President's Page

ANGLES ONE FIVE - BOMBS AWAY!!!!!

Well at long last the nets are open for use. Thank you all for your patience.

At a very pleasant ceremony on Saturday the 6th April the nets were duly declared open. This was followed by a smaller but no less significant ceremony when Hubby got his way and duly cut the tape to the second net.

May I express our thanks to all those who turned up on Saturday to support the opening. It was a very clear demonstration of the enthusiasm within the club, which did not go unnoticed. The club jackets looked the part as well.

Thanks also to all those who put in all the hard work the previous Saturday and during the week, to make the ground look so well for the opening.

I think Brian's comments on Saturday summed it up when he said "You know, I never thought I would ever see this day". I must confess there were times when I wondered whether we would ever get there too!!

I was looking through my notes and I see that our first "official" letter to the Council enquiring about nets was on the 20th May 1999. So it has taken 3 years to get everything sorted. This is the type of time scale and shows the need for patience. So please bear with us if things appear to go so slowly.

I can tell you that we are not prepared to rest on our laurals. We already have a grant application in for proper covers and we are looking to you for further help. Now that we know there are grants available and that we have established connections with various bodies we intend to pursue them further. To this end we have set up a Sub-Committee whose remit will be to concentrate on the availability of grants. We hope in this way we shall be able to reduce the time scale in providing the particular facility.

The help the sub-committee is looking for from you are suggestions of what YOU would like to see at the ground. Some suggestions already received include a brick score box, an equipment shed, a bowling machine and an all weather strip out on the square. Please keep them coming. We make no promises, but we will strive to get you what we can.

Well after a pretty miserable winter, a much improved  period of weather has enabled us to get on to the square and start the ground work. I am pleased to say all the hard work put in at the end of last season has borne fruit and the square is looking well. There are no bare patches and the fencing has largely worked in keeping the rabbits off the pitch (in spite of the football spectators constantly trampling down the netting). So all is looking well for the start of yet another season.

So to you all - have a great season and don't forget - keep those suggestions coming.