Author: Dick Collard

Greetings All,

I hope you’re all wintering well. We may not get a white Christmas but we’ve had a white something-or-other, and I for one am glad to see the back of that and to be able to walk about properly again.
As you know, the green has been duly renovated, and is looking suitably greener – or at least, it was before it went white. The work on the paving in front of the clubhouse is complete, and looks much better as well as being safer for all. It won’t be that long before we can start thinking about getting ready for the new season, and with that in view I’m pestering for volunteers (as usual): this time to take on the responsibility of keeping the garden areas tidy. As you know, Jackie did that for a time, and the surrounds of the green looked much better last season, so we need someone to take on that role, please. It doesn’t mean that you’ll have to do all the gardening yourself – quite a number of people do things on their own anyway – but it would be good to have their various efforts co-ordinated, rather as Jenny does for the clubhouse.
The Annual Dinner seemed to me to go off very well in the new venue, and everyone I’ve seen and talked to about it seems to agree. The attendance was much higher than usual, probably because it was in Battle, and if most members agree we should perhaps go there again next year. So thanks to Pam and Jenny for finding that and for organising menus etc, as well as to Dick for finding ways to relieve you of your pound coins, to President Bruce for presenting trophies and certificates, and to Alison for making sure that we gave them to the right people in the right order. If anyone won a trophy last season but hasn’t got it yet, please let me know and I’ll get it to you. And can I remind you that we agreed that engraving trophies should from now on be the responsibility of the winners (perhaps that will discourage Nigel from winning so many next year!); Alison has found a place in Bexhill that will do them, or if a number of people want them doing at the usual place in Hastings, and I can get enough of them, I could take them there and get a discount. Incidentally, it was good to see a number of new people winning trophies and certificates this year. So when the competition entry forms go out, if you don’t usually enter, do consider doing so next season. You won’t win anything unless you have a go!

Whilst on the subject of competitions, some things for you to think about. As you know, last season we did not play the Club Championship as a separate competition, but as a ‘challenge match’ at Finals Weekend between the winners of the Ladies’ and the Men’s. What do you think about that? Is it better that way, or should we revert to the old format? I’ve also had a suggestion from Mike Artz concerning competitions: that one or more of the competitions that we currently play throughout the season could be played over a full weekend, or on one day if entries were small, sometime during the season, the finalists to play on Finals Weekend as usual (as we do with the Two Woods, for example). There is no doubt that playing competitions throughout the season presents difficulties of organisation, especially for the Competition Secretary, who has to badger people to get their matches played in time. On the other hand, there might be people who would like to enter competitions who were unable to play on a particular day or weekend. So get your thinking caps on about that too, please, and communicate with me or another committee member before we have our next meeting, which will be in mid-January.

As I said, it won’t be too long before we’re thinking about getting out on the green again. But it would be nice to have a social event or two before then. What would we like? One event, probably in February, or two, spread out during the next three months or so. Another quiz? Colin Miller says he is happy to do another if we’d like one. Alison has suggested a Beetle Drive (remember Beetle Drives?). What about that? Again, any ideas will be gratefully received, and argued about by the committee.
Finally … I know that 2022 has been a hard year for some of us, who have suffered losses that cannot be replaced. I know too that all our members will be sending their sincere thoughts to them at this time, and on behalf of the committee I wish everyone the best possible Christmas time, and the very best for the New Year.
Roy.

Greetings All and welcome (almost) to a new bowls season!

We’ve had some encouragingly bowls-like weather lately, though as I write this it’s raining hard, so let’s hope it gets that done with before we start again. And let’s hope that the current Covid epidemic round here works itself out soon. I know a good number of members have had it, and hope that you’re all over it now.

Various people have been busy at the club. Jackie and her gardening team have been working on getting the areas around the green into shape. Mowing has started again, and Ian and Selwyn have been working hard on the green, which is getting on well. Chris has been out with his shears snipping around the edges of the green. Gary, Mac, Nigel, and I have painted the outside of the changing-rooms and the equipment shed, and Nigel has been busy with the guttering at the back of the clubhouse to ensure that water runs away more freely and harmlessly. Jenny has organised a small working–party to clean up the clubhouse, and all should be in good shape by the time we’re ready to bowl again.

You should all have received forms from Alison for renewing your membership, and if you haven’t got around to doing that yet, please do so soon. We now have to submit our details to East Sussex Bowls before the season starts, and it will make Pam’s job easier if she doesn’t have to chase people up to see if they’re rejoining. (Which you all are, of course!) Alison has also sent out competition entry forms, so please enter as many as you can. The more entries we have, the better the competitions – and you might win something. If you’ve looked at the forms carefully, you’ll see that there is no separate entry for the Club Championship this year. Not many people have been entering this, especially ladies, and it’s rather turned into another Men’s Championship, so the Committee had decided that it would be fairer to run the Men’s Championship and the Ladies Championship during the season, and that the winners of these should play for the Club Championship on Finals Weekend.

As you’ll have seen from the draft fixture list that Dick has sent out, our Green Opening weekend will be on Saturday and Sunday April 23^rd and 24^th. On the Saturday we shall start at 2 00 (please note start time!), with a significant event for the Club. If you were at the AGM last year you will remember that Patsy proposed that we should install a defibrillator. After inconclusive discussions about this in the Committee, Lesley spoke to her husband Dave, and his company, Project Leaders Ltd, very generously offered to donate one to the Club, which of course we were delighted to accept. Dave will be there on Green Opening Day to present it to us, so I hope as many people as possible will come along for this. Afterwards we shall be able to play some bowls as we wish, and it will be appreciated if members will bring along some cakes or other items for consumption along with the inevitable tea. Later that afternoon Alison and I, and perhaps others, will be going along to an event at Langton School before the Parish Assembly to advertise the Club. This is an annual event, for local organisations to publicise their activities, but has not taken place for the past two years because of Covid. It is, of course, possible that it will not happen again, for the same reason, but the Council hope that it will, and if it does we shall be there.

On the Sunday, we hope to be able to start bowling properly, with a match between the President’s team and the Captain’s team. If there are not enough, or too many, for the usual 4 triples, we shall nevertheless make sure that everyone who wants to play will be able to do so. It will be helpful if you would let me know whether you will be able to come to this, so that we can make some attempt to sort out teams before the day, but if you aren’t yet sure but decide later to come, or not come, don’t worry, everyone will get a go. But please be there by 2 30 on the day.

If you’ve been past the Club in the past few days, you may have seen that we have a banner up on the gate advertising our ‘taster’ day, on the morning of Saturday April 30^th. This has to be in the morning, as we have our first match in the afternoon, but to encourage new members we are also going to have an ‘open’ evening on the first Thursday of every month during the season, at 6 00 after Spoon Drive, starting on May 5th. So please encourage anyone you know who might be interested in having a go to come along to one of these, and also please come along yourself when possible to help out and advise potential new players.

You’ll also see that our first Spoon Drive will take place on Thursday April 28^th, and that we have a friendly match on Saturday 30th, closely followed by two league matches, on Sunday May 1^st and Wednesday May 4^th. So please put these in your diaries. We shall put up the usual availability forms for the Green Opening weekend, but it would do no harm if you let me know if you can play as soon as possible so that the Selection Committee can get together that weekend and work out teams. And don’t be shy about putting your name forward for league matches, even if you haven’t played in them before. It’s all bowls, after all, and the more we play and the higher the standard we play at, the better we’ll get.

The Committee have also asked me to mention the Queen’s Jubilee weekend, on June 4^th and 5^th. We already have a match on the Saturday, but as yet nothing planned for the Sunday. Do we want to hold a special event on the Sunday? We obviously don’t know what people have got planned for the Jubilee – street parties, family gatherings, etc – so we’d be glad to know members’ opinions on whether we should do something on that day, and if there is sufficient interest we’ll organise something.

That’s about all for the moment. We hope you all have a happy Easter, and look forward to seeing you before too long on the green, and to a happy and successful season.

Roy.