Rutland Polo Club Newsletter

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June Morrison
5 years ago
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1 Rutland Polo Club Newsletter November 2010 It is now the end of the season and time to look back on the 2010 season. We were fortunate in many ways; there were very few injuries, we lost no tournament days to bad weather and the grounds held up well, especially when it was very dry in July when we held the Berkeley Insurance Assam tournament. We started the season erecting the new marquee. To some of you the new marquee may look the same as the old one but it was very flimsy and falling apart. It was only a matter of time before it blew away. The new marquee is much more substantial, has more windows and will last many years. The new marquee being constructed - May 2010 Last year s groundskeeper, Tom Weaver, has returned to his previous career looking after the grass at racecourses. Our new grass mowing groundsman, Sandy Houston, unfortunately broke his leg (whilst trying to be acrobatic on horseback) just before commencing his new role and so the grass cutting made rather an erratic start at the beginning of the season. However, things rapidly improved and we also fertilised the grounds to give the grass a bit more growth when we wanted it. The small chukka ground proved a real boon, letting us play chukkas when we wouldn t have wanted to ruin one of the main grounds. For some reason, there were times when it seemed to play better than any of the main match grounds. Ground 3 wasn t used very much mainly because it can get too wet or too hard in a matter of days. Later in the year, the Young England match was played on ground 3 in wet

2 weather and yet again it saved our main grounds. Also this year we had a new general groundsman Mark Johnson. Mark looks after line marking, strimming, goal posts, boards and so on and also doubles up as our resident bouncer when required! The tournaments attracted even more teams than last year, thanks to Tom Collie who spent lots of time drumming up teams. The biggest weekend was when we had the Assam, Findlay and Findlay Plate tournaments with a total of 20 teams playing in a total of 28 matches with a record of 10 matches played on the final Sunday. The Assam tournament was sponsored by Berkeley Insurance and the Marie Curie charity had over 200 people for a charity lunch. Bentley Cars had a stand and Polo Splice provided the prizes for the Findlay tournament. Our main sponsors for 2010 included Berkeley Insurance Marie Curie Pol Roger Hanson Aggregates Polo Splice Whitbread Assam Tournament Charity Lunch Champagne Sand for the pitches Prizes Young England match Very sadly, Colonel Tony Gilks - our much loved former President as well as one of the Club s founder members and chairman passed away in September of last year. His family, represented by his widow Ann Gilks, provided a wonderful new trophy in the form of a bronze of a polo player made by Juliet Cursham. The Tony Gilks Trophy was duly presented to the winners of the (first) 0-4 goal Tony Gilks Tournament: Malmaison, headed by Rick Aspland-Robinson. To further commemorate his memory, our No.1 ground was named The Colonel s Ground. The new Tony Gilks Trophy

3 The numbers of social members were a little down on last year but many enjoyed the formal lunches which were held on 5 Sundays. These were provided by Surinda (Sue) from the White Lion Inn at Whissendine who has now also taken over the Noel Arms in Langham. Social members are welcome to all Club events. We had 2 enjoyable mornings working on the grounds recently. This is the time of the year when we have to put away various items such as the grandstand, marquee, timekeeper s hut and so on. We also had a session filling in holes on the grounds, especially near the goal mouths where it gets badly cut up. We also spread some sand on both grounds to improve the drainage and texture. We still have some work to do on the boards on number 2 ground and to improve the goalposts. Many thanks to all those who came along to the working parties to help: Robert Boucher, Henry Browne, Will Brasher, Danny Carrol, Chris (The Major) Crouch, Hugh Crouch, Julian Deeming, Jo Davies,, Priscilla Girdham, Rupert Heggs, Katie Holroyd, Sue Holroyd, Sharon Keeton, Steve Radford and Martin Reason. Working Party in action levelling ground 1 Sale of the grounds: You will have seen the sale notices up around the Polo Grounds. The current landlord, Ronnie Anker, has sold the two main polo grounds to Matthew Allen who has had no interest in polo. The Polo Club already has a lease until September 2014 and Matthew is happy for the Club to remain and has even offered to extend the lease. Unfortunately it looks as if we may lose the use of ground 3 which we only had temporarily anyway. In honour of outstanding support to the club over very many years, the committee has decided to present 3 lifetime memberships. These will be given to Ann Gilks, Edwin de Lisle and Anne Shields.

4 Your committee: This was the first year for as Chairman and Sue Holroyd as Secretary; both are learning fast. The full list of committee members for 2010 was: President: Vice President: Chairman: Vice Chairmen: Secretary: Treasurer: Polo Manager: Pony Welfare: Social organiser: Other committee members: Other roles Web Site: Chief Umpire: Bar: Gaucho Grill: John Tinsley Edwin de Lisle Trevor North James van Oppen Sue Holroyd Tom Collie Jane Winterton Henry Browne Johnny Weatherby Andrew Collie Anna Hunt Rupert Heggs Hugh Crouch Paul Maxfield Gullet Megan Grove Nicky de Bono This year, the web site has proved to be an invaluable tool for everyone, Members and visitors alike. Many thanks for everyone who contributed but a special thank you to Hugh Crouch who does the actual work. If you notice something that needs changing or adding please contact him. It would be nice to have the match results on the web site, so please ensure details are sent to Hugh and if you want a team photo send it too. During the 2010 season the web site had 11,828 visitors with 36,954 pages viewed and 268,213 search engine related hits. The club s face book page has 331 followers currently. The end of season awards party was held at the home of Martin and Clare Reason and was a great success. The awards were: 1. Most improved player from previous season Katie Holroyd 2. Most improved new member Natasha Bird 3. Award for the most number of grooms during one season and for organising the most number of teams Tom Collie 4. Unrelenting contributions during the season Major Chris Crouch 5. Best playing pony Marannita (Owned by Sophie Evans) 6. Player that played most above their handicap during any tournament this season Andrew Collie (in the Findlay tournament)

7. Best fall combined with the most vacant expression and questioning who he was playing with and questioning why the umpire was there Rupert Heggs 8. Most improved pony club player Max Weatherby 9.

5 7. Best fall combined with the most vacant expression and questioning who he was playing with and questioning why the umpire was there Rupert Heggs 8. Most improved pony club player Max Weatherby 9. Most helpful organiser Julian Deeming Many congratulations to two of our members - Hugh Crouch and Natasha Bird who got married in Langham Parish Church on the 16 th of October. We wish them all the very best for the future. Handicaps: Congratulations to the following Members who saw their handicaps raised at the end of the season: Henry Browne from 1 to 2 Will Brasher from 0 to 1 Robert Wilson from -2 to -1 So what are the plans for 2011? Well, we have to see if our new landlord will want to change anything. Your committee are currently working on plans for next season and are looking at re-vamping the Polo Ball, improving umpiring standards, improving various parts of the grounds (e.g. goalposts) and looking after new and novice members better. The Annual General Meeting will be held in March and details will be sent out as soon as they are finalised. The AGM is a chance for you to tell the Committee what you would like to happen. And, as always, we welcome everyone's participation and interest in all the Club's activities and would like to encourage all members to get more involved... it is, after all, your polo club. Chairman, Rutland Polo Club

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