A great picture sent in by one of our bowls club members, Stuart Chalmers, of his new front-door sign.
He said it will remind him of the time he was getting a bit of flack from the skip in his team during an especially tricky end.
As he went to play his last bowl he paused and shouted up the rink “Where’s my nearest bowl?”.
“In yer ******* hand!”, answered the skip….
We have decided to trial a new lawn booking sheet for 2021 onwards.
As with the previous version, it is accessed via the Croquet Members page on the club website.
Click on the link and you will see a page like this (this is a photo as at 1st December):
Do not worry, I am not expecting you to be able to decipher this photograph! It will appear larger on your screen.
Here is a zoomed in picture of the top left of the screen:
You will notice that the new sheet allows you to book time slots – morning, afternoon and evening. The Morning slot is shown above. Find the day you want to play and type in to the cell next to Main 1 (if booking the main lawn).
Unfortunately, as its 1st December, the lawn is closed, but from 2nd December you can play early afternoons. Join us tomorrow?
As we get to Spring, of course, there will be many more white spaces. The white background indicates that the lawn is bookable (the first column above says “Winter” or “Book” when the season is in full flow).
We will use the same sheet to record other activities, and use it to communicate these to you.
For example, every week we mow the lawn, so this is recorded as “MOW” and the cells are coloured green. Steve, as the chap who manages the mowing rota, will allocate volunteers by date, take a copy of this sheet and email it to the mowing group.
We can also use the sheet to record working party activities, external matches against other clubs, roll ups and who is bringing cake or setting up the barbecue.
It is only essential to use this sheet to book the lawn for a game. There is no other way, unless you take pot luck and just turn up.
All other voluntary work will be communicated via email or by a list posted on the door or in the pavilion, in the usual way. We will endeavour to capture the information from these and transcribe on to this sheet.
The current incentive to do this is for COVID purposes so that we have a record of recent activity in or around the lawns. It’s unlikely but if someone did have a positive test, then this could be used to alert others. Of course, we do have the QR code displayed for the NHS COVID App too.
I hope you are able to access and use the sheet. If you do have problems with it please contact me (steve.edney@sky.com).
Further information below, for those who have not glazed over yet:
The current week is displayed when you open the sheet. To see next week, use the PAGE DOWN key on your keyboard. PAGE DOWN for later weeks, and PAGE UP to return to earlier weeks. You can click the REFRESH key (top left) to return to the top of the sheet or hover over “History” and click the link to see past entries.
When you click the link from the website, the sheet opens with the message “Working”. This means it is loading. Wait a few more seconds, and the sheet will update so that the current week is shown (this actually only happens on a Sunday when someone opens it for the first time that day, as the new week rolls in).
Yesterday’s details are also updated on opening the sheet, which is sorted, so that yesterday and all previous days are shown at the bottom of the sheet (Remember to click on “History” if you need to refer back).
That’s all for now. I hope this works but only time will tell!
Steve Edney
steven.edney@sky.com
1st December 2020
Our new committee doors, installed by Lee of SE Countrywide Doors Ltd, & polished by one of the members of our bowls section, are now finished. We shall look forward to using them when the clubhouse re-opens!
Let us know if you see any of our members out and about displaying their brand new Ember Sports Club car stickers!
Assisted by a generous #SurreyMCA grant, sponsored by Cllrs Peter Szanto & Nick Darby, Ember Sports Club has new security shutters, replacing the broken ones.
Once we can re-open the bar, we invite members & their guests to celebrate this attractive new installation by Tri Door!
Diary dates
Ember Croquet AGM: NB Change of date, now Monday 16th November, 7.30pm via zoom or MSTeams. If you haven’t received David’s email with the formal notice and agenda attached, do, please, get in touch with him croquet@embersportsclub.org.uk .
It will be great if you are able to attend the meeting, not only to hear the business and to ensure a quorum but also it would be lovely to see you all. Video-conferencing details will be sent out next week, including the opportunity for a test run in advance of the meeting.
Report
A few games have been played in October and we have been pleased to welcome prospective new members as well as our opponents from the match v Surbiton earlier in the season.
The main lawn closed on 1 November and, owing to the latest Covid Lockdown, the small lawn is now also closed for play until, all being well, 2 December when it will re-open for winter play and practice.
There will be maintenance work done as necessary, and which is permissible, over the next two or three weeks to complete the autumn lawn work and close down the irrigation system.
Winter Play and Practice – as soon as easing of Lockdown permits
Small Lawn – members will have seen the information sent out by email about play and practice on the small lawn, including arrangements for keeping in touch at short notice to share weather prospects, playing conditions and individual availability. I’ll re-send this information when we are nearer to easing of Lockdown.
N.B. to existing ESC members of other ESC sections it may be of interest to see what the cost would be of adding Croquet to your existing ESC membership. Proportionate scales for new members joining part-way through the year, and for the winter season are published on the ESC website / Croquet section / Membership tab https://www.embersportsclub.org.uk/ember-croquet-club/ . If you’re curious about the sport, would like a reason to get outdoors this winter and fancy making a start in the quieter months ahead of the main summer season, do get in touch croquet@embersportsclub.org.uk . See, also, page 13 of the autumn edition of Thames Ditton Today https://residents-association.com/images/thamesdittontoday/autumn2020.pdf
Indoor Croquet – This is on hold for the time being while Covid restrictions apply. We shall be in touch about dates and arrangements as soon as the situation improves.
New Member – We’re very pleased to welcome Christine Evans. We’re looking forward to starting play again soon and to introducing Christine to more of the ESC and Croquet family here.
At this time of year we’d usually be gathering a rota for running the bar for the Ember Players’ winter production. Sadly, as we know, the performing arts have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic restrictions, so let us spare a thought for our drama section friends and wish them well for a creative return before too long.
Keep well, All, and Stay Safe
Simon
Following on from our Sport England CEF grant success and the article in the Surrey Advertiser in July, the club is featured this month in the Autumn edition of Thames Ditton Today See page 13. One or two enquiries are starting to come through from this, which is encouraging.
Other activities this month (as reported in the Club Newsletter):
Ember Croquet AGM: Friday 30th October, 7.30pm, via ‘zoom’ (tech permitting and with as much business as possible covered via email beforehand). Further details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
This month’s news
No sooner had our updating of eased COVID regulations been completed than these tightened up again. This rendered the hoped-for 20th September get-together unviable. This, sadly, is a sign of the times in this stop / go season.
The roll-ups / sessions-to-six have continued to run, with regular attenders Tom, Hugh, Steve, Roger S, Simon and, sometimes, Pat partnering for good team combinations resulting in some closely fought, and always fun, competitive games.
Autumn / winter play
Owing to the delayed start to the season the main lawn will be kept open for play for as long as the weather permits into October.
The small lawn, and roll-ups / sessions-to-six, will remain open throughout the autumn and winter months.
Indoor croquet sessions: given the experience of evolving COVID regulations, a decision has yet to be made on whether we can go ahead with these this winter, usually the second Tuesday of the month, 7.30pm, from November through to March.
Autumn Work
Meanwhile, the most has been made of a few days of late-September fine weather for autumn lawn work and equipment, machine and buildings repair and maintenance. We have verticut, scarified (x3), sprayed liquid iron for moss control and selectively over-seeded on both lawns; and, when there is next a break in the weather, we’ll aerate with the new cartridge and put down ‘Purity’ soil conditioner. Many thanks to Steve, Roger S, Roger D, Simon, and Pat for putting in the shifts throughout the year, and to Hugh and Geraldine for mowing and tending the flowerbeds respectively.
The final of the internal GC (Golf Croquet) tournament was played in blustery and chilly conditions between defending champion, Steve Edney, and last year’s losing finalist, Hugh Stephenson. Would Hugh get revenge having lost last year on a golden hoop?
NO!!!
Steve won the two games played 7-4 to retain his trophy. Well done, Steve.
Both games followed the same pattern. Hugh wins the first hoop, Steve the second, then Hugh the next two, then Steve drawing level after six hoops. Steve goes into the lead on 1-back, Hugh levels, but then Steve wins three in a row to clinch victory.
There were some very good hoop runs by both players. Steve attempted one jump shot but the ball came down on Hugh’s ball in the jaws, pushing it through for Hugh’s hoop. Steve tended to judge the distances a bit better, particularly on the long shots, and that may have been the difference.
Here are some statistics:
Ember is traditionally an AC (Association Croquet) club but we are taking GC far more seriously these days, and once COVID is out of the way (here’s hoping), we will reach out to other clubs to learn more about tactical play. In the meantime, it’s very much simpler to learn and more inclusive than AC, so if anyone out there wants to start to play croquet, come and join in!
Many thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who helped out with our Green closure and renovation works. Here are a couple of videos of the work in progress featuring hollow tining, deep scarifying and cleaning up afterwards. The Green has now been over-seeded and treated with soil conditioner and fertiliser ready for its winter break. It will need a rest after all this work!
As their season was drawing to a close Ember’s bowlers took the opportunity to give Sport England a ‘Thumbs Up Thank You’ for their £3,500 support grant from the Community Emergency Fund (CEF).
Ember were facing a difficult year financially due to the Covid-19 lock-down. The loss of all fixtures, social events and internal competitions meant a shortage of funds needed to cover essential green maintenance and renovation programs. However the CEF grant to cover the operational and maintenance costs incurred during the lock-down period will enable the autumn and winter works to progress, leaving the club in a healthy position as it looks forward to next season.
The autumn renovation work starts this week and any help that members can give to complete the work will be most welcome.
