I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank the membership for their support during this year of Captaincy. I firmly believe that our members are the life blood of the Club, and all of you have been great to me during this current year, I appreciate it!

All golf clubs are facing difficult times and the current credit squeeze throws up real problems for us all. It is important that we continue to recruit people, however, it is essential that we recognize the loyalty and support of our current members.

We are in a very competitive golfing market and all spending committees, together with the finance group and Council are actively seeking a 'best value' approach to today's economic issues that face the Club. : It is far from easy !

Recognizing this, this issue is for the Treasurer to outline some proposals he and Council feel are necessary to take us forward.

Thanks for your time and I hope to see you around the clubhouse.

Alan Ashton - Captain 2008

From the treasurer - Ray townsend

Following on from the Captain’s comments, myself, the Finance Committee and Council have been looking at ideas for maintaining our existing membership for 2009 and also increasing our membership numbers.

• THE ABOLITION OF JOINING FEES.
• NO INCREASE IN SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR 2009
• INTRODUCTION OF A LOYALTY DISCOUNT IN SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THOSE MEMBERS WHO HAVE BEEN AT THE CLUB FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS AND ARE NOT ALREADY RECEIVING AN AGE RELATED DISCOUNT (FULL MEMBER £50 DISCOUNT and 5 DAY MEMBER £30 DISCOUNT.

Throughout this year we have tried several methods of attracting new members whilst keeping the joining fee intact, but we are faced with the reality that virtually all our competitors have now dispensed with the joining fee. We do not want to introduce even higher annual subscriptions in the current climate and as you will see we have therefore agreed to freeze the fees for 2009 and will also introduce a loyalty bonus scheme.

This doesn’t necessarily make everything rosy at the Club, membership numbers are down for 2008 and therefore we have less income to manage our affairs. Our hopes are that by looking after our loyal membership and being competitive with other clubs, our membership for 2009 will show a great improvement.

A targeted leaflet campaign is planned to advertise the no joining fee policy and promote the benefits of joining Lee Park to prospective members in the South Liverpool/ Widnes area

We recognize that there are a number of members who will continue to pay a joining fee over the next 5 year period. To those members we will give a significant discount in the year following completion of final payment of the joining fee.

Every member of our Club can help to improve the situation, so if you know someone who may be considering joining a golf club, bring them along and show them what LEE PARK has to offer.