News Update
Marine Gardens BC - report for w/e 21/06/20
(June 22, 2020)“Marine Gardens – a club in 10 numbers
2,500 – the grant in £s obtained from the Sport England emergency fund. In a normal year around 4,000 applications are received. In March alone over 7,000 were made including one lodged by Marine Gardens BC treasurer Norman Deegan MBE. The £20 million pot was quickly drained, but thanks to Norman’s speedy work £2,500 of that will help with our reduced income.
672 – the rebate of subscriptions from Bowls England. £672 gratefully received to further bolster the club’s finances in this difficult year for all amateur sport.
96 – the number of loyal members who kindly renewed their subs even before we knew there would be a single bowl delivered this summer. 80 players and 16 supporter members.
90 – the number of years since the club was founded in 1930. Have we ever seen such an uncertain and dislocated season before?
80 – the cost of a season ticket at the privately-maintained Marine Gardens. £80 covering the period from 1st June to early October. On council-maintained greens it is £99.
52 – the number of members who have turned out and played so far. Many who renewed their subs are understandably concerned about their health and so have yet to resume. The number is gently increasing each week.
12 – the number of club competitions to be played; to begin in July and with finals scheduled for Thursday 24 September to Saturday 26 September. We normally play 12 comps and with no other competitive inter-club bowls on offer, the committee was keen to give the members every opportunity to play more meaningful matches.
12 – the number of competitions likely to be won by Ivan Godsmark and alter-ego Ivana!
10 – prospective new members who have signed up for a taster session. They may not join, but as the club lost both open days to the lockdown, we are grateful to anyone who shows a bit of interest. With no matches, no fun drives and no social events we are really at our worst. And despite this, genuine queries are being generated by flyers given to the public by the green, the website and of course by articles appearing in the Worthing Herald.
1 – the friendly robin who sits by the end of the green and watches the watering and mowing. Such a regular presence we have offered him a social membership, but he would only put his beak to the application if we also took the assorted pigeons, gulls, magpies, both squirrels and the fox. The committee decided we have enough strange creatures amongst the existing membership, so robin retains mascot status only!
As we continue to move out of lock-down we hope to play a few friendly matches against our neighbouring Worthing clubs. Probably three sets of triples and sadly with no teas; social distancing always. But it would be another welcome step towards bowling normality. If you want to have a free taster session at Marine Gardens, please contact club coach Terry Urben on 01903 700662. All equipment provided; social distancing observed, please note we cannot guarantee the robin will attend.”
