Category: News

Some of you will have noticed some changes to the club calendar, which are designed to make it more reliable and secure. Quite a number of you have already navigated your way with the new calendars in the days since the changes went live. Things have seemingly been working smoothly and I’m not aware of any operational issues. But if you encounter an issue then I’d be very pleased to hear about it.

The changes are:

• Club events which book the lawns are now all in ‘full green’, and are set up by the club committee, with sign-ups enabling members to register for them. Club events are club sessions and home matches. We have tried to choose colours which work well for normal sighted and CVD users.
• Personal bookings are introduced in two new calendars (one for each lawn) and now in a grey-green. All members can make personal bookings. The slightly different colours also means you can spot personal bookings easily.
• Maintenance is unchanged and White lining should still be booked and entered at the time it is going to be done.
• Other events is now committee meetings, away matches and other activities – and which do not require a lawn allocation.

In terms of why we’ve made these changes. They will:

• Stop email addresses of members being exposed to public users in the sign-ups for events
• Prevent club sessions being inadvertently edited by members trying to sign-up to a session
• Still enable team captains from other clubs to see match fixtures on our calendar

The calendar has two limitations which I would draw to your attention:

• We cannot stop overlapping events as the system is quite clever enough for that. So we can end up with a personal booking accidently overlapping a maintenance session or club event.
• If you need to make an a full day booking there is an option to do that. However, since these aren’t very obvious (they’re posted right at the top of the day they apply to) there have been some overbookings made on top of all day bookings. I would therefore suggest avoiding using the all-day bookings option, but rather make a booking from 9-18 or 9-21 or whatever is required as that will be clearer that the lawns are not available.

I hope everything continues to work smoothly for you.

On Wednesday and Thursday Blewbury hosted its inaugural midweek advanced play tournament. Paul Wolff, Peter Allan and Joe King were joined by five visitors from clubs in Winchester, High Wycombe, Watford, Wrest Park and Nottingham.

Sunny and dry weather, fast lawns and firm hoops made for some absorbing play and closely contested games, with players managing 5 or 6 games over the two days. Two games finished with the narrowest of margins +1 on time, two by +2 and three by +3

The eventual winner was Joe King who finished with 6 wins out of 6. Clive Goode ended up with one loss only, against Joe.

The visitors, impressed by the quality of our lawns, encouraged us to run the event again next year.

Final results were:

Deirdre Cochrane, Brian Jamieson, Claire King and Steve Fisher made up the team that were eliminated 6-1 by Harwell-Eynsham. Claire, playing in her first match, with Brian won the doubles match in the morning. Unfortunately this was the only success. The games were only lost by a small margin – but they were lost. This means that Harwell-Eynsham will play either Swindon or Bristol in the next round. Follow it at Longman 2021

From tomorrow, the Government’s further lockdown easing means we can relax SOME of the precautions we had previously put in place, in line with the latest CA guidance received.

It is important that we all continue to exercise caution, and to observe the remaining restrictions. Issue 11 of our precautions list is now being mailed out to members, and will be posted on the clubhouse door shortly. The main changes are as follows:

• Up to 30 people are now allowed on our grounds at any time, though everyone must continue to book their attendance on our booking system for track and trace.
• Court use is therefore effectively now unrestricted, with 2 doubles games again able to be double-banked on each court.
• Up to 6 people may now enter the clubhouse, though face masks should be worn – especially whenever more than 1 person is in the building.
• All croquet equipment (eg now including clips and bisques) may now be used, and can again be stored in the clubhouse’s cupboards.
• Food and drink may now be consumed on club premises, but only when seated.

Members continue to be responsible for sanitising all equipment and surfaces touched, as well as for their own hygiene. Social distancing rules remain, and you should NOT come to the club if you’re exhibiting any potential Covid symptoms or are meant to be self-isolating.

David Long, Club Secretary, 16th May 2021.

Following yesterday’s melt, the courts will reopen today as soon as last night’s frost has thawed.

With the ground still very soft, jump shots are still not allowed.

David Long

Due to the snow fall earlier this morning, the Committee has decided to close the courts to protect the lawns. Even though the snow is melting fast, the ground is very soft and there is a likely risk that play would damage the courts.

Hopefully we’ll be OK to reopen them tomorrow but, with a deep frost forecast tonight, please check for further updates here before heading to the courts.

Additionally, whenever we re-open, please do not play any jump shots until advised it is safe to do so: there are already a number of gouge marks on the lawns from last week’s play, and we don’t want to damage the lawn further.

I’m delighted to confirm that our courts are now open again, with what are essentially the same Covid precautions we had last Autumn. However, there are three important changes in the very latest guidance received from the CA, which everyone should be aware of:

1. while we have opened the club to a max of 6 players per court, NO INTERACTION is allowed between players on different courts (particularly to note for club sessions: separate guidance applies to Tournaments, as will be set out by each Tournament Manager).
2. at this stage of lockdown easing, NO SPECTATORS are allowed on Club Premises.
3. players are advised to wear face coverings when indoors (i.e. if entering the Clubhouse or the WC).

You may read a full set of our Issue 10 precautions.

David Long, Secretary BCC.

The “Results” menu has been renamed to “Competitions” as it now allows you to sign up for a competition, see who is signed up, to record your individual results and to see the current status of a competition.

As events become ready they will be added to the menu. Currently you can sign up on line for the GC Championship Cup and the Icknield Cup. Just select the event and click on subscribe – and that’s it.

At the top of the “Competitions” page you will see a list of what you are currently signup for.

The AC and GC ladders are now both live. The GC one continues from last year and the AC one has been restarted.

If you have any problems with the system please email me individually at dr.s.m.fisher@gmail.com.

I’m pleased to announce that we now plan to reopen our courts from Monday 29th March. This is in line with Step 1b of the national lockdown-easing roadmap: should that date slip, then so will our re-opening.

The CA have confirmed that we may do so under the same social distancing and sanitising regimes we had in place last year. These are reflected in Issue 9 of our Covid regulations.

The Committee has also decided to extend participation to the maximum allowed under those regulations – namely 6 per court. This would allow (eg) double-banking of a singles and doubles game on one court, or a coaching session with up to 5 participants (+ coach). As before, all attendance must be pre-booked, to allow track & trace if needed.

While this allows up to 12 people (including spectators) on club premises at any time:

a) all attendees are subject to the “Rule of 6“, with no mingling allowed between groups;

b) everyone MUST take personal responsibility for keeping themselves and others safe, by observing the 2m Social Distancing guidance (which, in our context, translates to “IF I CAN HIT YOU WITH MY MALLET, YOU’RE STANDING TOO CLOSE”).

Committee members will monitor adherence to these rules, and take action if breaches are observed.