The Rebuilt Clubhouse

The Rebuilt Clubhouse
The Club Members Rallied Round To Rebuild The Clubhouse After A Fire

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Dropshots Goes Online

This is the blog of Shrewsbury Lawn Tennis Club. The Chairman Sue Dale threw it open to members to get blogging going on behalf of the club, as the committee don't have enough time. So as a longstanding member, I am taking up the challenge.

On here issues can be publicly aired, long before there is a need to call members to a meeting, and have decisions put to a vote. All teams can be fairly represented, and there can be enough sets played to be sure we have the right winner at the end of any match.

If anyone wants to post an article email it to the address in the profile, and as long as it is not 'rude' or unacceptable for other reasons, I will pop it on here.

The blog address dropshots was not available, as already in use, so I adjusted the URL to www.dropvolleys.blogspot.com, which won't be hard to remember.

I don't have access to the club's email address list, so if you want to subscribe to dropshots, do so now. As I am overseas for two more months, the blog could have a slow start, but who knows? The internet is instant globally.

My point which I made at the AGM still stands. It is not possible to email Shrewsbury Lawn tennis Club via its website as the email address doesn't work. There seems to be an unwillingness to receive communication on the part of the club, directly. Having a blog will provide a parallel pathway for people who have a point to make, and which would benefit the club by having it aired.

We all love playing tennis, and have the best grass courts available for miles in all directions. Yet we lack an up to date communication method for all members to partake in discussions about the club's future. The committee has got itself into a bit of a panic, and is worrying about the longterm future of the club, when really there are present day measures which could easily sort the situation out. Membership is growing at about ten percent per annum. That rate of growth would over three years would rectify the financial situation.

There could be many other ideas for sorting out the monetary aspects. It's a great club, and part of the reason is that the groundsman Dave Davies has been around for twenty years, and is very well liked. It seems a great shame that the committee has sent him packing and replaced him with a contractor who is promising the earth, as they do, and will not be providing an all round service like Dave was providing.

The grass has had a bad year, which grass does in times on very low rainfall. My own lawn is terrible this year, and needs a job doing on the moss. It has been the driest summer on record for a hundred years. We need to keep calm, and get the situation under control without destroying what we have. As they say, the people make a place, and we are in danger of rubbing out the best that we have.

The committee is getting all excited about joining up with charity registration programmes, and complying with LTA rule initiatives. The job is to realise that we are, first and foremost, a club of human beings, not a lawyers' association. The Nazi party is looking well set for a complete takeover if we are not careful. The lessons of recent timers are, number one, 'don't trust government initiatives'. There's always a big corporation on the take hiding behind them. Then comes 'Don't worry about the weather. Keep loyal to your mates. Get the lawyers out of it, and trust in the good people you have.' Things, in my opinion, are going all the wrong way.

What do you think?

Posted by henry curteis