April 2008 Vol. 4 No.1

THE NEW SEASON

As I write, there is still snow forecast in some parts of the UK and it seems strange that we will be opening the new season in a few days. This time last year we had a heat wave with record temperatures and we were treated to a glorious start to the season. Our optimism was short- lived, however, and the season, as a whole, was the wettest I can remember, resulting in a cancelled Festival, a back log of league fixtures and many "grin and bear it" type days. Let us hope that the reverse will be true this season and that a shaky start will turn into a wonderful summer of bowls.

Certainly, the Green is looking in great shape and all due to the stirling efforts of Derek Clarke and his trusty green keeping team, not just recently but throughout the winter months. Thanks to all who have helped in this task and in the winter sweeping campaign.

Other work has been taking place and we must thank Granville Williamson, who organised the new clip board system for match sheets and helped me put these up, along with the new arrangement of notice boards and a general clear up of the club house. He has also been instrumental in visiting other clubs to view their Honours Boards and has liaised with Jenny Maisey, who has redesigned the Men's and the Ladies' Honours Boards beautifully. These are now done via computer and may be renewed each year at a current cost of £6 per annum instead of about £120 for the Men's and Women's Boards. Granville has sourced the frames at under £10 each, organised the printing and, again, spent much time mounting them on the walls, helped to some degree by myself.

Tony Morrell has been busy sorting out the cupboard between the two changing rooms, which has been returned to us by The Town Council since they have moved in upstairs. This has allowed about two dozen chairs to be stored away neatly and has left the club house looking clearer and has allowed the Disabled Toilet to be cleared of cleaning equipment and ready for its intended use. Thanks must also go to Derek Coe for fitting the outside water supply through the wall of the Disabled Toilet and to Terry Mullaly who has made a splendid new Team Selection Board for the club. The old green one that stood on the easel was battered around the edges with bits falling off and, although it had given good service, it had also seen better days. (Come to think of it, that's pretty well how I feel myself!) Terry has now excelled himself by making us a beautiful new easel from oak, which, as you can imagine, is extremely strong and stable. Thanks again Terry, we do appreciate your hard work and skill.

Many members have been preparing for the new season and now it is time to ask others to help. If you have some time available, Ernie Clarke , Bob Chiverrell , Derek Clarke or any member of the Committee will be pleased to welcome you and direct you to a few necessary tasks. Litter has become a recurring problem since the new railings have been in place, so this is one job that is urgent. Benches have been washed off by the Ladies, replete in their Marigolds. Thanks ladies! I hope the Adoptaplot gardeners will also spruce up their plots, I know some have already started and there is some attractive colour in some. Thanks to all in anticipation of your help.

SOCIAL EVENTS

Successful social events were supported by a very loyal following throughout the winter and, subsequently, several hundred pounds was raised to supplement the membership fees of every individual member. You will notice that we have purchased a dozen new bowls pushers, we have a new ramp for disabled access to the green, supports for the speakers and shelves for the telephone and hi fi system. We also have new crockery and new thermos style drink dispensers for matches. All of these have been financed by the social programme. These events have allowed us to keep our membership fees down to £70 when some clubs are charging up to £120 per season. The Ladies are reciprocating by buying new horizontal style score boards, so we should be right up to date with our equipment this season.

Thanks to all for accepting the £10 levy towards our 50th Anniversary next year. At the AGM, I outlined several events that we hope to arrange throughout next season and we will all benefit, providing we choose to participate. I will not itemise these events here but will publish news on the notice boards as this season progresses.

RAFFLE PRIZES

Many thanks to those who support us regularly with raffle prizes. This year's Festival will feature a Tombola Stall so we would welcome smaller items that you may not have deemed suitable for Raffle prizes. We all have new items that will never get used that others may well find useful. Here's a chance to declutter your lives and do some good at the same time.

WELFARE NEWS

We were all shocked to hear of the death of John Butt, a popular member of the roll up rinks and we offer our condolences to his family. Likewise, we were sad to hear of the death of John Chittock's wife, Ann, on Christmas Day. She was a lovely, dignified lady who will be missed by all who knew her. Again, we offer our condolences to John, his family and to Terry and Kay Mullaly, their great friends.

Stan Jarvis also lost his wife, Eve, after a long illness and we share his sadness. Stan, himself has not been too well recently but we hope to see him on the greens again. He is one of our oldest members but is still one of the most enthusiastic followers of our sport and, in recognition of his services to the Club, he has been made an Honorary Member.

Yet another newly made Honorary Member is Arthur Cook who was our Captain for many years, followed by a spell as our President and another period as Captain, throughout the 1990s. Although we have not seen too much of him on the green in recent years, there can be few members who deserve this honour more than Arthur for his unstinting devotion to the club.

Trevor Hodge was diagnosed with a shadow on his lung and, in mid January, he had a lung removed along with a tumour. He had extensive surgery and is recovering only slowly. However, he is a tough, determined character and has expressed the wish to come up to watch some matches and to renew old friendships. He even hopes that he can rejoin us when he feels a lot better.

Ray Burrell was prevented from returning to bowling towards the end of last season because of a slow recovery but we are pleased to welcome him back this season and hope that he will soon be back to his old good form.

If members know of others who are unwell, please let a Committee Member know, for, as you will remember, Les Jeffery has left us and so we do not have a Welfare Officer currently. We thank him for his past service and wish him well. If any member would like to offer their services as our Welfare Officer we would be extremely pleased.

It was good to see Banny Halpin at the AGM and we hope that this means he has recovered and that he will be back bowling soon.

You will also remember that John Nunn has had to retire from bowling with a condition that causes his fingers to lock in the closed position. He has become our first Associate Member and runs the Club Website www.rayleighbowlsclub.co.uk Our thanks, as ever, are due to him for his efficiency and speed, plus his photographic skill. The site, now in its third season, has had well over 1,000 hits now and is proving to be an ever increasing asset to the Club. He has also offered to help in the preparations for 2009, in any way he can. Many thanks Webmaster John!!

ROLL UPS

I make no apology for repeating this next article. Sadly, I have to report that some newer members have not fully understood the idea of the roll up sessions and have not included some people who have turned up, forcing them to play on their own. Maybe the fault is the Club's as we have not communicated this as well as we might have done. However, the intention of the roll up is to ensure that all those who arrive are enabled to play and members should go out of their way to ensure that all those who turn up are included. It is not intended that the roll up sessions are exclusively available to groups of friends or to those who usually play on any one day. Likewise, roll ups cannot be booked up in advance to the exclusion of others. Please be scrupulously fair about this.

There may also be occasions when members of the public are using the greens, in which case, I hope that all members will acknowledge and welcome players and help them if they need access to equipment or elementary coaching.

Finally, please remember to fill your names in on the correct session and green in the Club Diary.

E-MAILS

The number of members providing email addresses is rising all the time. If you have recently acquired an email address, please let me, (i.e. Alan Stammers) know. Also, if you have changed your email address over the last year or gone onto broadband, please let me know. We are currently saving well over a third of the costs of postage by this method of communication.

LOST PROPERTY

We still have a few articles of clothing left in the changing room from last season and

these have been put into a box as lost property. We will keep them for a while to allow members to claim them and then they will be disposed of, so please collect anything that you may have left.

PLAYING FOR THE CLUB

From comments at the AGM it became apparent that some newer members are not sure what playing in Group 6, Basildon League or The Bestax League entails or how they may apply to play. We would welcome new players and I will publish some information sheets at the beginning of the season. For those who did not indicate on the Renewal Form that they would wish to play in one of these leagues, the best plan, to avoid too much detail in this newsletter, is just to turn up at one of the League Practice nights mentioned in the Club Fixture List and practise with rest. This will signal your interest to the selectors.

There are also a few potential vacancies in Men's The Monday League, which takes place in the afternoon, as shown in the Club Booklet.

LOCKERS

There are a few lockers still available at £3 for the season, although many may be near the bottom as the most popular ones may have been taken. Nevertheless, they are very useful to avoid lugging bowls around and may avoid the need to bring the car on occasions.

PARKING

Obviously, there will be reduced parking available at times in The Bull Lane Car Park but, hopefully we can overcome this. Talks are scheduled with The Town Council and our Lease and the Parking arrangements are on the agenda. Meanwhile, if no parking is available at the Bull Lane end, try using Hillview Crescent opposite but not between 10 and 11 a.m. when there are parking restrictions. After 1 p.m on Saturday parking is free in the Main Town Car Park and, all day on Sunday is free. After 7p.m. parking fees are no longer required on week days. If we all try to car share, use public transport a little more or walk where possible , we may be able to manage. May I caution the tendency to moan about our parking problems to members of other clubs, the story soon become exaggerated and we will find an unwillingness to attend our functions as a result. Festival Day is on a Sunday so there will be no problems then. We will, of course, be making a strong case to the Town Council that our parking is of paramount importance to the Club and that we hope that some other provision will be made.

OPEN DAYS

Banners will soon be going up to announce that we have our Open Days on the 26th April; and May 3rd and 10th. I have also asked for advertisements to be made on the two local radio stations and in The Rayleigh Times and the Free local papers. It is essential that we encourage lots more members to the Club as we have had quite a few people leave for a variety of reasons. When I first became Captain I asked that you all should try to invite at least one person up to play bowls on those days. Nothing has changed since that time, even though we are far more successful, we still need new blood. If our membership numbers are high, our fees are lower, our chances of club success are higher and social events become more successful, so please try hard to encourage someone to come up to try bowls. It would also be appreciated if you could come up to be greeters, coaches or exhibition players. We do not expect you to be there on every occasion, or even the whole day but some support would be welcome. It is in all our interests.

ONE RAYLEIGH BOWLS CLUB

There have been two very successful Steering Group Meetings to prepare the way for amalgamation with the Ladies. If you had not realised, the plan is to amalgamate on our 50th Anniversary. There will be a joint Committee but the ordinary member will notice little difference in the every day running of the Club. Amalgamation will, however, allow us to apply for grants, avoid duplication of expenditure and will lead to increased understanding

and co-operation between our two sections. The English Bowls Association, Basildon League and Bestax League have, for many years, called for us to be mixed so we will be avoiding confrontation in these areas. As we now have three teams in Group 6 we have invited the Ladies to play in the Bestax League this season and they are happy to do so.

SEE YOU AT THE OPENING DRIVE on Sat 19th April? 2pm for 2.30pm start. Alan