March Newsletter

It has been encouraging to see the sun shining and several members out on the green enjoying a roll-up. However, the fixtures will clearly be disrupted again this year. We have included below what we know and what we hope but there could be changes if lockdown rules alter.

Fixtures

The friendlies planned for April will have to be postponed however we will offer an Autumn date to those clubs. This does mean that we can plan for an in-house triples event and we propose Saturday 17 April at 2.00 p.m. for the first one. The clubhouse cannot be open on that date however we can make toilet facilities available and drinks can be served outside. If the weather is not conducive on that day then we could switch to Sunday 18th. Please let Derek know if you are interested in being involved on the Saturday and also if you would still be available for Sunday if we have to postpone. Email for Derek - maryderek@btinternet.com

There will be a discussion hosted by the Cotswold League committee on 6 April to discuss if any of their fixtures will go ahead. We have already agreed that Malmesbury will only be able to run an 'A' team during 2021. However if the ‘A’ team did have fixtures that would still free up a few Wednesday evenings throughout the season, so it may be possible to organize an in-house competition at that time for those not involved. We hope that there will also be opportunities for floodlight games. At this stage, it does not look as if the NorWest league will be operating.

COVID Safety

When you do enter the clubhouse again you will notice a few changes. There are additional (hands-free) sanitizing stations and signage along with a new regime to ensure that the toilets are only used by one person at a time. It will be May at the earliest before we can serve drinks inside the clubhouse and then there will be arrangements for social distancing as before.

Membership

It is good to see that so many people have re-joined this year but we aim to continue recruiting and already have new members and some ‘in the wings’.

Rink Fees

For 2021 we have decided to re-introduce a rink fee of £1 per player, per game. The various Covid related grants helped the club to weather the challenges of 2020 but as these are being phased out we will need to ensure our income exceeds our expenditure again.

Projects

It has been heartening to have so many contributions towards the cost of the floodlights and we also aim to pursue our changing room project. However, we intend to use the summer to refine a design for a new facility and also to ensure that we have saved enough additional funding.

We need to target survival but development is also crucial if we are to grow the membership again