Note to All Bowls Club Members 7th August 2020
Here we are with another update for you on the Thame Sports Clubhouse development and Thame Bowls Club.
Clubhouse Rebuild
The clubhouse project is suddenly cracking on at pace. Last month’s delays have been in spite of considerable effort on everyone’s part dealing with difficulties obtaining building supplies and the manufacture of materials on order.
The main difficulties have been:
Supply of toilet cubicles and doors – these arrived Wednesday and allowed work to start again yesterday in the changing rooms and toilets.
Kitchen sinks installation – the supply of the one remaining sink was resolved on Wednesday - the kitchen fitter came yesterday and all sink and tap units are now installed.
Supply and laying of paving slabs – paving slabs started to arrive on site last week and slab laying started on Wednesday.
Now the kitchen sinks are dry fitted and the toilet cubicles are here, the toilet bowls can be fitted and the water turned on, hopefully sometime next week. Then our contractors are on to the small jobs such as tiles and mirrors in the toilets, finishing off the skirting and benches in the changing rooms and general snagging work.
Window blinds are on order from TillyNilly in North Street, but they won’t be fitted until all snagging work has been done (thanks go to Jill and Marion for their involvement here).
Since the last update we have a fridge/freezer for the kitchen, a display fridge for the bar area and mini freezer for the bar store. The fire alarm is in and working and the intruder alarm is fitted but not yet ‘live’.
Those of you that have been playing bowls or seen the photos on the website will have noted works being carried out on the tennis courts neighbouring the new building. New fencing is up and this will be followed by the laying of artificial ‘TigerTurf' that started this morning. This is a Tennis Club project and separate from the Clubhouse rebuild which is a joint venture.
Given the delays mentioned above, we are now getting close to the time when we need to collect our various clubhouse items back from storage - we can’t do it until we are happy these items won’t get in the way of the builders. We will be in touch with those members kind enough to offer their help when we know our builder is happy for us to move these items back in.
Re-opening the Green
We are delighted to see so many members enjoying the green since it opened on Monday last week. In the first 7 days we had 36 rink sessions booked of the 84 available, so just under half occupancy, and that was with Sunday being very quiet.
The most popular slot is 11:30-1:00 and surprisingly the afternoon session at 3:30-5:00 the least popular by far; maybe because that’s the hottest time of the day? The weekend is not so popular so we may trim some of the Saturday and Sunday availability next week, maybe open for two of the four sessions only.
Please do book your rink. If for any reason you do end up playing without booking, please let Ian Rutherford know in the unlikely event of the need to Track & Trace.
Can we please remind you that hand sanitiser is there for you to use on arrival and when you leave? Also, to use the sanitised mats and jacks for play and after play, put the used mats in the tray with disinfectant in and used jacks in the bucket with disinfectant in.
It is great to think the hard work of the greens team has now finally resulted in good use. Again, many thanks go to Jesse Matthews, John Ashfield, Barry Green, Ray Lewin and Mike Sawyer for helping Chris and Janet with the mowing and maintenance tasks.
We have had a couple of niggly problems with the booking system but nothing that has stopped people getting the rink they wanted, when they wanted it (so far as we know). Thanks for bearing with us on a couple of minor irritations; we have only one outstanding issue which the 3rd party software supplier is working on to resolve. Thanks again goes to Phil Reed who has been masterminding the technical side of things.
Not sure if the portaloo has been christened yet, but it is there if you need it!
Since we opened, Chris or Ian have taken it in turns to set up / close down the sanitiser arrangements every day, so if anyone local can be around first thing or at the end of play to volunteer to do this simple task, say once a week, please shout so these guys can take a break. It only takes only 15/20 minutes.
Club Finance
July has been a good month with a number of our sponsors continuing to support us with funds by taking up the Club’s offer of a reduced deal to cover both this season and next. We appreciate their support and special thanks to Graham Watson for working with the sponsors and getting the money in.
In conclusion
Given the many obstacles that have been put in our way, this feels like an encouraging moment. The green is open and being used. The clubhouse project is close to the finishing line and some of our sponsors clearly feel they wish to continue supporting us.
Covid has been a disaster for the project, our lives, and our playing season, but we are determined to battle on through.
As before, any one of your Committee is very happy to discuss your concerns or answer any questions not addressed by this latest note to all bowls club members.
We hope you all remain safe and well and, as always, we are very grateful for your support and understanding in these difficult times.
Bill Giles OBE Chairman Thame Bowls Club and the Bowls Club Committee
