Don’t get me wrong, the meeting runs smoothly, everyone who wants to contribute can and does, Officers’ reports are circulated in advance, nothing is accepted by the Chairman unless on the agenda or amending what’s on the agenda and we all treat each other and each other’s contributions with respect. There’s even an Open Forum immediately after the AGM to allow free debate on issues not raised at the AGM.

So what’s my problem?

I used to call it the bog roll syndrome when I was Trades Union representative. Call a workplace meeting to discuss whether to have soft or hard paper and everyone would have an opinion and would be desperate to share it with everyone else. Call a meeting to discuss contracts and conditions of service and there’d be a deafening silence. I have to admit this was a Civil Service Union in the 70’s and 80’s though. Hardly a hotbed of militant activism.

There is a comparison to draw though. In our Club, the Membership is willing to discuss reimbursement of drivers’ expenses till the cows come home, but not a word is said about improving our performances on the green. There’s a superfluity of comment and advice on such meaty topics as whether to have one Finals’ Day or two, but not a dickie bird on minor issues like recruitment and maintenance of membership numbers. Don’t point out those issues were not on the agenda; I know that, my very point is, the Membership does not put such issues on the agenda. Anyway, these issues were opened in the Officers’ reports, but no one had any comment to add or questions to ask.

As with the mundane matters, like taking the rubbish sacks to the tip, the Membership still believes in the magic of fairies. Who else do they think performs all these little minor miracles? Surely they don’t think it’s the Club’s Officers and Managers. Who else do they think tackles the major issues, like the very future of the Club, on their behalf? Surely not the Executive Committee. Then again, maybe they do. Maybe the Membership is happy to abdicate all responsibility for the club, its wellbeing and its future to the Executive; let someone else do the thinking and the graft. Maybe that’s why there’s a total lack of new volunteers to take on any of these responsibilities.

So, why the glum reflections on last Saturday’s AGM? I don’t know, maybe it’s my constant disappointment in the human race as a whole, maybe it’s just my disappointment in the reluctance shown by the majority of our Members to put themselves out and contribute to the success of our Club.

I’ve just got home from our Halloween Lunch and as usual our homemade soups were praised as hitting just the right spot.

Mushroom, Leek & Potato and a Spicy Parsnip Soup were on offer, all served with chunks of a variety of different breads, chopped parsley, garlic croutons and of course cream for those not watching their figures. There was more than enough for second helpings all round, indeed I rather think there was a third helping in at least one quarter, but I wouldn’t dream of publishing names.

Being Halloween, the soups were followed by a startling array of different versions of Pumpkin Pie, all homemade of course. Just in case there were those not brave enough to try Pumpkin Pie, there were also Apple, Coconut or Treacle alternatives. Needless to say all were served with cream. I still haven’t found out who licked the cream cartons out. I know I got to the one that went into the Parsnip Soup, but someone must have moved fast to beat me to the others.

Tea or Coffee rounded it all of to perfection.

Those of you who didn’t make it were the losers; we all had a great time. You’ll be mad to miss out on the next soup lunch.

Thanks go to our resident soup chefs, our bread king and all the cooks who turned out the desserts.

As part of this winter’s work on maintaining and improving our facilities, we’re investing heavily in our green. Well we are a bowling club and if we can’t continue to offer the best possible playing surface, we’re not getting our priorities right.

There’s no doubt our green was not as fast as some would have liked this last season and the cause was almost certainly the softness of the under-soil. Our magnificent green keeper, John Swift, therefore recommended removing a ton or so of plugs from the green and backfilling with a several tons of sand and soil dressing.

This of course is one of those jobs where weather conditions are critical. John and his son Danny not only had to plan the work around the weather but around the needs of other clubs having the same job done whilst the specialist equipment is on hire.

Today was our day for removing the plugs and having the dressing delivered.

Now the removal of the plugs is a one-man job, John steering the kit around the green leaving thousands of plugs where they come out. The rest of the job is decidedly labour intensive, far too much for Danny to manage alone. The plugs have to be gathered with soft scoops, a little like snow shovels and then lifted onto wheelbarrows to be taken away. Here we were very lucky, in that B&NES Parks Department was able to make use of the plugs right outside our gate, so no great distance for the barrows.

Five pallets, two hundred sacks in all, of dressing were delivered at 9.30am. At this stage we were far more concerned with getting all the plugs off the green before the forecast rain arrived. Again B&NES Parks Department came to our aid and allowed the delivery lorry to unload the pallets in their depot, on the understanding we would have it all out by the end of the week.

Our team of volunteers were so efficient with the removal of the plugs that we were able to press on with transferring the dressing to the Club. Johns Swift’s van, Bob’s van and my trailer were put to full use in the transfer and we got the whole lot done before 1.00pm.

The only reason we got so much done in so short a time was the magnificent response to my appeal for volunteer labourers and of course the efforts of John and Danny Swift.

So, I’m going to break my usual protocol on here and name the volunteers who went to with a will. I’m offering, on behalf of all the other Club Members, a very big “thank you” to John Maggs, John Nix, John Mead, Bob Harris, Alan Brown, Eric Church, Nigel Newbery, Derek Phelps and Ian Tweedie. On behalf of those just named, I’ll also offer our thanks to Mike Smart; not able to pull his weight on a barrow any more, but we really did appreciate the teas and coffees.

I might add, most of those volunteers also give their time regularly to the Monday morning Winter Work Crew, so it was two days in a row for some of us. Feel free to express your thanks to these Club stalwarts; any time, any place, most of us drink cider.

That’s it then, many hands made light work of it and the rest of the Club and all our visitors will reap the benefit for several seasons to come, we hope.

Starters:

Homemade Carrot and Corriander Soup served with a fresh crusty roll.

or

Main Course:

Roast Topside of Beef plated with Yorkshire Puddings, Horseradish Sauce and Homemade Gravy.

or

Mushroom, Creamy Cheese and Avocado Bake

Served with Roast Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables

Desserts:

Mascarpone and Lemon Curd Cheesecake

or

Black Forest Gateaux

Even the best laid plans! Yes, some eagle eyed watcher of the local social scene spotted we had a clash with Keynsham’s Victorian Evening.