Latest news November 2018
John Penman, Club Treasurer, writes;
Springhill Hospice
During the summer the club held its own hospice round which enabled us to make a donation of £100 to this very worthy cause.
On the 16th September the club hosted the grand final with a full house of 34 pairs taking part from Rochdale’s clubs. Our own Carol and Sid Royle won the competition after bowling consistently well against some stiff competition, especially in the later rounds. Very well done Carol and Sid! The day of mixed weather certainly didn’t dampen the competitor’s spirits and over £200 was raised on the day. The total raised by all clubs was a magnificent £2,500.
A very special thank you to the ladies who worked so hard to provide and serve refreshments throughout the day and, whatever the circumstances, never let us down.
Floodlit Competition
run so efficiently by Sharon the Castleton team were winners this year.Despite a difficult year for the green it continued to run very well and rain affected evenings were few.
As ever there is always a good atmosphere and the league and cup rounds are always keenly fought. The income from the floodlit competition really does help to keep the club afloat and it is good to see that it is as popular as ever and we have a waiting list of clubs who wish to take part should any team drop out.
We have a good squad of Castleton players but next year we need to have more volunteers to open up and run the bar and refreshments as it seems to fall to too few members and that cannot be right.
Finances
The club membership fee will be £18 from next year and this modest increase from £15 is necessary to keep up with the costs of running the facility and, with our modest bank balance, is just enough to keep things ticking over. However, we have an old building to maintain and our ground equipment is also getting on in years (as indeed are the regular ground staff volunteers!!).
Events and competitions run by members do help to boost our income and we need to encourage more of these to ensure our finances are secure. It has been good to see a number of new members join and we now run two billiards teams in the league.
Maintenance
The club building is in need of some substantial repair work to the roof, brickwork and gutters and some upgrading of the electrics may be required in the near future. Consequently, members of your committee are looking for grant funding opportunities to enable some of these repairs to be completed over the next couple of years. However, grants are rarely for 100% of the costs so our own member’s efforts and support must continue to be successful if we are to keep the building in good order.
General maintenance and ground keeping work is carried out by a few committed members but the load needs to be shared by more volunteers – this call is made every year but largely falls on deaf ears. If you want a decent green and surroundings it will not be achieved by sitting on your hands. If you can spare an hour or two particularly on a Saturday morning your help would be appreciated – otherwise things could slowly ‘be going to pot’ and nobody really wants that outcome.