… some levelling along the East boundary
Diary dates, in line with the Government’s current road map:
Step 1 – 29th March
Monday 29th March: the lawns will be open for play
Tuesday 30th March from 4pm: first roll-up of the season
Thursday 1st April from 2pm: first GC roll-up of the season
Sunday 4th April (Easter Day) from 2pm: first Sunday roll-up of the season (no tea though)
Step 2 – 12th April
Sunday 18th April from 2pm: first Sunday roll-up with tea
Sunday 25th April – 10.30am to 1.00pm: outside group booking
Step 3 – 17th May
Sunday Barbeques:
23th May
27th June (note change of date)
18th July
15th August
19th September
Friendly match at AELTC Wimbledon: Saturday 17th July
The Mike Lambert Annual Memorial match v Surbiton: tba
Plus the usual roll-ups every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
SECF ‘B’ league and GC handicap league matches: TBA
Step by step …
… we’re getting there. The lawns are open for play from Monday 29th March. Please use the online system in the croquet members area of the ESC website to book. Our start of season social will be a step by step affair, with the Sunday roll-up on 18th April being stage 1 (with tea); and 23rd May being stage 2 (with BBQ, allbeingwell!). Do come along to one, other, or both if you can, so that we can then map out the internal competitions, matches, rotas and so on for the rest of the year.
New system for membership renewal
You will recently have received information via email from Nick Burges about the new ESC membership renewal system. Hopefully, the process will be straightforward in practice. Should you have any difficulty with it, please do not hesitate to ask for help and, certainly, do not let it stop you playing! The health benefits from croquet, especially after the extraordinary past twelve months, are still here, and this is recognised by the generous support from Sport England / National Lottery, enabling the croquet club to enhance its facilities, keep us all Covid safe, and encourage members to return to playing. Bring your friends, too, and we’ll soon reach that target of fifty people coming along this season, ref my email of 21 March. For now, up to four players are permitted on the small lawn; and up to six on the main lawn, or eight when divided to make it into two small lawns. Indeed, we already have a booking which will use this format.
Child Safeguarding
New CA policies mean that there will soon be a requirement for every club to appoint a Local Safeguarding Officer, irrespective whether clubs have junior members or activities, or not. We shall therefore be looking for a volunteer for this role. See the links, below, for more information.
Child Safeguarding Roles (croquet.org.uk)
Child Safeguarding Policy (croquet.org.uk)
If this may be something for you, or you know someone who’d be interested, do, please, contact me.
South East Croquet Federation / Croquet Association tournaments and courses 2021
Let David know, please, if you are interested in being available (i.e. in general, appreciating that holidays and other commitments may rule out availability on some days) to represent the club in AC or GC competitions, or both – contact croquet@embersportsclub.org.uk or on 01932 862 841). We have a trophy to defend!
Lawn and facilities maintenance
Work on the lawn has continued mostly as planned. The bore hole water pump is primed and on, and an isolation valve has been installed in the North East corner (thanks to Roger S and Steve, and to Roger D for guidance provided remotely). The hoops will be left in place on the lawns, like we did last year. The lines, initially, will be marked with 1mm white nylon cord to give the repaired corners and boundaries a little more time to recover over the Spring. Pat has done an excellent job of creating a storage shelf for shed 4; and a border frame for the noticeboard in the summerhouse end of the pavilion, which Steve has now turned into a mural
The mowing rota for April is shown on the lawn booking system. Tuesdays and Friday mornings, as usual, but with some latitude to be expected depending on weather conditions and relative slow or fast rate of growth of the grass. The white nylon line cord will need to be lifted and moved before mowing. It is suggested that this is done in two halves, so that one half stays in place while the other half is mown, and so on, rather than moving all the cord at once.
Recruitment
All ideas are welcome, so do let me know any thoughts you have, and do spread the word with neighbours, acquaintances, and groups whenever the opportunity presents. You should all have received an ESC disc for your car window. The idea behind this is that, with the club having no road frontage as such, the disc is a way of making the club more visible, locally. Steve, meanwhile, is leading on developing our use of social media for raising the club’s profile. He welcomes a regular supply of content from members: good photos, short texts, and ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ of our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts, both of the Croquet Club and ESC.
Ember Croquet Club (@ember_croquet_club) • Instagram photos and videos
Ember Croquet Club – Home (facebook.com)
Keep well, stay safe, see you soon
Simon
