We are starting to prepare for the new season already. The lawn is rather soggy given all that rain we had before Christmas. Thanks to Mike Cutts, from Bowls, we have managed to aerate the lawn, and hope to repeat the tining process a couple of times before the end of March. The south east corner is still waterlogged so we will be digging some new drains in the next week or two. Hopefully that will help! The moss is taking hold too so, again through Mike C, we will take soil samples and get some professional advice
Here are some dates for your diary:
Pre-season social in the clubhouse on Friday 27th March. Bring a dish but not cheese and pineapple on a stick (Bob), or sausages on a stick (Steve), or jam tarts (Hugh). Apologies to the well-loved contributions from others but I particularly like those aforementioned delicacies!
Barbecues are usually on the third Sunday of each month:
May 17th
June 14th (as 21st is Father’s Day)
July 19th
August 16th
September 20th
The GC match on 6th June HOME against All England Club (Wimbledon) is confirmed, so we are going to give GC a real go this year in preparation for that at least!
We also want to see if there is sufficient demand this year to put a team in for the SECF AC tournament at Southwick, taking place on 9th and 10th May. Please let David know if you are interested as soon as possible, as we have to register sometime in February. David will also confirm our entry into the B League, so we can defend our title.
The presentation of the B League trophy will take place at Surbiton during the SECF AGM on 23 February. Photo to be included in the next instalment, as well as one from the Casa Mia meal (this Friday 31st January), at which we raised a tidy sum for the refurbishment fund.
There are still two more indoor croquet evenings:
February 11th
March 3rd.
Finally, we hope to get the small lawn operational ahead of the official start of the season, potentially from February 3rd onwards. Please make sure you use the correct hoops and the Barlow balls please.
Take care until then!
