NEWS

Winter Newsletter, 1st December 2020

Item 1:Matches 2021

Match fixtures for 2021 are coming in fast and at present we have well over half of them in place. It is virtually the same schedule as for 2020, making it fairly easy to do the Fixture List for next year.

They include the Spooner Trophy match betweenCheddington, Wing and Winslow; to be held on Bank Holiday Monday 31st May at Winslow. We need to be on good form by then to wrest the trophy back from Cheddington to its rightful place at Wing.
Also we have had our offer to host the President’s match accepted once again. They do seem to enjoy coming to Wing. In 2021 it will be on Tuesday 15th June - which will not coincide with the Mixed 4s Gala at Wendover BC.
Regarding friendly weekend fixtures, following the unexpected sad demise of Wardown Park BC we had a couple of free slots to fill. Not for long, as an email to Chandos Park (Buckingham) BC offering a fixture resulted in two new fixtures for us.

No news yet of the Bucks League programme, but we have entered two teams for 2021 – firstly the famous Wing Arrows, who will no doubt be in Division 1 and also Wing Wobblers who will be looking for promotion from a lower division next year. Wing Wanderers have decided, after a strenuous season in 2019 holding up the rest of the teams, to take a sabbatical in 2021 and return refreshed to gain honours in 2022.

Item 2: Watering System

As you know, the Crowdfunding target of c£13,400 that we all contributed to was reached, with the help of a couple of large grants, last August. This meant we could begin negotiations with Turfcare to install our new system. Although Turfcare were helpful in keeping their quotation for the work to the same figure as when first made in July 2019, it was last week that Wing Parish Council agreed to accept the quote and allow Turfcare’s initial invoice to be paid so that their work can begin

In parallel with this, a group of hardy Bowls Club members have been working to build a concrete base for the water storage tank. This has involved clearing and preparing an area at the back of the Clubhouse to accommodate a frame for the base. This came to a halt due to the latest lockdown, but it should now be possible to resume, weather permitting. The current team have requested help from more members of the Bowls Club to enable this to be completed before Christmas.

If you are willing and able to help to get this done please contact Ray Anderson asap

Wishing everyone a happy Christmas and lets hope for a better 2021 so we can get bowling again

The Green Will Close On Sunday 27th September

Hope all that were able to play enjoyed their short season here’s hoping we all can play next season

Good News at Last

We have just received a grant of £10,000 from Buckinghamshire County Council!!

This has come from a fund provided by central government and administered by County Councils to assist Sports Clubs such as ours to survive the problems incurred by loss of income due to the Coronavirus. There appear to be no restrictions on what we decide to spend it on, so we will just need to use it wisely.

Many thanks to Geoff for securing this for us.

Hello everyone hope you are keeping safe and well. Here is an update on the Coronavirus versus bowlers.

The green will be available to play from Monday 1st June.

The green is open under the guidelines issued by Bowls England, please read and make sure you are happy to play with these constraints

If anyone needs another copy let Bob Dunham know

As you know the government are continually revising conditions etc, we do not intend to amend the rules for play unless there are significant changes.

So in addition to the BE guidelines here are our local additions.

1. We can only have a maximum of 3 rinks used at any one time. As we have 12 who wish to play we need to have a booking process. Gail Trew has kindly agreed to take the bookings and can be reached on 01296688520 or by email.

2. There is general advice that over 70's should stay home. This is advice and not compulsory, therefore for anyone in this group it is your decision to play.

3. Sanitisation materials will be provided but if you can bring your own hand sanitiser that will help. Please note the BE recommendations for sanitisation.

4. When booking a rink you will need to allow enough time to prepare to bowl and to clear up afterwards. We recommend arriving 20mins ahead of start and vacating the green 20mins
after stopping play. If you arrive early please stay away from the green until your allotted time.

5. Toilets will be open but the changing rooms cannot be used. Please disinfect after use.
The clubhouse can be opened for access to keys but must not be used for social interaction.

6. Only paid up members are permitted to play, please contact Ray if you haven’t paid yet and agree how to do this. Social members need to pay the usual £3 rink fee but we do not want to collect cash so an honesty system will be used and any monies owed must be paid at the end of the season or when the green is fully open.

Please note regular watering will be done by John G so bookings will be advised to him to avoid any clashes

Hope this is clear and good luck with your bowling.

Membership: We wish to thank all members who have already paid their annual subscriptions for 2020; we have received well over half so far. Although it is not clear when we all can bowl again this season, we are hoping that the remaining subscriptions will also be paid, as this money will be needed to meet the fixed costs over the coming months. This may make the difference between survival and failure of the Bowls Club, as without the additional income from matches and bar sales our funds will soon reduce.

Maintenance: Turfcare are due to cut the green once more in the near future, but after that John Downes has kindly agreed to do further cutting as necessary. However, some urgent treatment i.e. weedkilling and moss killing by Turfcare will be needed. Thanks to all who volunteered their services for other maintenance tasks, please be patient, you will still be needed before too long.

Information: We will send out all updates by e-mail and also on the Club website Where necessary members who are not online will be contacted by phone. Meanwhile, if you have any further questions please contact Bob Dunham, Ray Anderson