organisations concerned, and that the Club is not hindered in its efforts to survive by misleading impressions such as those of Minute 9.1 as currently drafted.
Jim Harle
(Summerway JLTC Membership Secretary)
23 Jan 2009
Email from Jim Harle to Peter Bayliss
Introducing this item, I wish to place on record my deep respect for Peter. In my experience, I have found him to be a person of great integrity, knowledgeable, impartial and of an open mind.
Peter spoke with Dave and me after the AGM, and I subsequently received an email from him, copied to John Allen, sent 7th February. Recognising Peter’s goodwill and wish to help, I replied as follows:
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From: Jim Harle
To: Peter Bayliss
Cc: Dave Craven ; Sue Wolstenholme
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: Summerway Update
Dear Peter,
Thank you for this. I have attended a number of Devon LTA AGM's over many years, and this is the first where I have detected disapproval. I know that I have many friends in Devon Tennis, but it is clear that some at the meeting have judged the issues regarding Summerway with insufficient knowledge, and possibly also prejudice. Far and away the most knowledgeable person was Adrian, and his loss to the County was a sad blow for us, as he was actively assisting the Club in its negotiations with ECC.
There is much more to all of this than meets the eye, and I have a great deal of knowledge not in the public domain which informs my opinions and decisions. However, I am only one of the Committee, and it is the Committee which runs the Club, not me. While the campaign website for survival is mine, personally, I have consulted with Committee members and families at the Club throughout, and we have felt compelled to adopt the approach we have made not from choice, but from a lack of alternatives. Devon LTA should not fall into the same error as the City Council, which has specifically picked on me unjustifiably in ignorance.
Exeter City Council has not distinguished itself in matters of integrity, nor in the exercise of democracy. These wider issues are of greater consequence even than the loss of Summerway Tennis, and it would be wrong if they were not addressed. Much as I love Summerway and everyone and everything associated with it, my altruism extends further. Yes, these wider issues are now compounding the problem of finding a solution, but they are of the Councils’ making, and we could neither avoid nor ignore them.
At this point in time, I don't think there is any specific course of action that Devon LTA could take that would prove effective. Nevertheless, ECC Officers believe that Devon LTA supports them entirely against the Club, and this should not be. Whatever individuals may think and judge, Devon LTA should be seen to support one of its fully affiliated clubs, and not be secretly undermining its negotiating position. Immense damage has been done, but we do appeal to our County Association to speak up for us and show us support in the future.
I am completely assured of your own goodwill towards the Club, which you and Mary have proved beyond doubt in a practical way when I was hit with health and mobility problems earlier. I hope you will do all in your power to promote a supportive attitude towards the Club within Devon LTA.
Thank you for your concern.
Warmest regards,
Jim.
Devon LTA AGM 2008 Minute 9.1 as Proposed
9.1 Jim Harle raised the issue of Summerway Junior Club. He explained the “club now is all but defunct, but a seed remains which seeks to revive Summerway Tennis. We are looking for LTA HQ for support. However, we would welcome support from our County Association and request a full examination of the clubs circumstances”.
Peter Bayliss took the chair for the discussion of this topic. He pointed out that the Chairman of Devon LTA and Adrian Cable, the former CDO had tried to bring the two sides together ( Summerway and Exeter City Council). Jim Harle said the problem is with Exeter City Council not Devon LTA. He indicated they would wish to raise the club back up. Peter Bayliss asked what proposals Summerway have for the future? He asked the club to send a proposal to Devon LTA. Dave Marks, also stressed that to move forward, Summerway need to put in a proposal. A formal proposition was put forward by Catriona Batty that Summerway Junior Tennis Club send a proposal to Devon LTA indicating how they see their future. This was seconded by Rita Parrish..
Reference and Additional Material
The Prepared Statement presented to Devon County LTA AGM 2008
In a rather complex situation, the Exeter (Summerway) Junior Lawn Tennis Club was ‘constructively evicted’ from the premises it has leased from Exeter City Council and Devon County Council since 1972.
It is now clear that ECC has been calling the shots, and while DCC have kept maintenance
to a minimum in latter years as our 28-
I live in the catchment area of the only secondary school in Devon that has been placed under special measures by Ofsted, and am only too aware of the deprivation that is surely the principal underlying cause of the high incidence of vandalism in the locality. ECC ‘constructively evicted’ the Orchard Adventure Playground volunteers three or four years ago, a children’s facility within 200m of my home, and has now deprived the children of Summerway Tennis. I believe ECC has lost sight of the wider picture, and needs to be challenged.
Two or three months ago, I firmly believe ECC libelled us on a national television website and, if so, their false comments repeated on Five News were slanderous. In the Club’s view, ECC’s modus operandi leaves much to be desired.
Under the circumstances, we can understand, but not condone, the behaviour of the City Council, but were shocked to discover from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act that Devon LTA was officially siding with ECC rather than Summerway, a fully affiliated club. It is hard to believe that this occurred with a full knowledge of the facts, many of which are clearly expressed on my campaign website: www.summerway.org
The Club now is all but defunct, but a seed remains which seeks to revive Summerway
Tennis. We are looking towards LTA HQ for support. However, we would welcome support
from our County Association, and request a full re-
Summerway Junior LTC seeks your assistance.
Jim Harle
(Summerway JLTC Membership Secretary)
30 Jan 2008
Request that Proposed Minute 9.1 be Redrafted
Please redraft Minute 9.1 of Devon County LTA AGM 2008 in order that it becomes an accurate and balanced record of matters related to the Exeter (Summerway) Junior LTC as presented to the meeting through the reading of my prepared statement and contextual explanation. In so doing, please consider these bullet points.
• As currently drafted, Minute 9.1 states, “Peter Bayliss took the chair for the discussion of this topic.” Without reference or explanation that this was on account of John Allen’s personal involvement in the undermining of the Club’s negotiating position with ECC, this will puzzle future readers of the minutes.
• Minute 9.1 makes no mention of the LTA’s investigation into DCLTA’s conduct with regard to Summerway, nor its conclusions. The omission of all mention of such a significant event severely compromises the integrity of the meeting’s records. (We were informed at the meeting that the LTA concluded that the Club’s concerns were “baseless” which, given the fully documented facts, is a cause for serious incredulity.)
• Substituting “examination” in Minute 9.1 for “re-
• Minute 9.1’s quote from my prepared statement stops in the middle of its most important sentence. Also, a more accurate representation of the problem and reason for the Club’s request would have been to quote the first sentence of my fifth paragraph, together with the final sentence of my sixth paragraph in full.
• Minute 9.1 currently states that I said the problem is not with Devon LTA. Where did that come from? Please reread my prepared statement with comprehension. I must have been misunderstood if anyone thinks I said such a thing. There clearly was a problem with Devon LTA, which was the reason I raised the issue at the meeting in the first place.
As currently drafted, Minute 9.1 is a travesty. It paints a picture of a struggling club appealing for help to LTA HQ and DCLTA. This is not the case by any stretch of the imagination.
The true picture, as stated at the AGM, is that Summerway was a thriving junior tennis
club running at full capacity with a waiting list until the approach of the expiry
of its 28-
I repeat my request that Minute 9.1 be redrafted to accurately reflect the business of the meeting.
Regarding Proposed Minute 9.1 of Devon County LTA AGM 2008
• Exeter (Summerway) Junior Lawn Tennis Club was the inspired brainchild of Mrs Joan Rowsell, whose exceptional contribution to Junior Tennis was recognised and honoured by the Lawn Tennis Association. Summerway taught tennis to children, besides essential social skills.
• The Club, a registered Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), was empowered community
in action, being essentially a partnership between local government and volunteers.
This flourished at full capacity with a long waiting list for most of the 34 years,
1972-
• The Club sought renewal on terms at least equivalent to the expiring lease under
which the Club had flourished so successfully, and protection from the increased
threat of vandalism brought about by the City Council’s change of use of adjacent
land. ECC sought to reduce its contribution to the partnership by shifting it on
to the shoulders of the volunteers, and to disempower the community in a number of
ways by demanding that non-
Throughout attempts to reach a solution, up to the time of his departure from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Summerway had the considerable benefit of the wisdom, encouragement and mediatory skills of Adrian Cable, Devon’s CDO, whose support for the Club was exemplary.
• The Club found the City Council intransigent as it tried to negotiate. It discovered
a critical explanation for this with the release of ECC documents under the Freedom
of Information Act. Unbeknown to me or anyone else at Summerway, Devon County LTA
(DCLTA) had been officially supporting the Council against the Club. ECC was told
that DCLTA “do not hold the Council in any way to blame”, and it was further stated
that I, personally, was “still hell bent on battering you (the ECC) down” (Email
from DCLTA Chair to ECC Leisure Manager, 14 May 2007). The same communication referred
to my “web site and silly e-
This underhand behaviour was entirely improper, and completely undermined the Club’s negotiating position, illustrated, for example, by the ECC internal briefing statement, “The Devon LTA believes we did all we could.” Provided with this support from a branch of Tennis’s governing body, it is no wonder that the Council felt justified in adhering to terms which were unworkable, unsustainable and completely unacceptable to the Club’s volunteers.
• Summerway is fully affiliated to the LTA through DCLTA. Feeling betrayed and unable to see how to proceed, I appealed to the game’s governing body for a full enquiry, and was assured of an investigation “with the aim of finding a way forward for the Summerway Junior Lawn Tennis Club.” I must assume that proper enquiries were made, but have not been informed of any conclusions reached. I have not pursued this, realising that the LTA was caught in a cleft stick, and would not wish to discourage the volunteers of either DCLTA or the Club. This has my complete sympathy, for neither I nor anyone at the Club would wish to be found in dispute with those whom we have always regarded as our friends and fellow tennis enthusiasts. Sadly, we were given no choice in a situation entirely of DCLTA’s making.
• Minute 9.1 quotes an extract from my prepared statement, but the extract chosen
indicates the extent to which the meeting misunderstood the clearly stated request
the Club was making, which was for “a full re-
• The meeting responded by requiring the Club to put in a proposal indicating how it sees its future. I pointed out that our proposals were already clearly stated. It seems a bit unfair for DCLTA to solidify whatever impasse existed between ECC and Summerway and then to make such a requirement of the Club. Shouldn’t DCLTA be putting forward a proposal as to how it planned to undo the damage it caused to the Club?
• The primary purpose of the Minutes of an AGM is to provide an accurate and balanced account of each item on the Agenda to leave a true snapshot of the organisation and principal events of the past year for posterity. My concern is that AGM 2008 Minute 9.1 will paint a false impression for anyone studying DCLTA’s history for the period covered by that meeting. I understand the wish to omit from the records details of a matter which reflects badly on DCLTA, but the undermining of a major Junior Lawn Tennis Club resulting in its virtual demise is hardly insignificant, especially when the County Association is investigated by the LTA as a result. Hence, I wish to call upon the integrity of the meeting to rectify matters by granting the request which follows.
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From: Jim Harle
To: Mrs F Peroni
Cc: Summerway Committee ; Sue Wolstenholme ; Roger Draper ; Joanna Farquharson ; Caroline Blincoe
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 9:08 PM
Subject: Request for Amendment of Minute
Dear Mrs Peroni
Thank you for copies of the minutes of the Devon County LTA AGM 2008, and the agenda for the 2009 AGM scheduled for the 28th of this month.
Dave Craven and I attended last year’s AGM expecting matters concerning Summerway to be raised in one of the reports, due to their significance. Fortunately, I had a prepared statement in case this did not happen, which I presented with explanation under Any Other Business when no mention of Summerway was made.
I guess events relating to Summerway, Devon LTA’s support of Exeter City Council against the Club and the Lawn Tennis Association’s investigation surprised many or most present. In addition, both Dave and I detected definite hostility towards the Club from a small number of individuals. I believe the meeting failed to understand the situation and the request we made, so responded inappropriately.
Be that as it may, Minute 9.1 of Devon County LTA AGM 2008 gives an unbalanced and misleading impression of events, perhaps more by omission than its inaccuracies.
On this account, please present the following details and request to the Devon County LTA Annual General Meeting on 28th January 2009. I hope to provide a few hard copies at the meeting, including one for Devon County LTA’s official records, and to post it in due course on my website to make it generally available. Please feel free to circulate this document before the meeting if you think it would aid preparation for those attending.
Yours sincerely
Jim Harle
(Membership Secretary, Summerway Junior LTC)
What if a Statement is True but Misleading?
INDEX -
Page Introduction
Email: Jim to Mrs Peroni
Facts relevant to Minute 9.1 and the Summerway Club
Request to Redraft Minute 9.1
Jim’s Prepared Statement for Devon LTA AGM 2008
Minute 9.1 as originally proposed
Email: Jim to Peter Bayliss
Other Relevant Considerations
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