SUPPORT YOUR CLUB: SIGN UP FOR MATCHES

The Club Captain made an announcement last Friday expressing disappointment about the lack of numbers for forthcoming games and stated that he would be forced to cancel games if the situation did not improve. He has now had to cancel the Men's game against Ross-on-Wye on Saturday 14 May.

He and the Secretary have received a letter on this subject from Jack Cratchley, a longstanding member, Trustee and former President and they believe that it has an important message for everyone who plays here. Please take the time to read it and think about how you could do more to ensure we do not lose more fixtures.

SUPPORTING YOUR CLUB

How do you support your club? The question is often asked and because we are all different, we respond in different ways. Some people quite naturally find satisfaction in being an officer or prominent person at the club. Many help out but the thing we all have in common is playing bowls.

We like to play when it suits our individual circumstances but do we pause to consider what can happen if we don’t ensure there are sufficient players available to fulfil our fixture list. As we have seen recently games have to be cancelled due to insufficient numbers. That maybe alright for a few games such as inclement weather, but if it continues other clubs will cancel fixtures with us for being unreliable.

Those who have tried to make fixture lists will know exactly what this is like and frustration when clubs drop a regular fixture. If we cancel ultimately, we lose money over the bar when teams don’t want to come to us. Recent years have seen changes in the number of rinks and more triple games which again can affect income.

We all know these are changing and challenging times and I doubt we shall ever get back to the days of having a coach full of players, and supporters, travelling at weekends to places like Bristol, Portishead, Swindon, Oxford, Wootton Bassett, Ross on Wye, Weston Super Mare Stratford upon Avon and Worcester. Importantly these places sent teams, often six rinks, to us.

Without support for games on the fixture list we may be making the future for our club very different. As they say when you joined, if you want to play “Put your name down”, and in doing so you are supporting your club and its future.

Jack Cratchley.

11th May 2022