As the sun continues to shine on Benwell Hill herewith an update on matters that I hope will be of interest to Members of the Club.
First and most welcome I am delighted to announce that work is due to commence on the Club House Roof on Monday June 14th. It will take probably a fortnight to complete but we will remain open as the Contractors M&C Roofing will be able to work around our opening hours. There will clearly be some disruption but we hope to keep that to a minimum. It will be worth it!
Also on the good news front the Club have secured a grant from the ECB under their `Inspired to Play` initiative which will enable us to enhance our Summer Holiday programme for our Junior and Female players. Please watch this space for further information.
Janice Mussett Catering has made a great start in staging Funeral Wakes at the Club and will be on site to offer burgers and hot dogs at the 20 20 match v Boldon tomorrow evening June 11 – 6.00pm start. Please support Janice in her endeavours as she develops her new business as the Club Caterer.
Our ever loyal Bar Staff have been going the extra mile (literally) in providing a waiting on service and I am ever grateful for their efforts. Please be patient when the pressure is on – Covid has not made their job straightforward.
I made some effort to weed the tennis courts yesterday – it is sad how little the two remaining courts are used – we will retain them whilst we can and they are for any Members to access even for a friendly knock. We also have few rackets and balls that are available to borrow if that would get them used – please contact me as below if you are interested.
On the field we remain competitive in all our teams and the results thus far have been extremely encouraging. What I hope is the first of a number of Cup Finals takes place at the Hill on Thursday June 17th when the Under 15`s play South Northumberland in the County Cup Final. The winners progress into the National Competition which would be great for our boys – please come along to support them if you have the time.
The ground looks sensational and Geoff has been busy juggling a whole array of fixtures. Rumours that Kathryn is to become his Assistant following her recent retirement are unfounded but we are speaking to her agent re other opportunities.
Congratulations are due to Life Member Bill Watts who reached the ripe old age of 90 on May 23rd. Still golfing and still offering advice to the Chairman Bill is a wondrous example of the BHCC family.
Vice Chairman Hugh Dyson has a new hip so we can expect him to be lapping the field in a matter of days. Best wishes to the Veteran who bowled the odd over for the Club back in the day and was one of the very few for whom I was prepared to field at Short Leg. Without a helmet mad as we were.
Last but not least we send our good wishes to Roof Project Manager Barry Evans who is currently in Portugal and threatening to stay there. We contemplated another Crowd Funding Initiative to bring Barry back before Portugal was added to the amber list but it was felt this might be a bridge too far.
As ever any thoughts or suggestions please get in touch with me as below.
Roll on the summer – Carpe Diem!
Simon Lunn
Mobile 07791-683827
email: simon.lunn@live.co.uk
