Ladies and gentlemen, since the national lockdown was announced in March of this year an extraordinary amount of work has been carried out by staff members admirably led by our Company Secretary Sarah Simpson. So much so that once permission was given by our National Governing Body (EIBA) to open, we were ready to open our doors again under strict arrangements Issued by the Government for roll ups.
One-way systems for entry and exit have been developed and trialled, multiple sanitising stations sighted throughout the bowls hall, social distancing discs placed on the green to ensure that you the members can bowl with complete safety on the understanding that all these guides and services should be followed implicitly, without question and will be rigidly enforced. Those who have been enjoying the fine weather and bowling outdoors under Bowls England guidelines will find that many of the Indoor guidelines are different and I cannot stress enough that they have been issued to ensure that you can return safely to bowling.; to protect yourselves and members and to restrict any onward transmission of Covid-19, to your family members and the elderly. With the leagues starting on Monday 14 September, the success of their progress to December will very much be down to those members competing following the guidelines without deviation, or the introduction of locally or personal additions. I cannot stress to much that everybody’s safety is dependent upon each and every one of us adhering to the guidelines whilst we are within the Club. Departure from these guidelines will not be tolerated and removal from the league and Club premises will follow swiftly. To all those members who have not made up their minds as to whether it is for you this season, we fully understand but urge you to notify the Club of your intentions as soon as possible as it will reflect on whether or not we can continue to operate, or indeed survive as a Club. Several Clubs throughout England have decided not to open for the coming indoor season but at the request of their Board or Management committees have agreed to donate this year’s membership fee as a means to ensuring that they have a Club to belong to next season 2021/22. We would like to make the same request, I am pleased to say that most of the Club’s so requested have agreed to do this. Remembering that we are going into the autumn & winter and we will have to have the heating and lighting on, along with all of the other usual bills and wages it will be tight but you can rest assured that the staff and the Board will be doing everything it possibly can to ensure the Club’s survival. This situation is very fluid being that we are learning all the time of the twists and turns made by this virus, so changes to guidelines throughout the season will happen frequently, these changes will be implemented as quickly as possible, so be alert and read the notices that will be posted in the Club. Once again, I implore you to follow the guidelines and ensure that your team or group also follow them, under the prevailing conditions we all have to accept responsibility for our own actions and others in order to ensure we come through this experience unscathed. On that note I hope that you will be able to enjoy the season safely and that we can keep a clean sheet health wise for all. David R.Murley With the recent completion of the summer leagues, we see ourselves looking forward to the commencement of the new indoor season on Monday 16 September 2019.
The summer leagues this year provided some excellent, hotly contested matches in both the Triples and Aussie pairs. Congratulations to the winners and huge thank you to all the members who played in both leagues. Outside of the leagues we had a very hard core of members who just wanted to roll up, well organised by Tony Ward which all contributed to a most enjoyable summer season. This year’s autumn/winter/spring leagues look equally challenging and should once again provide the members with an array of competitive bowling. Unfortunately one or two of last year’s leagues have become non starters due to lack of entries, however the management is hopeful that sufficient members will come forward to allow these leagues to run albeit on a reduced season, of some 10/12 weeks, possibly commencing after Christmas. Once again this year, the Club has been fortunate in attracting the Under 25 Trials, the Senior Trials and the Under 18 Trials all at International level. For diary dates of these events please see your monthly Newsletter which will be displayed throughout the Club. This season will see the usual National team competitions being competed in the likes of the Denny Cup/plate, Yetton Trophy, Over 60’s Double Rink, Mason Trophy, Egham Trophy, Top Club, County / Club U25 double rink and the Under 18 Triples. Quite a formidable programme, plus of course the two teams entered in the prestigious Wessex league. Add to that a full County programme for Men and Ladies. Then, having successfully played and completed your way through such an intense season we arrive at the usually strongly contested Club finals, which this year have under gone some re-organisation, hopefully for the letter, see the notice board for Club comps and also the Club Newsletter for details. This month also sees the arrival of Rugby Talking Newspaper, who make their first broadcast from the Club. We extend a warm welcome to them and hope that the arrangement works well and that it continues to provide the local community with the usual excellent service that has been running for some 30 odd years. The Directors, Staff hope that both returning members and new have an enjoyable season at Rugby Thornfield Indoor Bowls Club. D.R.Murley Chairman. With the approach of April 2019 we begin our rundown towards the move to Summer opening schedule and the commencement of the Summer leagues.
However before moving on the that point we have the closing league matches to complete and also the Club Finals weekend 12,13 and 14th April and the Under 18 National Trial on Sunday 28th April. Apart from the Competitors for the Finals weekend we would appreciate it if members would come along and support those who have aspired to reach the Finals. Once again we have been successful in having a run in several National competitions, culminating in the recent success of our Ladies Fours reaching the semi – final, well played ladies, Jean Barnett, Becky Lever, Yvonne Bromfield and Maureen Edwards. Reasonable success was achieved in the Denny Plate, the Yetton Trophy, Egham ,Mason Trophy and Over 60’s Double rink and Fours. Our current young Under 25 International player Oliver Fowler was successful in winning the County Champion of Champions Singles and we wish him well in 2019/20 season in the National Champion of Champions competition. Oliver also played once again for his Country in the Under 25 Junior International Series at Aberdeen where England came 2nd. Following on from his recent successes we now have Molly Fowler appearing in the Under 18 international trial, and congratulate her on her selection and wish her success going forward. The Staff and the Board of Directors are always trying to secure National Finals of one order or another to use our facilities, but in so doing it would help if more members would support them and even offer their services to help out. It is always the same individuals, but we could do with a few more to help out on these occasions. Being available to direct and advise visitors to our club, become scoreboard operators etc. If we had a larger pool of willing helpers then these occasions would become less onerous for the small regular pool of helpers. Moan over. The next guest artist to be appearing at RTIBC is Roy Orbison Tribute Act on 9 November 2019 at 7.30pm , another great show, come along and support the Club. Wednesday 10th April at 7pm is the Club’s AGM and your support of this event is requested. It is usually not a long meeting but this is where you get your say on the Agenda items. In closing, can I on behalf of the Staff and the Board thank you for your support throughout the past indoor season, and for those of you moving on to your respective Club’s outdoor, have a good season hopefully as warm and enjoyable as last summer. For those that are remaining indoors, enjoy the leagues or roll ups. Look forward to seeing you all again in September/October when we begin the new indoor season. David R. Murley B.E.M. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the Staff I would like to extend a warm welcome to both old and new members. There have been a number of changes throughout the summer months, to procedures, staffing, bar improvements to name but a few.
The one which affects both old and new members is the recent introduction of the General Data Protection Act . This means that at the time of collection of subscriptions this year, each and every member will have to complete a new application form. This form must be handed in to those members of Staff and Directors who will be collecting the subscriptions accompanied by the cheque/cash at the same time. No form then we will be unable to take your subscription. The details contained on this form will be inserted into a file on the Clubs computer and then the forms will be destroyed in a professional manner. Your details can be updated at any time, should your situation change. You may request to see your personal entry at any given time. This procedure is now an actual requirement by law and is subject to heavy penalties should we as a Limited Company be found to be at fault. We request your full co-operation in this necessary matter and are fully appreciative of the fact that none of us like form filling. I have one major change to the staff situation and would like to extend a very warm welcome Bev Fowler who has joined us on a full time basis in the beginning of this month. We hope that you will enjoy your new job , wishing you satisfaction and success. During the summer months our two intrepid odd job experts have stipped and refitted the Club bar with new shelving and redecorated it as well ready for the start of the new season. Many thanks to Keith & Bill. Once again this coming season we have attracted the Senior and Under 25 trials in early December, we also have the Denny Cup Semi’s and Final on a weekend and the Ladies Yetton Trophy Semi’s and Final over a weekend, dates to be advised later in the season, so keep a look out for these and come and watch the trials, support your Club in these events. Also in April we have continued to attract the Under 18 Mixed Trial. I should imagine that this season will be no different from the previous ones with a full and highly competitive series of events, both at local and County wide, with the added bite which is provided with the National team comps and enjoy the individual Championships. I wish each and every one of you good bowling and success in your endeavours this coming season. We had hoped to get the green stretched the week before we opened fully but a major electrical fault at our meter prevented us from achieving that objective. However, arrangements are in hand to have it done in the next couple of weeks, in all probability it will be done on a Wednesday morning, watch the notice boards for date and time. We will give the league players for the Wednesday am session as much notice as possible of its cancellation. Sincere apologies for disruption to your league. We still have no delegates from our Club to the County Management Committee (Men) so will have no voice at this important forum, if any male member would like to stand speak to Sarah or Dave, who will give you the necessary information. Finally, enjoy the bowling, the Club amenities. Our friendly Club caterer opens on Monday 17 Sept with breakfasts and lunches available each and every week throughout the season, use this facility or loose it. Please support your Club in every way possible. For and on behalf of the Directors and Staff. As I normally want to keep the membership up to speed on some important development work that has been going on for some months now. After a series of meetings and surveys being completed recently at the latest Board meeting on Monday 17 November 2014 the Board voted to move to the next phase, which is the preparation of contracts.
Now the back ground information, we have been involved in talks with a Company called Emotion Energy which have recently become preferred partners with the EIBA the result of which was the launch of a surprising package to all 305 affiliated clubs of the EIBA, offering the installation of 3 renewable energy systems into each club. As we were the first to show any interest we have secured a deal that in itself appeared to be too good to be true. Scepticism was the watchword of the second series of meetings, but the sincerity of the CEO and its UK sales manager won the day. The 3 systems on offer which we have provisionally agreed installation of are the following:
Our existing system will be left intact as a backup system, in the unlikelihood of the bio mass boiler failing. The bio mass boilers are Austrian made and are the finest in the world, they have already had models which have been running 10 years at 24/7 and the extrapolated failure rate is now approaching 25 years without failure. The expected degradation of the installed PV solar panel system is such that at the expiry of our contract our system will still be generating electricity at 86% which will be producing energy way beyond our expected consumption rate. The L.E.D. lighting system will draw a much lower rate than our current system, likely to be 55% of our current consumption rate for our tube lighting at the moment. The L.E.D. lighting is being supplied by Phillips Sport lighting and the lighting/lux levels will be at International Lux levels. The outline proposal by Emotion Energy is that they will install all 3 systems described above at no cost or risk to the Club and our only commitment will be a PPA of 6.455p for lighting and heating at an annual cost of £3,673.00. Until we have the final solution for the Club this PPA rate is only “indicative” and could well be much lower. All installed systems have substantial warranties and guarantees on them and are remotely monitored for performance and any unexpected malfunctions. Should the contracts proof acceptable to both parties then we expect the installation work to commence in May and be completed and commissioned by the beginning of June 2015. The Board have received briefing papers and have accepted the explanations to their questions which have been fully investigated and supported by factual evidence. All the contractors engaged are rated A1 companies, listed in Companies House and come highly rated for delivering the goods on time and within budget. Fact, if we were having to fund this project ourselves then we would be paying £325,000 , but the funding obtained by Emotion Energy in respect of this total project which is subject to further expansion beyond England is massive, running to hundreds of millions of pounds. Obviously the backer will require a return on his investment, this is provided by the Government payments namely FIT’s and RHI over the 20 year contract period. There is a separate offer for our Club members via a dual fuel deal and FREE Solar PV for member’s homes where Club, EIBA and EE would share the commissions available as well as providing substantial benefits to members. A lot of the members will be saying just like the Board did at the very beginning that there is no such thing as a free lunch! AS explained by one of the funding partners, you have to turn your thinking upside down. We are renting our facility to the funders for a period of 20 years which in turn we agree to them installing all 3 systems to generate their returns on their initial investment and the club benefits in reduced energy costs plus accrued savings for the contract period. This I really believe will secure this clubs financial future well into the future and we will be leaving a fantastic legacy to the Club. A question that I asked at the outset of discussions is what is the catch, the answer was that we did not take up its offer of Solar PV power generation when it was first offered to us 4 years ago. D.R.Murley Chairman. I am more than willing to answer any questions to the above; if I cannot answer them then I will endeavour to get the answers for you. A warm welcome back to returning members, new members from what I hope has been a very good outdoor season. A number of items have been completed during the close season which I hope will be appreciated by the membership.
First and foremost is the most recent installation of our new carpet and underlay which was completed by Dales Sports surfaces during the period 1st September to 5th September. This will provide the Club with an excellent surface for the next 20 years, in order to achieve this longevity there is a basic rule which has to be enforced, we can no longer permit the wearing of trainers with ridged soles, only flat soled shoes will be permitted for wear on the green. In the recent past this has been allowed knowing that we would eventually be replacing the carpet and underlay. On Friday 5th September when the Dales people left after completion of the fitting the resultant speed of the two completed stretches (1 in each direction) was 17 seconds. This speed will erode very quickly as the green is used. We have already booked a service visit for the first week in October to re-tension the carpet in preparation for the National Competitions. Also on Friday we had the roof air vents capped to prevent any ingress of moisture, leaves, etc from falling on the green as has happened in the past. For the beginning month of the league programme you will have noticed that we have no “ T’s” on the just a series of dots. The first and most important is a dot at the two metre mark on the centre line of the rink to indicate starting match position. The other dots, the first from the front edge of the ditch at the one and half metre point and one and half metre from the centre line of the rink is the re-spotting position when the jack leaves the rink on either side of the rink. The second spot same distance from the centre line of the rink but half metre further in from the front edge of the ditch is the alternate spot should the first be occupied by a bowl in play. Having put up the rink charges this season it was agreed that we would introduce this re-spotting of the jack to stop the replaying of ends and give everyone the chance of getting one or two ends more in their league game by way of compensation for the increase in rink charges. Future plans for the Club going forward over the next two years, in the more immediate future the Board is looking at a renewable energy heating system (Bio mass) for the Club, to replace our existing 40 year old system for which spares are becoming difficult to locate and fit. The Bio mass system is installed to work alongside our existing system which then becomes our emergency system. Along with the Bio mass system, as well as heating we also get a degree of cooling provided. It is early days, but this is the direction which is being examined by the Board. The next priority, is the total refurbishment of the toilet wing, which has given us sterling service for the first 40 years of operation. We hope that this will occur during the close season 2015 – ( between May and September). In the next couple of months we plan to complete the total replacement of the Club’s signage, and all the External security lights with LED units which will again reduce our consumption of electricity. Long term plans, say next 5 years not with standing the items mentioned above is the replacement of the Scoreboard with a total programmable scoreboard. Throughout the Club several of the smaller areas have been cleared of boards, etc and repainted white to give further reflected light within the club premises. More of these types of tasks are on going over the next couple of years. We have also completed our Clubmark documents which have been submitted to our County Sports Partnership for Warwickshire based at the Campus of the university of Warwick. My sincere thanks to Bob and Janet Arkell, Roy and Julia Scott, our Club/Company Secretary Mrs Sarah Simpson without whom I would not have been able to complete this important task. Having the award, is becoming more and more important when applying for sports grants, priority being given to those Clubs achieving such recognition . This has been the culmination of 2 years work, carefully documenting and providing evidence of a safe environment for all our users to enjoy. Completed by volunteers, during their own time which is most appreciated. Our Document will now go before a review panel who will make the judgement as to whether or not we have hit the required standard to achieve the award. This is followed by a site visit of the review panel to check what we have said is in fact being done. Once we have passed both facets we will be awarded the Plaque, and will then be the subject of re-visits every 3 years on the date of the award going forward. Not my usual report, but there being so many important issues to inform you about, it has taken a fair amount of writing to ensure that you as members are kept fully up to date with the work and future plans for the Club. In the meantime we have had the Commonwealth Games, with Jamie Lea Winch gaining a silver medal for the Ladies Pairs, congratulations on that achievement. Our Outdoor County men have been busy and successful in winning the Balcomb Trophy (All England County Double Rink Championship) and the All England Men’s Pairs, involving members Calvin Wells, Craig Carter and Tom Millership congratulations to all, hope that you can carry this success through to the coming indoor season. The County Ladies have been successful in winning the Midland Counties Championship this season which has involved a number of our members ably led by the County President Maureen Edwards, again well done. Congratulations to all those members who have achieved success outdoors this year in County/Club competitions. Also many congratulations to members of our Junior section who have been involved in the winning of competitions this past outdoor season, well done. The Fantastic 5’s had a good run in the summer event, with one team reaching the Inter Area stage only to lose to Melton for a place in the quarter finals, well done to all the members who played in this interesting competition through the early part of summer. Watch this space for information about next years competition, when we are contemplating entering 3 teams. The summer Pairs league and Aussie Pairs league were well supported and will again feature in our plans for next years summer season. A sincere thank you to all those members who supported both leagues. To our new Selectors for the coming season, the membership wish you well in your deliberations and of course success in all the team competitions. Not an easy task but one which we all hope will be successful, the very best of luck. In closing, can I once again extend a warm welcome on behalf of the Staff, Board of Directors to a most enjoyable season indoors no matter at what level you play. Point to remember is that it is an honour to represent the Club in whatever position that you have been selected. Thank you for reading, and good bowling. Dave Murley Chairman Board of Directors. Again the current season is drawing to a close, with the Club finals being held the weekend 12/13 April 2014. Which I am sure will be keenly contested as ever, good luck to all those members involved in the finals. My sincere thanks to our Competition controller who has this year had a very difficult time, down to several health issues by members entered in the competitions. We cannot anticipate health problems, but the important thing to remember is that we have arrived at the finals on time and in good order. This position is in the main a thankless task, but I would like to record here and now my thanks to Lesley Howes for seeing the job through and being responsible for the Club having a Finals weekend.
At the recent AGM we were fortunate to secure her services for a further year in this capacity ably supported by John Kilsby, I am sure that the hard lessons learned this past season will be taken into account and that next year’s competitions will meet everyone’s expectations. For those of you who were unable to attend this year’s AGM, I am including a brief that I presented to those attending after the meeting had been duly closed. In previous Chairman’s messages I endeavoured to keep you up to date with our future plans for the Club and its facilities. As you know you’re Company Secretary Sarah and I have been working on a submission to Sport England under the heading of Sport England Inspired Facilities Grant for funding of the order of £50,000.00. This work had taken some 3/4months to complete; the outcome was worth it as we have successfully been awarded a grant of £33,100.00 . We have decided to use this money to provide the Club with the following; new carpet, new underlay( present one is beginning to show signs of wear). Included in this schedule of work on the green is the unstitching of the present carpet panels and lifting carefully. Lifting of the underlay and removal thereof . The tightening of the board sections and re-screwing where necessary, then a laser level planning of the boards to provide us with an overall tolerance of 10mm in 36.33 meters run. Remove and install new 2” wide gripper rails to the sides of the green. Lay the new underlay(Dales own underlay) and the new carpet and tensioning the same, installing all new green markings and the laying of new spots as previously explained in earlier messages and notices in the Club. The quotation of the green speed (estimated ) after completion is expected to be 17.5 to 18 seconds. We are aware of some members concerns that this might be achieved on the initial stretch but that it will erode quite quickly as it settles and we have made arrangements to have another stretch 1 month later to ensure the spec speed of the green is restored. This work is expected to take 5 days from the 1 st September to the 5 th, during which time the Club will be closed. We have not been able to do all that we had wished for, but remaining on the list of things to do in the future, are painting the outside of the building, re-new the lighting system externally with energy saving LED lights. New signage outside and of course our old favourite the toilet wing. We are hoping to work to-gether with the Improvement fund committee to pool our resources over the coming 12 months with a view to completely re-new the whole toilet wing. We might well be in a position to do this in the summer of next year 2015 if not then most certainly in the summer of 2016. We have not forgotten the kitchen, another major project that I am currently researching to find another grant source to bid for. We are working towards providing the membership with facilities that will be second to none in England, it takes a lot of hard work, setbacks, and different approaches and at this point I would like to thank the Staff and the Board of Directors for their support in our endeavours to meet that high level target. To all the members who give their support in various ways in the Club a huge thank you and to say please continue with your help no matter how small it maybe as it all helps to achieve our overall objectives. Congratulations must go to Jordan Ward on winning the Junior section of the Regional EBYDS finals held recently at Melton IBC and thereby qualifying for the National EBYDS Finals in October again at Melton. A splendid achievement and we wish him success in the Finals later in the year. Congratulations also go to Oliver Fowler in his first year in the Senior EBYDS regional Finals achieving a 5 place overall, in addition we wish him well for the Under 18 Mixed International Trials for which he has achieved a second nomination and plays on 25 April 2014 at our Club, come along and support him, next season we might have two Junior Club members in the trial. Congratulations to all the members involved in our National team competitions and the Wessex League again putting to-gether some inspiring performances which I hope will be surpassed next season. To all the entrants in the individual National competitions your support is appreciated by your National Governing Body the English Indoor Bowling Association Ltd and your continued support are hoped for in the next season. A huge thank you for the successful league programme now reaching its final stages and hope that all our newly recruited bowlers are finding places in the leagues. If you can absorb another player in your squad it would be most appreciated by them and in turn eases the prospect of unplayed games building up as we pass through the season. Finally a huge thank you to the membership as a whole for the support that you give throughout the season and beyond to the Gala days etc which also improves our standing within the community and throughout the Borough and more importantly provides additional monies for the charities that we choose to support. I would like to wish all the members preparing to move outdoors a warm and pleasant season with more sun than rain, and a successful one at that. Looking forward to a busy indoor summer season and to welcoming you back to a new green and improved facilities. D.R.Murley Chairman. |