March Newsletter                                                                           Roger Dollimore

Diary dates

Indoor croquet – 2nd Tuesday of the month – 11 March 2014 7.30pm
Season Opener get-together – Friday 21st March. 7.45pm
SECF Team Doubles tournament – Sat & Sun 17th/18th May

The last of the winter indoor evenings in the Main pavilion will be on the Second Tuesday the 11th of March 2014. Doors will open at 7.30pm for a start about 7.45. We will as usual open the Bar for refreshment.
Traditionally our outdoor season opens on Easter Monday but we would normally hope to start playing early April if the weather is kind to us and the lawns dry out. There will be a Get Together social evening on Friday the 21st of March from 7.30 pm. Spouses and partners welcome.
But please put a note in your diaries as we have a rather important matters of business to attend to that should only take 5 to 10 minutes, but will require a Quorum of ten members. Please don’t rely on others to make up the numbers, everyone counts. Thank you.
There is more work to be done on the lawns and the pavilion before the beginning of the season – if the rain ever stops. The lawn has not been scarified once and will now be cut weekly to get it into shape, is a bit soggy in places at the moment. More treatment will be applied before we start to play so please do not walk on the lawn unless you need to work on it. We will try to get the hoops set for Sunday March 23rd. Thanks to Mike Lambert who has, through his contacts with the Hurlingham Club acquired a number of second hand mallets and handles which he has used to refurbish a dozen mallets for our use as club mallets, Mike many thanks.
The SECF Team Doubles tournament takes place over two days and comprises of teams of four players playing doubles games against other clubs. Normally 5 games over the 2 days. The four players can be changed at any time between games. The Sat and Sunday teams can be a totally different four or players can substitute morning and afternoon, etc.
We need to diary the weekend and to know that we can have at least 6 members available over the w/e to play. Please let Roger or Mike Lambert know if you are interested.
Please come along to the Indoor session on 11 March it will be a good opportunity to get the feel of a mallet again before we get back outside. Spouses, partners and friends also welcome.
Easyfundraising
The Club can earn cash donations when members register to support us and shop online through the easyfundraising website. It’s a simple process:
1. Register at www.easyfundraising.org.uk by following the on-screen prompts – you will need to enter an 8-character password.
2. When you’re asked to choose your cause, enter “Ember Sports Club” and then click the ‘Continue’ button.
3. Each time you are considering an online purchase, first log into your easyfundraising account, select a participating retailer (there is a search facility), and then continue your transaction in the normal manner. During the process you will be advised of the percentage of the purchase value that will be passed on to the Club.
There are over 2,700 online retailers available, including Amazon, John Lewis, eBay and Tesco and all will give a small percentage of what’s been spent back to the Club to say thank you for shopping with them.
If you wish your contribution to be made available to your section, then you will need to confirm to Bob Knox the total you have raised, which will be shown in your easyfundraising account.