Calne Bowls Club

I am not going to use a lot of words but I would like to thank the anonymous person who posted the following on The Original Shout Out Calne today:

“I have to say how lovely Calne Bowls Club is looking, lots of people have been very busy, and all with a smiling face and an Hello to those passing. Good job!”

The members really appreciate this as they have worked very hard over the last month to get the club ready.

Anyway here are the photos

I apologise to the others that have worked so hard to paint the surround, but no photos were sent to me of them and no one had a hat like this!

I managed to catch one of the stalwarts of the club, Gladys, waving a paint brush around, she is a dab hand at paining anything that isn’t moving!

Thank you Gladys members like you keep the club going.

What can you say! Calne Bowls Club would not be able to get everything needed to be done without volunteers, so a big thank you to all those involved in getting the green and surrounds ready for the 17th April opening day, when the Chairman sends down the first wood and the season starts.

Thanks to Yvonne and Steve, now Martin and the team, who will be revealed to you writer in due course.

In the meantime her are some more photos

This is the next area to be cleared

Whilst we are still awaiting information from Bowls England regarding Covid restrictions, we are expecting to be able to open our club on Saturday 17th April with certain restrictions, namely playing on only every other rink and maximum 6 members per rink for roll-ups.

There will be a booking system through the Club Secretary as per last year, along with all the restrictions we had in place in 2020 including sanitising etc.

Members will be advised as soon as we have received B.E. instructions.

The green is looking very good.  Some members have started the work on the flower beds and replacing slabs in the surrounding.

If you are passing by, please give them a cheery hello to help encourage them in their hard work.  Meanwhile a big thank you from the club members for all your hard work – you know who you are.

Below are pictures of the green, sent to your correspondent by our Chairman Barry, a lot of work has gone into the green over the winter and here you can see 2 of our stalwarts doing some final preparations.In addition even the planyt containers are getting a paint job, caution anyone standing still for too long will be painted!

We have now received the grant from the Sports England scheme which is there to help sports clubs to resume playing, Covid safe, and we are getting ready to set up the club as an even safer environment than it was last year. Without this grant many of the items we have obtained, such as non touch soap and hand gel dispensers, infra-red head thermometer, anti viral wipes and foggers, would have been beyond the club’s finances. In addition we have ordered 2 x 2.5 mtr square gazebos for extra cover, as the pavilion will still have restricted use for a while.  There will be an extractor fan installed in the pavilion to allow greater air flow.

Work needs to be done on the flower beds and some members have already started on the preparation.  We will also be working on the paving to make it safe (thanks again to Calne Council for their grant),

We now await Bowls England instructions to get started and we will be ready to welcome members and visitors to our green in a safe and attractive environment to play the wonderful game of bowls.

Many thanks to Les and Phil, 2 of our newest members. They have tackled the buddleia and given it its annual haircut.  At the same time Yvonne trimmed back the laurel.

Many thanks folks.  There is still a lot to do but we will be ready when we eventually get the OK from Bowls England to get back to bowls.  Come March 29th, Covid restrictions permitting, we will roll our sleeves up and really get cracking on smartening up the club for opening day.

Many thanks to Calne Without Parish Council for the grant to enable us to purchase smaller sized woods for club stock, giving visitors and new members the chance to try out all different sizes and enjoy the great game of bowls.  Smaller woods are more suitable for both the young players and more mature members of our community and are good for beginners. We had only 1 set in stock and now will be able to buy several more sets to give us options.