As many of you will know, following instructions from the Government the Parent Club closed last Friday (20^th) and will remain closed for the next few weeks.

The Friday West Surrey league and the Thursday Knaphill Triples league have been cancelled for the season. Friendlies in the early part of the season have been cancelled by a number of clubs, with some doing so until the end of May and some to the end of June. Our next Committee meeting is scheduled for the 20^th April, which is a week after the current ‘lock down’, so hopefully we will be able to make definitive decisions at that point, e.g. about opening the green for practise/informal rollups and playing of friendlies. Members should assume that the green will not be available until they have been informed.

I circulated statements from Bowls England and Bowls Surrey last week, but if you were unable to open the attachments these are available from the Bowls Surrey website: https://www.surreycountybowls.co.uk/

Bowls England has today launched its own YouTube channel as part of its commitment to inform and entertain its members. The intention is that this will provide Bowls England with a one stop shop for all its multimedia content, e.g. where you will find the ‘Extra End’ Podcast, ‘Keep Active’ videos and other audio-visual content. You can find a link for this at: https://www.bowlsengland.com/bowls-england-youtube/

For more general news from Bowls England, please visit their website: https://www.bowlsengland.com/news-items/

I have also spoken with Conor Grogan, our BDA Club Development Officer today, and he will be sending information to me in the next few days to enable the committee members to complete background work before we undertake any green based activities. As you will have seen from the minutes our revised date for our Open Day is Sunday 21^st June, so please put that date in your diary.

We are continuing to undertake essential maintenance of the green so that we can be ready for play within a few days of being given the go ahead. I know that a number of members have offered their support for this but, for the time being, to make it relatively straight forward for us to comply with government guidance, e.g. correct social distancing, Debbie and I will do the necessary work. Obviously we will be asking for help as soon as we feel this would be practical.

Finally, if any members need support/help over the coming weeks, please let Debbie or me know. Our contact details are on the website https://merrowbowls.com/club-officers/  and in your Fixture Booklet.

Kind regards

David Ewins, Secretary