“IN TOUCH”

The Newsletter of Selborne Bowling Club

Issue Number 23

April 2014

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR 2014 DIARY Sat. 12

th April Spring Fayre

Sun. 13th

April Club Spring Clean Wed. 16

th April Lady Captain’s Lunch

Sat. 26th

April Open Season [Green Ranger to confirm]

Sun. 27th

April President v. Vice President [2:30]

Mon. 28th

April Bridge Drive Sun. 4

th May OPEN DAY

Mon. 5th

May OPEN DAY Sat. 10

th May Quiz Night

Sun. 11th

May Fixed Jack Competition [10:00] Mon. 19

th May Bridge Drive

Sun. 1st

June Charity Mixed Drive [2.30] Sun. 8

th June Open Two Woods

[10:00] Sat. 14

th June WW1 Tea Party

Sun.22nd

June Jim Langton Cup [10:00] Mon. 30

th June Bridge Drive

Sun. 13th

July Drawn Triples [10:00] Tues. 12

th Aug. Men’s Ancients & Moderns

[6.15] Sat. 16

th Aug. Summer BBQ

Mon. 25th

Aug. Captains v. Vice Captains [2:30] Sun. 31

st Aug. Ladies v. Gents

[2:30] Sat. 6

th Sept. Club Competition Finals

Sun. 7th

Sept. Club Competition Finals Sun. 14

th Sept. Centenary Cup

[10:00] Frid. 28

th Nov. Annual Presentation Dinner

THURSDAY CLUB NIGHT

Thursday Club Night Suppers will soon be starting again

and your help and skills are needed once more. Hilary has put the list on the board, ready for you to volunteer your cooking skills so if you feel you could help, please

add your name to the list. These suppers are an important part of our bowling club life so let’s see if we can make these evenings really successful throughout the coming season. Why not try sitting with someone

else this year? You never know, you may make someone’s evening and learn something new.

CLUB CAPTAIN’S NEWS

Men’s Captain - GEOFFREY BURNS Vice Captain - JIM PRIME

Ladies’ Captain - JANET FASE Vice Captain - JANET VAUGHAN

As we approach the summer outdoor season, we

captains and vice captains are looking forward to a

very busy period of bowling. Thank you for electing

us – we will be doing our best to help make it a

memorable year for us all.

During April the fixture sheets for matches at the

beginning of May will be going up in both the gents

and ladies changing rooms. Please remember to

put your names down as soon as possible for any of

these matches.

In the meantime, the entry list for the Presidents v

Vice Presidents match for 27 April is on the notice

board in the clubhouse. And please do not forget

the Triples League which will be on Monday

mornings and Friday afternoons – again full details

are in the clubhouse. Don’t be put off if you can only

play Mondays or Fridays, please enter. The more

the merrier!

Finally, we extend our congratulations and best

wishes to both Ernie and Janet Vaughan (previously

Grover) who married on 29 March.

NOTIFICATION REGARDING SELBORNE LEAGUE 2014

I WOULD LIKE TO ADVISE YOU THAT THE LIST FOR THIS YEARS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED AT

30 PARTICIPANTS AND SO THERE WILL BE 6 TEAMS OF 5 MEMBERS AND WE WILL PLAY 12 GAMES IN

TOTAL OVER THE SEASON. ANY MEMBERS THAT HAVE NOT ENTERED FOR WHATEVER REASON BUT WOULD LIKE TO BE

ADDED WILL BE PUT ON A RESERVE LIST. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE GIVEN IN THE NEXT

FEW WEEKS AS TO THE TEAMS AND TEAM LEADERS.

ANNUAL BOWLING HOLIDAY

Dear all as you know I have been attempting to book the annual bowling holiday for the end of the season. It has been a long slow job as the response to the trip has been very slow in forthcoming. As you know originally we were trying for Albufeira but missed the slot so the new venue is a return to Tavira, Portugal. The date of departure will be 2nd October 2014 for one week. The price is £679 each for a twin room with a single supplement of £49 and a £30 discount for non bowlers. If you are still interested there are still some places available but I have to confirm and return booking forms and deposits of £150 to Personal Touch by 17th April. If you want more details and think you might be interested, please contact me on 0208 360 0187 or pam@pamelaws.freeserve.co.uk. I am going to attempt to get details of 2015 holidays soon so that I can assess whether it is worth continuing with this event. In the past we have had some wonderful times and it would be a shame to end this annual vacation. Maybe you could give me some feedback on your feelings about this and any ideas that you might prefer to do. Thank-you, Pam Sullivan

SPRING FAYRE Thanks to all those who are working so hard to make the Spring Fayre so successful and to all those who kindly donated items for

sale.

Spring Clean

If you haven’t yet signed up for the

annual SPRING CLEAN, please volunteer

to help get the club sparkling for the new season. We are cleaning inside and

outside the clubhouse on Sunday, April

13th from 10am. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Thanks! - Pat Andrews (house keeper)

GREEN RANGER NEWS

With the retirement of our much loved Terry Andrews as Green Ranger, we must thank him

for the many hours and hours of dedicated work that he has put in over the years, which has

saved the club many thousands of pounds and helped to keep the club financially viable.

However, we are very grateful to John Mayhew for taking on the cudgels and already, he has

been extremely busy.

Many of you will have noticed the two new

sheds that have appeared. The green, metal shed near the clubhouse was erected by John and his dedicated team, David Davidson, Alex

Reid and Ernie Vaughan.

The second shed may go unnoticed by many, once it receives its layer of wood preservative, as it has been added onto the gents’ changing

room and a very handsome and practical erection it is too. We are indeed very fortunate to have such a lovely green and surrounding

area, all due to the countless hours that are put in by our Green Gang. As the season

progresses, we are also grateful to those members who keep the gardens and planters so full of such beautiful flowers. John also tells us that although Alan Mounstephen 's principal job is Bar Secretary, he is always willing to lend a

hand and give advice as the occasion demands. He has also volunteered to purchase the petrol

for the mowers on a regular basis which is a welcome contribution. John and the ‘Gang’

would welcome any extra help, male or female. Why not think about it?

…..and now, a word from John Maynard:

The Green Gang……. ….is a group of dedicated members with a wide range of experience and practical expertise able to perform all of the tasks necessary to maintain and service the needs of the club, limited only by the size of the task and the time available. During the off season, jobs include new construction, alteration and general maintenance of the facilities which cannot reasonably take place during the bowling season. ln the bowling season, there is a regular requirement for work linked to maintenance of the green, principally grass cutting three times per week. A brief resume of the members: Terry Andrews.: recently stepped down as Green Ranger due to poor health but handed over an efficient team and system of operation. He has kindly agreed to produce the rink book (a most onerous task) and the mowing and green turning schedule for which we are very grateful. Dave Davidson: extensive experience in electrical work and possessing an amazing range of tools, which he makes freely available for use to the Green Gang. Although not a regular bowler this season, Dave is always a regular contributor and will help with any job required. David Bowman: takes a great pride and interest in maintaining the hedges and shrubs around the ground. He also uses a pressure washer on the paving and other surfaces to great effect and additionally regularly removes weeds in these areas. A thankless task. Ted Evans: at the moment in rather poor health but as a regular member of the ‘Gang’, helps with keeping the ground neat and tidy and has designed and planted the area next to the equipment shed which is a great improvement on the previous arrangement. Peter Leete: his special area is the club end of the car park which he tidies every week, removing the rubbish, which is continually appearing and also maintaining the shrubs etc. which make our end of the car park so much more attractive. Stan Lucas: one of our principal green cutters and also our lead painter. He will paint anything which doesn't move. Slower members beware! He also takes on maintenance and provision of signage around the club. Jim Prime: another of our principle cutters. Jim normally cuts on a Saturday morning and when the occasion demands, is prepared to commence at 7am in order to spend 2 hours cutting if there is a bowling event due to start at 10am. Alex Reed: another dedicated member with wide engineering experience, a large selection of useful tools and the ability and willingness to use them to the club's advantage. He has produced and maintains the rink markers among many other jobs.

John Sanders: is one of the reserve cutters. He will gladly tackle any job asked of him and always has a useful input both in effort and expertise and a mine of information on electrical appliances. Ron Thompson: one of our principle cutters who also looks after the grass verges. He also helps with many other jobs as the need arises. Norman Tripp: a former Green Ranger now 98 years old and a regular member of the ‘Gang’ who has a wealth of expertise and knowledge of the green which is invaluable. He trims the edges of the green as the need arises. Ernie Vaughan: a very helpful and enthusiastic member prepared to spend whatever time necessary to apply his skills to the many tasks which arise. John Mayhew

It was a big day for Janet and Ernie Vaughan as they finally tied the knot on Saturday, 29

th March, 2014.

Sources close to the happy couple assure us that no bowling balls nestled on top of the wedding cake.

Sue Muller wrote…."I was asked to write a piece on ‘the wedding’ and I thought it would be appropriate if I quoted what I

wrote to a cousin overseas.” “Jan and Ernie’s wedding took place on the last Saturday in March and was absolutely splendid. A couple of weeks before, while Ernie was at his stag night organised by son Nick, Ernie's daughter Caroline arranged a hen party for Jan. She brought all the usual hen party trimmings and this was a new experience and rather a shock for the older members of the party but they soon got into the right spirit

and ended up thoroughly enjoying the whole evening. The wedding itself was at a local country house set in beautiful wooded grounds. The guests included close family members and a number of old life-long friends (when I say old, I mean fairly old!). Everyone was on brilliant form and contributed in different ways - Tim came over from Uganda to give Jan away, Caroline did a reading and Cate sang beautifully (unaccompanied), David gave an excellent speech reminiscing as 'father of the bride'; Ernie and best man Nick's speeches were full of amusing anecdotes, a friend had made the delicious wedding cake, another iced it, another provided the flowers, Ernie's daughter-in-law Julie organised the music, his grandsons did an amusing party piece - and me, I was the perfect guest admiring everything, enjoying the lovely food and wine, doing my best to remember everyone’s name, and dancing till nearly midnight. Everything went as planned, even the weather was great

and nothing could have been bettered – such a perfect, happy occasion.”

A WORD FROM JAN VAUGHAN,

SOCIAL SECRETARY

WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU! Have you something important to say or something that may raise a laugh and would like it included in the club newsletter? If so, please email the Press Officer (e-mail address at the end of this newsletter) or hand it in to any committee member. If possible, please word process your item, as handwritten items are often more difficult to read.

Please save your used stamps and postage labels. Elaine Hall-Freeman’s pupils are saving them at school as they

can get money to put towards their chosen charities. Leave a ¼ inch border all around. Thanks!

Pause for Thought!

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you

do not stop.” Confucius 4th BC

SELBORNE’S NEW WEBSITE Have you visited www.selbornebc.co.uk yet?

Why not take a look to see how things are progressing? Have you any recent photographs that may be of interest?

N.B. Electronic contributions for the next issue of ‘In Touch’ or requests for your copy to be emailed direct to you may be emailed to: The Press Officer: elaine.hall-freeman@blueyonder.co.uk