WHAT S HAPPENING AT THE CLUB

Transcription

1 Mermaid Beach Bowls Club Telephone JULY, 2018 WHAT S HAPPENING AT THE CLUB The Australian Open is here again and a big thankyou to all the club members who volunteered to help mark, score, clean up and do all the jobs necessary to enable to club to carry on volunteering for such a great event for the club and for lawn bowls. Thank you to all concerned.

2 A NOTE FROM JEFF BURCHELL 2 It s that time of the year once again being the end of the financial year. For our club it also the time when we review major overhead cost such as insurances as premiums fall due, also our gaming contractor who monitors and supplies repairs etc and the audit and stocktake which have all been overseen by the accountant. Before I outline some of the key points I reflect on the performance of our club manager and his team and thank him for their tireless efforts as we continue to work closely in the best interests of the club. KEY POINTS: Insurance I commenced a review of our total insurance cover some three months ago. This took a total of around 30 hours of work to ascertain that all areas of business are well covered. After a recommendation from another club I obtained a comprehensive proposal from R & R insurance Brokers. This process we worked through was a whole of club process which indicated some areas of concern which have now been addressed. Last week I spent time with our current insurance provider BCIB and also reviewed areas that were in need of answers. Both of these proposals were tabled at our June Board meeting and voted upon. The Club has taken the option of renewing with BCIB. After discussion at Board level there are areas that need to be tidied up and are as follows: KEYS to the building If you hold keys to the building you are required to take them to the administration and have them recorded and signed out to you. They will be photocopied and you will be asked to sign for them. Please be aware that you must comply to this request. Its common sense that this register is kept up to date at all times. Lockers We need to know all holders of the lockers again for legal reasons. I m pleased to announce that Alan Trevarthen has kindly accepted this role and will compile a register of all occupiers. Soon you will see a request placed on each locker door. If we don t hear back for that locker number by the advertised date on the advice notice the locker will be cleaned out and assigned to those on the waiting list. Thank you in advance for your co-operation. ATM The Board voted on a new agreement for the ATM. We now have the latest NCR ATM installed. After negotiations this ATM is only on a 17month contract. 5 months of what was left with current and 12months of a trial contract. Although we were along way down the track with finalizing this it became very evident that our decisions were correct with the recent Musgrave Hill Bowls Club robbery. Under the new contract staff will not carry amounts of cash from the bank to refill the ATM as we have the ATM being filled by Armour guard security under contract agreements. For those that do use the ATM I m sure you will be happy with the new equipment. Club trading hours The board has reviewed the club trading hours. Please read and understand the following. Saturday, Sunday and Monday the club will open at 10am. In the case that there is a bowls tournament on the bowls committee through the relevant person will liaise with the club manager for a special opening time and his approval. In respect to other times of access it was outlined in the insurance review that whilst poker machine clearance or cash handling is happening prior to the official opening time NO access will be given to anyone to any part of the club. The club will be locked down until opening hours. This is a tightening of procedures and is not negotiable. We cannot be risk takers, not only for our staff but for patrons and bowlers as well. If anyone that does have keys breach this decision keys will be taken away from you.

3 Under review Our contract has fallen due for the supplier who maintains our poker machines, member ship cards and the swipe card machine located at the front door when you walk in. Previous management had engaged by contract a large costing for items that we do not need amounting to around $7,500 per year. I recently had a letter from a member alerting that there were problems with the swipe machine. This lead to further investigation and the current supplier will present to the board their options next month. This will see an overhaul of membership draws, and the whole of what they supply us with. Membership Cards The staff have all been advised that members MUST present their card at the bar for member priced drinks. It doesn t matter if they know you or you have been a member for 50 years. NO CARD NO DISCOUNT Australian Open and pre-tournament There have been many congratulations received from visiting bowlers, officials for our own score card, both the pre-tournament and the Australian open. We should be very proud of what our club hosted. For the fear of missing someone out I won t start to name people individually as you all know who you are. Without you this event would be very hard to run. You are the backbone of this club and I personally thank you for your efforts. GRANTS I will be meeting with the Grants writer to ascertain what we can apply for. The Gold Council grants will be advised after their budget. Let s hope they are kind to us. AGM The board gives notice that the 2018 AGM SUNDAY 28 TH OCTOBER 2018 COMMENCING AT 10AM On the greens All the best to everyone for the forth coming pennants. I m sure you will do us proud. For those that are new members we welcome you and hope that you enjoy what we have on offer at Mermaid Beach Bowls Club. We wish those experiencing poor health that you are soon back on the greens or enjoying a coldy at the club. Keep your eye out for October when Mermaid goes pink Regards Jeff Burchell - Chairman SPONSORS John Henderson Real Estate Mermaid Beach Pacific Fair 3

4 MEN S PRESIDENT REPORT G day Bowlers, Well, we ve survived another Australian Open competition with Mermaid receiving many compliments on the Club generally and particularly our greens. The presentation did us proud. Everything went off with a minimum of fuss, thanks mainly to our group of volunteers who all turned up when required and did their jobs professionally. Because of the number of events we were awarded particularly the Sectional Singles requiring 20 markers on two days and reasonable numbers on others we managed very well. We did have the assistance of a couple of non-mermaid people from interstate who had offered to help, as well as the Bowls Australia officials on one or two occasions, but it was mainly our own members who did the work. Thanks to everyone who gave their time and effort as well as the markers, the umpires, the garbology team who tidied up, those who helped with the raffles, handing out the scorecards and collecting them after the matches, and various other things behind the scenes. I hope you all enjoyed the experience of being a part of this great event with the best-of-the-best competing here. The bowling was certainly amazing. The bar and bistro staff again handled their part efficiently and with good humour. The two-day event preceding the Open also went off well and was fully supported. There is already a list of bowlers who have nominated for next year s event showing how popular it was. Many are from overseas. Some inconvenience and disruption had to occur to our regular Social Bowls days over the past couple of weeks and we appreciate everybody s understanding. Let s get back to normal as soon as possible. The Pennant competitions for our Ladies and Men commence very soon and we wish all who are representing us an enjoyable and hopefully a successful event. Thanks to the members who answered our request for blankets for the ROSIES appeal. We were able to help provide winter warmth to some needy Gold Coast people. ROSIES were very thankful for our donations. Until next month, enjoy your bowling. Harry Schramm Men s President

5 A MESSAGE FROM OUR LADY PRESIDENT The Australian Open: What a great couple of weeks. Congratulations to President Harry and Secretary Glenda on the excellent job they did. Thanks also to Marion, Linda, all the umpires, markers and the cleaners and anyone who helped out. Congratulations to everyone who played also. We should be proud of ourselves. The last couple of Saturdays have been taken up with pennant practice and I thank all those ladies who participated. I wish them all the best for the pennant season. I know you will do us proud. The semi finals and finals of the Seniors Competition was played on Friday 29th with Margaret Panousis as the winner and Johanna Cunningham as runner up. Congratulations ladies oin a great match. Cheers, Betty President Birthday Boy Robert van Wieringen & wife Els celebrated his birthday at the Club for the June birthday night. Don t forget to come and celebrate your birthday at the Club, it is a great night AUSTRALIAN OPEN HIGHLIGHTS The rare Triple Toucher is one that even three Umpires couldn t separate. They couldn t even get a sheet of paper between any bowl & the jack. Despite it being amazing bowling, neither team got a point 2018 LADIES SENIOR OPEN President Betty congratulated Margaret Panousis and Johanna Cunningham on reaching the finals of the Ladies Senior Open on Friday 29 June. Margaret was the winner on the day. It was a good game to watch on a beautiful sunny winters morning. Congratulations to both ladies.

6 LET S HAVE A LAUGH An Englishman, Scotsman and an Irishman are driving through the desert when the car breaks down.the Englishman takes a bottle of wine with him, the Scotsman takes an umbrella and the Irishman takes a car door. On the way they meet a drifter who says to the Englishman I know why you ve got the wine, so you can have a drink when you re thirsty. He says to the Scotsman I know why you ve got the umbrella, you ll use it to keep the sun off!!!. Then to the Irishman, Tell me, why have you got a car door? Irishman says, If I get too hot, I can wind the window down!!!!. A Boeing 7647 is flying from Los Angeles to New York and 30 minutes into the flight the pilot makes an announcement I m sorry to report that we ve lost one of our engines but don t worry, we have three others, but instead of taking 4 hours to arrive in New York, it will not take 5 hours. Not long after, the pilot says, another engine s failed and it will now take seven hours to get to New York. Half and hour later, the pilot announces We ve just lost our third engine, but don t worry, these planes can fly on one engine, but it ll now take 10 hours before we touch down in New York. One passenger says to the lady next to him I hope we don t lose the last engine or we ll be up here forever Sarah was in the fertilized egg business. She had several hundred young pullets and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs. She kept records and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. This took a lot of time, so she bought some tiny bells and attached them to her roosters. Each bell had a different tone, so she could tell from a distance which rooster was performing. Now, she could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells. Sarah's favourite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen but, this morning she noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! When she went to investigate, she saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. To Sarah's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job, and walk on to the next one. Sarah was so proud of old Butch, she entered him in a Show and he became an overnight sensation among the judges. The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the "No Bell Peace Prize" they also awarded him the "Pullet surprise" as well. Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention? Vote carefully in the next election. You can't always hear the bells.