Hello Everyone
The weather has been kind to us thus far, with some very warm days.
We held two Open day events in May; some 18 potential new members visited our facilities.
Sadly, we were not able to encourage most of them to join, even with free membership!
We are still pondering why the majority who did turn up decided Bowls was not for them.
We would like to welcome Robin Humphreys & Gill Errey to the club.
We have been involved playing in the Bowls England Two Fours & Top Club competitions during May & June.
We played Ditton away in the first round of the Top Club, we won comfortably, and then played Bearsted in the second round and sadly came second.
In the two fours we played Sheerness at home beating them marginally, Maidstone away followed with another victory, however we were drawn at home to Herne Bay in the 3rd round and although winning on one rink we lost overall.
Friendly fixtures have taken place; we still have a fairly good win ratio to date.
For those members who have actually visited the green, we had some accidental damage to the corner of the green, Remedial work took place, but alas was unsuccessful. We have now returfed the affected area and hope for better results.
The work around the green continues on a weekly basis by the green team. The hanging baskets and the raised flower beds have started to bloom which look wonderful.
We have also had maintenance work carried out on the sprinkler system which will make it more effective.
We held a race night in June which 18 of our members attended, the numbers were swelled by friends & family. We raised circa £140 on the night which we believe was enjoyed by all, we are hoping to hold another evening on the 2nd August @6pm August on the grass weather permitting.
As I mentioned in previous newsletters, we are still struggling to get sufficient members to put their names down for games. We needed to reduce our fixtures from last season due to a lack of players, the consequence of this repeating itself could result reducing fixtures again and the club struggling to exist in the next few years!
Our captains are constantly chasing members to play. This is obviously quite frustrating, we do understand that ill health and family commitments are sometimes reasons which are quite understandable.
If you could please make yourself available on a more regular basis, I am sure it would be greatly appreciated by everyone at the club.
We will be soon looking for players to fulfil our annual fixture with the Kent Past Presidents Association on the 28th July, where we need 24 players? Could we ask those who still work, to see if they have a spare day’s holiday to play in this good fixture, a meal is provided after the game (£5.00 Match Fee to cover Meal & Tea & Biscuits).
For those who have entered club competitions, can we remind you to arrange your games within the correct time frames giving sufficient notice for your opponent, and if you are playing singles and you are the challenger, you need to arrange a marker.
The club are holding ‘The Stan Lovell Trophy’ on Saturday 16th August. This is a Pairs knockout competition for ladies & Men. Teams will be drawn in advance. Games will be played throughout the day with the final being played during our Finals weekend in September. We encourage as many members to enter, with a view to make it a special annual event. Further details to follow! Please put your names down on the sheet in the pavilion?
Finally, if you have any suggestions how we could anything better, like attract new members, ideas for socials which you would enjoy, please, please let me know, I would love some feedback.
Kind regards
Colin
Marden Secretary