CONTRIBUTIONS FOR FUTURE NEWSLETTERS SHOULD BE SENT TO OUR EDITOR: TONY BAKER (thetonybaker@gmail.com)
DIARY DATES:
Friday 11 April 6.15 pm for 7pm: Pre-Season Meeting
Saturday 12 April 2.30pm: Opening Day Roll Up
Sunday 4 May 10 -12am: Start of Beginners Bowls Course
Ladies Pre-season Lunch 19 March (Rosie Burgess)
Twenty ladies greatly enjoyed their pre season lunch at the Albany in Thames Ditton. Although the turnout was slightly fewer than last year, everyone enjoyed good food and good company.
Preparing for the New Season (John Le Maire/Iain Gregg)
The setting of the up for the club is complete as of 25 March ready for the start of the season on 12 April. Pictured below are some of the no less than 31 members who helped to achieve this on and off the bowls green.
In brief they uncovered and positioned the benches, put out the garden furniture, erected the flagpole, did the gardening and weed removal, scarified the green, cleaned the drainage holes in the ditches, repositioned all the ditch matting, put down some new grass seed and covered those patches and did two green treatments. All achieved in under two days!
A special thanks to Dave Bardsley who worked tirelessly and for a long period scarifying and then clearing the green and then Chris Axton, Wendy Beaney, Ray and Sheila Fairhead who were there for all sessions.
Pre-season Meeting 11 April (Tony Baker)
All members were sent a comprehensive email on 12 March setting out arrangements for the pre-season meeting. Highlights are…
We are celebrating our 75th anniversary this year and have some exciting events planned. Also we are pleased to announce that Leightons Eye and Hearing Specialists have agreed to sponsor Ember Bowling Club from April 2025.
At the meeting members can understand how the club is run and how you can contribute and to collect some items (Handicap certificates, 75th anniversary pens…).
Members were reminded that that the bowls section is entirely reliant on volunteers to help in the many things needed to maintain the facilities, in particular the green, support in the matches, and club functions so please help if asked.
In particular, members were reminded they are expected to volunteer for Bar Duty, a minimum of two shifts during June and August plus club nights during the season (Tennis cover the bar in May and July while Croquet cover September. Stewart Palmer oversees the roster (07724948310 stewartrpalmer@gmail.com) who will organise training if needed/requested.
Members are welcome, and encouraged, to use the green at any time other than when it is closed for maintenance on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. You can book a rink in advance or as you turn up to play but you must enter your usage in the green RINK BOOKING folder, on the shelf under the honours board, and take the next available rink on the list. The rink booking system has been devised to ensure that the rinks are used in rotation so that wear of the green is spread.
If you are first more than likely you will need to move the rink markers to the setting shown on the whiteboard in the Bowls Cabin – this includes all rinks, not just the one you are using. Furthermore, if the worms have been busy, please use the yellow switcher to disperse all the worm casts on the green. Long is bowling from the clubhouse towards the tennis courts and short is crossways. The green PITCH PROTECTION MATS must be used if the Green is soft, or you are liable to cause damage to the Green’s surface. Thank you for your cooperation.
Club night remains Monday evening roll-up (apart from Bank Holiday Mondays when we have a bank holiday roll-up and the club night is moved to the Tuesday, starting at 6:00pm (5:30pm in August/September). There is some organisation to sort out who is playing with whom and on which rink so please turn up 30 minutes earlier than the start time. As in previous years we plan to provide fish and chips on the first Monday of each month.
Following the discussion at the AGM, the Committee has decided that the dress for matches will be greys with ideally a Club shirt available to purchase from Linda Pillman (white top if none available). This will apply to ALL games (home and away, Club friendlies, competitions etc) with the exception of the Club finals which will remain as ‘Whites’.
We have a full fixture list. Sign-up for matches will be available on-line our captains will explain more at the meeting. As agreed at the AGM it will be online only, but the match selection will be posted on the Club noticeboard. The fixture list is on our website and hard copies will also be available at the PSM. Of course, for those who are unable to book on-line please contact the Captains separately. [If you struggle to sign on to the Surrey website or you are having any problems just bring along your ‘laptop/phone or whatever to the pre-season meeting and Chris or Rosie will help out!]
Teas this year will again be wrapped items such as biscuits, crisps and cakes. This is now generally the standard of tea provided by other clubs. For home matches we will appoint two from each team to act as “Green Stewards” and two as “Bar Persons” as we always have, and that it will be the responsibility of the Green Stewards to set up the green and “raise the flag”. The Bar Stewards should set up the tables beforehand and put out the tea items.
Match fees are remaining at £3.00 for Home games but again there will be no match fee for Away games, and we hope this will encourage more players to sign up for these matches.”
We anticipate the meeting will be fairly brief and will allow time for any questions members may have. The committee will be in attendance and will be available to answer any questions either through the meeting or informally before or after the meeting.
We will be setting up a welcome table with various documentation including your new Club handicap and commemorative pen. The handicap basis has been revamped to remove negative handicaps and instead to have numbers from 0 to 12. In most instances handicaps have been increased by 2 from last year but you may have been further adjusted if you had a very good or not so good year.
There will also be members with clipboards for signing up for Club Internal Competitions, Evening League, Bar duty, manned by Linda Pillman/Mary Baker, Debbie Johns, Ken Homewood, Chris Axton, Rosie Burges and Committee members respectively from 6.30pm. There will also be a table manned by Sylvia Jones selling Club Merchandise.
The meeting will start at 7pm but before there will be some second-hand clothes and equipment on sale from 6.30pm, to satisfy your needs for the coming season and last but not least THE BAR WILL BE OPEN from 6.30m. At the start of the meeting there will be a brief welcome from our new sponsor, Leightons Opticians and Hearing Specialists
Club Competitions
The entry forms and covering letter for our Club Competitions will be circulated but additional copies of the form will be available at the PSM. Entries need to be made by 10 May. All members are encouraged to enter the competitions for which they are eligible.
There is a new competition this year to be supported by our new sponsors Leightons and they will also sponsor this new competition. Entries are included on the list of Club competitions, and it will be played on Sunday 3 August. Totally new it will be the Leightons Cup – Three, two, One Drawn Triples. All entrants will be split into 3 pots.
A note about handicaps will be available at the meeting together with details of your individual handicap for the forthcoming season. You will be able to collect this on the night together with a 75th Anniversary pen.
A sign-up sheet will also be available on the bowls noticeboard for the Club’s Evening League. The closing date is Friday, 9 May. This is a mixed triples league for players of all standards including new bowlers and is played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from May through to August. Matches start at 6pm except in August 5.45pm.
As with last year, we have entered two Thursday evening NW Surrey Mixed League (single rink) and the Racal Decca Mixed League (3 triples matches per game with 13 matches and one 2 rink knockout competition).
Team selection and organisation for the Thursday Mixed League will be by Debbie Johns and Tony Baker will look after the RDML. These are a bit more competitive than the Club friendlies so Debbie and Tony will be contacting members who might be interested in playing. If you would like to be considered, please have a word with them.
Opening Day 12 April (Tony Baker)
Opening day on the green has been scheduled for Saturday 12 April with a Club roll-up. Please arrive by 2:00pm for a start at 2:30pm. As with ALL roll-ups sign-in early to enable the rinks to be drawn. The dress code is smart casual for roll-ups. Smart Casual is as defined in the Club’s Dress guidance which is available on our website.
Recruitment/Beginners Course (Pat Cook)
Your help is to promote our Bowls Club and encourage friends, family, neighbours to come along and ‘Have A Go’ at bowls. Tell them about our club where we play and encourage them to come along and try it out, once or twice or more. It could be just what they need to improve their general health and wellbeing. We have posters and handouts you can collect to assist you!
The sessions are:
Sunday 4 May 10am – noon is the first Beginners’ class with further sessions on
Thursday 8 May 6 – 8
Sunday 11 May 10 – 12
Thursday 15 May 6 – 8
Sunday 18 May 10 – 12
Nothing special is needed other than coming along with flat soled shoes (trainers are fine) and outdoor clothing appropriate for the weather.
In addition to the usual local press, social media and poster promotions we will be emailing printable handouts to members to help you spread the word.
Thanks and congratulations to Chris Axton, Pat Cooke, Mary and Tony Baker who have taken (and passed!) the level 1 Bowls Coaching Certificate so are able and insured to teach our new intake of beginners.in the future!
Take a look at these websites to keep up to date with bowls at county and national levels.
www.bowlsengland.com
www.surreycountybowls.co.uk
www.ladiesbowlssurrey.co.uk
