After a couple of trial runs on Thursday night and Friday morning, it has been agreed we can open on Wednesday 30th September, with a maximum of 24 players – 4 rinks of triples – per session.
You’d better make a cup of tea/coffee or grab a beer as there’s quite a lot to read and take in! I’m not sure which is the best order to list everything, so please bear with me.
Indoor Subs for the season will be £90. This is a slight reduction on the previous year. It would be greatly appreciated if you could pay these as soon as you receive your invoice. There has been a lot of preparation to get the club ready for indoor play now that the government, EIBA and CP Board have given their approval. There has been loss of revenue and will continue to do so, so if you could help contriubte to keeping the club opening for play, it would be good for everyone! You will need to complete a new Membership Form as well as a Self Declaration Form. Hard copies will be available at the Club.
We have registered with the NHS Track & Trace system, so if you have a smartphone either Android or iPhone, please log in.
Bring spray disinfectant with you plus a cloth and please wear a face covering to enter the club, sanitise your hands and when you go to hang your coat up in the changing room, collect your bowls and shoes and go to the back of the rinks to change your shoes.
Changing Rooms: No more than 2 at a time – be patient and no more than one person in each toilet area at a time. Please do not change in the changing room! You can remove your face covering to play or, if you wish, you can leave it on throughout. (If you keep taking it on and off, you will end up flapping your germs to those standing behind you and you will need to sanitise your hands every time – who wants to do that 50 times per session?!) it’s either on or off during play – no inbetween!
Roll up sessions will be Monday- Friday 10.00 am – 12.00 pm. At the moment, please turn up in good time to play. If there are more than 24, I’m afraid any extras will be unable to play. The Monday, Wednesday and Friday sessions will be monitored by Gordon, Kevin C and Brian Cr, depending on who is there on which morning and on Tuesdays and Thurdays by Jane.
There will be a number of members who can advise on play e.g. handling of mats, jacks and the T at the far end of the green.
The second sessions will start at 2.00 pm and the final session (which will include leagues at the end of the month) will start at 6.30 pm
The Club will be cleaned every morning including disinfecting of mats and jacks before play. There is a good Ventilation system in place which is a key factor in replenishing the air in an indoor space to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
You will see taped off Changing Stations with one table and six chairs behind each rink. Please keep within the boundaries. Please tuck shoes and bowls carriers under your chair to avoid trip hazards. Nothing like stating the bleedin’ obvious (as my Mum would have said).
Hand Sanitisers: Of course we know you all have your bottle of hand sanitiser in your pocket/handbag, but there will also be pedal operated sanitising stations at the bar end of each rink. If you touch your face, please sanitise your hands.
Members’ responsibilities This is mainly to keep everyone, including yourself, safe. At the end of your session, please disinfect the mats you used and jacks and place in a designated space (we are hoping to get rails). There will be a fresh set of mats for each session as you cannot put wet mats on the playing surface without ruining the carpet. Please spray disinfect your table and chair and return any glasses and water cups to the bar and wipe any surfaces on which they were standing during play.
Bar and drinking area The bar will be ‘table service’ in accordance with government guidelines, which is the same for pubs and restaurants. Jane, who will be wearing gloves and face covering, will serve drinks to your table in the dining area, where tables and chairs have been set for 6 and at the appropriate distancing. Jane will disinfect this area when you leave as well as the front of the drinks machine. (You will still need 60p for those drinks until we find an alternative way of paying)
Membership Cards and payments As soon as your subs have been paid (or you can email Laurence to let him know you are definitely joining), you will be issued with a numbered Membership Card. The card confirms your membership and will eventually be used to ‘swipe’ in to enter the clubhouse. You can also load funds on your card and use that to pay for drinks etc. or alternatively use a debit or credit card. We are following Bowls England, EIBA and other guidelines to become a cash-free venue. We appreciate that not everyone is keen on this, but it is another way of reducing the risk of transmitting the Covid-19 virus or any other germs between staff, volunteers and members!
Green Fee Vouchers. Booklets of 10 x 2-hour numbered Green Fee Vouchers and 10 x 1-hour Green Fee vouchers will be on Friday 2nd October and will be available for purchase behind the bar. All 2 hour sessions (and matches when we have them) will be £3.50, so the booklets will cost £35.00. I hear a lot of air being sucked through your teeth! However, if you play in one or two roll ups plus a league, the 10 vouchers will last about 3 weeks. If you only play once a week, the booklet will last you until Christmas! If you come and roll up for an hour, then use a 1-hour voucher. Sign your voucher and leave it on the table behind the rink and Jane will collect in the same way as she collected green fees.
The updated online green booking system will be updated for indoors at the back end of this week. There is a “Green Bookings” link on the front page of the website. We will let you know when it’s live, but if you do not have internet access, please ask a friend to book the session for you.
Sign in Sheets For those of you without smartphones, you will still need to sign in for track and trace compliance. For this week as well (until Green Fee Vouchers arrive), if you play, Jane will have a list of your names on the sign in sheet, so she can collect vouchers for these sessions when you have the vouchers in your hand. I’m sorry if this week will be a bit ‘messy’ in this regard, but the printer can’t deliver before Friday and we know you all want to get going and play!
Spectators: If you have a spouse/partner/friend who is not playing, there are spaced out tables and chairs along the walkway by rinnk 4.
Leagues David Hale has been in touch with all the league captains to see who is keen to play. They will not start before the end of the month but will be slightly different this year. We think there will be just one afternoon league – either on a Tuesday or a Thursday and the on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. All 2 hour sessions and all triples!
Competitive Club Nights: On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, anyone who is interested in improving their skills and representing the club in matches and competitions (when there are any) can come along. We have many competitive club members who liked being pushed – playing with others not in their league teams. These will start at 6.30 pm, so if you can arrive by 6.10 pm so the organiser can juggle the combinations each week – might be triples or pairs – that would help.
Club Competitions: 2019-20 The left over semi-finals need to be played by Sunday 8th November and the Finals will be held the following weekend 14/15th November. The draws are still up on the board, so if you’ve forgotten whether you’re playing on not, go along and have a look! 2020-21 Ange is hoping to run competitions but we may need to wait until November/December.
Social Events: Ann M is in charge of these but we are also looking at a Christmas Dinner – probably on two separate afternoons – with new highly qualified caterers, not Ange and me. (Hooray!)
You’ve probably made two cups of tea or fallen asleep by this stage! Everything has been put in place to keep you safe which is why there seems to be a mammoth amount of information to take in! I am sure you will have questions and we will endeavour to answer them. The Risk Assessment will be up in the lobby and a copy posted on the Members’ section here this week.
Of course, all this is in place starting now but as you all well know, the guidelines and lockdown areas, as announced by the government, change on a regular basis so if there are any major changes, we will update you on here.
If you have friends without internet access, perhaps you could print a copy of this post off for them to read. We will leave hard copies at the club as well.
Dawn – on behalf of the Board and Indoor Committee
On a final note, Isle of Wight Ron B underwent surgery on Friday so please spare a thought for him for a good recovery as well as his family as they are still on the IoW. Ron will be a social member this year as he will be unable to play.
