Firstly on behalf of the Executive Committee members we hope you are all well, safe and able to dodge the dreaded Covid.
We wish you all a very happy and hopefully prosperous and healthier 2021.
As far as Bowls is concerned, 2020 has been a bit of a disaster but hopefully, we can look forward to us all getting the Covid19 vaccination that will set us up for normal play next year.
We have had good news from some clubs in as much as they will be able to field a full set of teams in 2021 but we have lost 1 team, we are sure there will be more as time goes by meaning Maurice will need to juggle the League tables a little.
As far as your Clubs are concerned just remember that your matches will be played, as usual, on a Wednesday afternoon at 2.30 pm.
I have bad news from myself, I have suffered poor health for the last few years resulting in me currently undergoing a course of chemotherapy and also on route I’ve picked up Covid19, and this has left me in a pretty sorry state.
2021 will be the 4th year I have not played outdoor bowls so taking everything into consideration I am reluctantly going to resign as secretary at of the next AGM.
More bad news is that Ken Bastin is also suffered very bad health and has decided to give up all bowls and bowls related offices, this means we will be down to just a Fixture Secretary and Treasurer by the time of the next AGM.
Therefore can we please ask you all now to troll through the members of your clubs to see if we can find a new secretary to replace me and a President/Chairman to replace Ken?
I am perfectly willing to coach a replacement for the next few months; it is not that onerous a task really, quite easy to run now that we have the internet.
As far as meetings go, currently, ISCA are taking no bookings, they hope to start again in January/February 2021, and so I am hoping we can still have our Spring Meeting in March. If not, then I will arrange a Zoom Meeting.
I guess it’s still early days as yet and we still don’t know whether we’ll be able to play bowls from April, or whether the Covid bug will still have us in lock down at that time. A lot of it will probably depend on how long it takes to get the players of our age group vaccinated against it.
However, bearing that in mind, Maurice has requested, I remind those clubs who have not yet responded that they should reply, by the end of January, letting us know how many teams their club are intending to field for next season.
A lot to take in and if you, as your club representative, are not responsible for making decisions reference team entries can you please ensure this email gets to those that are?
On another sad note, I do not know if you have kept in touch with bowls related matters but the King of Bowls, David Bryant MBE, CBE passed away in August this year.
Once again, enjoy the remainder of 2020 and best wishes for your bowling in 2021.
Tony Broughton
Secretary