As already advised, the car park work begins this coming Monday, 29 November. After discussion with the contractors, we have had to agree that almost all the space in the exterior drive, i.e. from the road to the club gates, will be fenced off and in use for the contractor's equipment. Pedestrian entry will be along the side.
Car parking therefore has to be in Harman Drive and surrounding roads. Parking restrictions mean that, without a permit, parking is not permitted between 10 and 11 am, Monday to Friday. A few parking places are instead restricted between 2 and 3 pm, but in the morning these are normally fully taken.
On Monday to Friday the club can also be accessed from the gate on the Blackberry path between our grounds and the UCS playing fields. The plan is to leave it unlocked from around 9 am.
We had hoped that the AGM would be held in person. It would have been great to be together again, and the Covid situation was improving with the vaccination success. However quite a few members remain nervous about the potential for crowding together, and the priority is to encourage attendance, so (hopefully for the last time) this AGM will be held on ZOOM. It will be still on Sunday 28th at 6pm: use this link -
The Club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Sunday 28th November 2021 at 6pm at the Club House. As well as Club matters such as the President’s and Treasurer’s reports, it is an opportunity to hear an update from Tennis, Cricket and Squash on their activities over the past year.
The Club Officer roles have to be approved at each AGM. There are currently individuals proposed for each of these roles as captured in the document
agenda
(74 KB).
Should any other member wish to be considered for a Club Officer position, they should advise me by Sunday 21st November along with the names of two members to propose and second the nomination.
** AGM ** Car Park ** Groundsman ** Clubhouse ** Bar opening **
AGM
The Club AGM is to be held at 6pm on Sunday 28 November. This time we will revert to holding the AGM in person. Formal notice will follow, but meanwhile please note the date and let our Secretary know (at [email protected]) if you wish to stand for any of the three offices of President, Honorary Secretary or Honorary Treasurer. Any attending member may also represent up to one other member by Proxy if appointed by that member.
Please come along – see our revamped bar, hear first hand about the progress of the sports sections and the Club as a whole, and ask questions.
CAR PARK
We are finally able to get going on with resurfacing the car park. Work should start on Monday November 22. While the work is going on the only parking available will be in the section adjoining Harman Drive, which has few spaces. Parking in Harman Drive and surrounding roads is generally permitted except for weekdays between 10 and 11 a.m., so it would be worth considering arranging games outside of these hours.
The work will take a few weeks. As with any outside work, the exact timescale is unsure, so although we can hope for a finish by Christmas it could extend into the first two weeks of the new year.
Pedestrian access will be restricted for safety and practical reasons. Care will need to be taken when entering and leaving the Club. Please be careful to follow any temporary signs and access routes.
GROUNDSMAN
Following Peter Chappell’s retirement, we are very pleased that Tony Reely has taken up the post of Groundsman. Tony has wide experience of caring for sports grounds and has made an excellent start.
CLUBHOUSE
Our main pavilion needs constant maintenance, which is provided as required. Its longer term future has been a concern for years. In an effort to accelerate progress, a committee has been set up to make recommendations to the Board for both immediate and longer term development. If you have any architectural or relevant engineering knowledge and could spare a few hours to work with the committee, please let Lara know ([email protected]).
BAR OPENING
For a trial period of two months beginning this Friday, 5 November, the bar in the main pavilion will be open on Friday evenings from 7.30pm until 10.30pm. We assume that you will have better things to do on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so not those Fridays, but otherwise why not try out a jar with friends? (Taking care around the car park!)
Peter, who has missed so few days off work, is feeling very unwell today! We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to set a new date for a leaving celebration soon, but meanwhile I'm afraid that tonight's drinks are off.
Peter Chappell will very soon complete what is now over 40 years' work of looking after our club. Members are invited to come and drink a toast to him this coming Sunday evening (5 September) in the main pavilion. Peter will be there from around 5, with a small presentation due at around 5.30.
After being Brondesbury Sports Club groundsman for over 40 years, Peter Chappell has decided to retire this summer. Peter will continue to perform his duties until a successor commences, probably in September or October.
Nobody else comes close to Peter’s experience of serving the club. We all owe him a debt of gratitude and wish him all the best. In my own time at the club I have always found Peter to be friendly and helpful, and that is the experience of everyone I have spoken to. We will arrange an occasion to toast his future before he goes!
Club News? But the Club has been closed for weeks – what news can there be? Indeed, nothing urgent, so if you have better things to do, please get right on with them.
But behind the closed gates, life still moves on, and you might be interested in this update on what’s happening. For example, as part of an effort to make members more attuned to the Club being one for three sports, not only the one covered by your particular section, Club News should now be going automatically to all Tennis, Cricket and Squash members.
You will possibly have noticed a singular lack of action on the car park. You have to take my word for it that it is more complicated than it might seem. We need to consider the interaction with the planning permission for the new court – the one that was to be on the bowling green, but which now we may delay or not go ahead with, not to mention the planning for the floodlights on tennis courts 1-3 which (oddly) could affect things. Notwithstanding, I am now working with Martin Rizk to see if we can arrange for resurfacing of the current car park as is, possibly expanded slightly, and do so before the cricket season starts in (we hope!) May. No promises.
Cricket, having managed just half a season last year, is of course in the winter lull anyway. Hopefully our members are buoyed up by the stunning English test victory, and will be inspired to achieve even greater success in 2021. (I realise that other clubs could be similarly inspired, but we must Root for our own side. Now there’s an idea…) Some remedial work should begin soon to correct minor issues on the cricket nets. The outfield has been thoroughly waterlogged with all the recent rains, and we would have had to cancel Schools’ use – were it not that nobody is at school! The Board has considered drainage works for the outfield, but the quotation proved to be prohibitive.
The planning application for floodlights on Courts 1-3 went in last week. You can easily view it on the Barnet website; just search for ‘Harman’ within planning applications. Why would you do want to do that? Because it is a surprisingly good read! All sorts of detail about modern floodlighting and lack of light ‘spill’ to neighbours, how the floodlights will be used (timing and other restrictions), power usage – a mine of information. We can reasonably hope for approval, but it will take time, so I guess we are looking at installation in time for next winter.
Tennis remains at a standstill, of course, and we should have particular sympathy for our superb coaches whose whole livelihood is suspended. The papers suggest a return to singles play at the end of March, but it’s all guesswork at the moment. I’m afraid that is unlikely to extend to squash, which has been affected so badly by being an indoor sport. I hope that meanwhile members are well and managing to keep fit (excluding those who regularly beat me on court, for whom I can recommend some excellent TV series to watch all day).