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Rothbury Bowling Club
2002 |
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Maintenance continued throughout the winter with Cyril building a pathway at the west to accommodate wheelchairs and raising the east side to conform to bowling regulations. Steps to the green were built in the centre and proved satisfactory apart from the comment that they were in breach of bowling regulations from a member who had watched them being built. The secretary pointed out that these comments would have been more helpful had they been voiced prior to the start of the work. The problem was solved by the provision of a removable wooden barrier in front of the concrete steps.
It had been agreed that specific rinks could be selected by players in NBA championships in order to give them the best advantage. Unfortunately no-one read the small print and one member construed this as permitting rink selection in either direction. One fateful morning the rink markers were moved from North/South to East/West. All hell broke loose and once again Cyril resigned.
This time the president, Peter Stafford, was not inclined to bow to what he saw as blackmail and refused to contact the erstwhile greenkeeper. At this David Bolton took over and the season ended with the green once again in excellent condition
Towards the end of 2002 the recreation club, with newly appointed officials, dropped a bombshell. They asked that the line dancers, an affiliated club, be permitted to book the bowls room. If you remember the idea of booking their own room was anathema to the bowls club and almost stopped the building project dead in its tracks in 1999. This request was not well received, especially when the treasurer reported that the rental for the bowls club had just doubled in the second year. (Up from £350 to £630.) The recreation club treasurer explained that this was entirely due to rising insurance costs and bowlers were forced to accept this explanation. The Bowls Club maintained subscriptions at a modest level and embarked on social fundraising to offset these unforeseen costs. It was interesting to note that the tennis club’s solution had been to increase fees substantially, a course that appeared to deter members in the following year.
As rules could only be changed at the AGM this proposal was initially defeated. But the bowlers were not too happy, especially as the new secretary of the Rothbury Recreation Club pointed out in no uncertain terms that previous agreements might not be honoured: the recreation club was now in the hands of a new committee and Ian Anderson’s promise was no longer valid. At the next meeting of the recreation club the subject was raised again. This time a badly thought out proposal to allow external groups to book the pavilion was defeated.
At the 2002 AGM the proposal was put forward that the bowls clubroom be offered to the Line Dancers with the provision that they (the line dancers) use their initiative and only use the room in the summer after 7pm when it was apparent that there would be no bowling. This would be in the spirit of cooperation and friendship and would ensure that the bowls club retain control of their room. It any case it was an event that was liable to occur on only three evenings during the summer.
The motion was defeated by a massive 28 against with only 5 for: giving the lie to cooperation and friendship between member clubs. |