The new season is here !
I hope that you have enjoyed the last 7 months (is it really that long!!) away from WWBC and are all ready to make this season the best ever both on and off the green!.
I will start by extending a warm welcome to you all to the new bowling season which, as usual, will be getting off to a very hectic start with numerous competitions to be played. The first full week has brought the full range of weather so you will have to bear with us when it comes to using the protective mats when playing but we do not want to do any damage to the green before the season is even a couple of weeks old!! Lets hope that things settle down a bit and we get weather more like that you should expect during what we laughingly call "summer".

Welcome
I must welcome some new playing members to the club. Dealing with the ladies first we have Judith Forster, Ann Potts and most recently Joyce Jordan with us now whilst for the men David Chipchase & Peter Wakeford are brand new members whilst Malcolm Sanderson & Jock Teasdale are starting their first full season with us having joined towards the end of last summer. We wish them all well.

LX League
Alan Connolly has taken up the reigns of running things in this league so please give him your full support. The first match of the season has already been played (although they only managed 11 ends before the rain intervened!) and the result was :-
Eltham Conservatives Home Lost 2 - 8

Kent Competitions
Obviously things will change very quickly with these competitions so apologies in advance for missing out anybody when they start but they get up and running during the week commencing 9th of May so good luck to everybody participating.
You will note from the fixture book that we have again been fortunate (if luck comes into it!) to be hosting the Divisional Semi Finals and Finals of the mens Triples on 9th & 16th of June. The Quarter Finals and Semi Finals of the mens Fours will be here on 16th of July.
As far as the ladies competitions are concerned the Divisional finals of the Benevolent 2 Wood Triples will be here on 21st of June.
All of these occasions are prestige events in the County calendar and therefore a real feather in our caps and shows how highly this club is rated in the County in terms of it's green, facilities and hospitality!.

Pairs Competitions
In an attempt to attract more players the mixed pairs has been moved away from the Bank Holiday Monday slot and will now be played on 31st July. A list will go up soon and the exact format will be decided when the numbers of entrants are confirmed.
The mens pairs will, this season, be played off down to the finalists on the Bank Holiday Monday, 30th May, but entries are down. There is still time to put your name down for this competition so check the list on the notice board. Again the format cannot be decided until the numbers are known.

Club Web-site
Pete Searle and Malcolm Whitehead continue to work on the club web-site so for those of you who can access the internet it can be found on www.westwickhambc.org.uk and a copy of this Newsletter and other info will be posted up at regular intervals.

North West Kent League
Having been promoted for the 3rd year on the trot our boys are hoping to make another impression on Division 4 this season.
We have applied to put another team into the league but must wait until a vacancy becomes available.
Notice Boards
Members are reminded to watch out on both the main notice boards for match notices and points of interest as things are not just pinned up to make the place look pretty !!!

Congratulations
Many congratulations to Reg & Renee Chamberlain who celebrate their 65th (yes sixty-fifth!!) wedding anniversary this month.

The "Helpers"
Keith Gall has a number of projects (some big and some small) in and around the club and would be very pleased to hear from you if you can spare any time (however small) to assist in making the club clean, tidy and safe.
Thanks to all who helped out with getting the green ready for play at the start of the season.
You will no doubt have seen that it is not now possible to trip up or down the step coming into the clubhouse thanks to the work done by Keith after the attempted break-in and the door alterations. A big improvement which should ensure there are no more accidents in that particular area.

The Fence Fund
You will all have received "begging letters" with your club handbooks a month or so back and hopefully you will appreciate the need for us to take the action that we have. Thank you so much for your support to date which, at the time of writing, has resulted in over £2,500.00 being donated !!!
Just to update you the order has been placed with the fencing contractor and we are hoping that the fence will go up sometime during the first two weeks of June. However there will be some clearing of the ground at the back of the hedges before the work is started so please speak with George Coombs if you can help out as he coordinating matters.

Centenary Fund
As you were advised at the AGM a Centenary Committee has "kick started" the lead up to our Centenary Year celebrations in 2008 and is now meeting at regular intervals to discuss the arrangements and any ideas that may be put forward. If you have any ideas or should you want to make more of a contribution by joining the committee please speak to Mike Truan who is "Chairing" the group.
Whilst writing we cannot let pass the really excellent work that the Social Committee did during the winter months with the three events that they held which raised in excess of an incredible £1,200.00. A great start to the Centenary Fund. As you will see from the "target" green that Angela has pinned up on the wall of the clubhouse the bowl is on it's way up the green so lets get it to the jack and it's target of £3,500.00 as soon as possible !!!
If you have any ideas about events that you would like to see take place please speak to any member of that committee who are listed in the handbook.

Silver Lane steps
Sadly we have been advised that the steps in their current condition are unsafe and that our insurers will not cover us for any accidents that may occur should people continue to use them. We even suggested to them that we restrict use to regular users and only issue them with keys and get them to sign a "waiver" stating that they used the entrance at their own risk but this was still not good enough for them.
Reluctantly the Management Committee feel that the only course of action at this time is to close the entrance. However in the interests of safety of the members who run the bar and have to leave the club late at night on their own keys have been issued to them to use this entrance. Also we have problems with the council in respect of delivery of mail and collection of rubbish etc etc so again it is impossible to close this route completely so you will have to bear with us at this time.
The works required to make the steps safe has already been investigated and plans drawn up and the estimate of doing the work stands at approx £4,000. Bearing in mind the amounts being donated for the Security Fence Project it is hoped that the club will be able to afford to get this done in the near future. It is hoped that we can reduce this potential expenditure by recruiting help from within the club so if you think you can help please speak to Keith Gall.