Report from your House Committee - November 2011

House Report- November 2011

This is the first of what will be regular House Reports.

House is responsible for the operation, maintenance and development of the club’s buildings and their environs. This is mainly the clubhouse/locker block and the immediate surroundings. I am the House Chairman and I am supported by a small team of enthusiastic members, namely Sophia Casey (Lady Captain Elect), Howard Johnston, Gareth Moore and Jagdish Ranshi. We are still short of up to two people and if anybody is interested in helping with the work please contact myself. (Tel No -01619282512).

During the difficult financial years of 2006-2008, expenditure was severely restricted and consequently a lot of house maintenance was put on the back burner. Since 2010 more money has become available to catch up with scheduled maintenance. The following is a list of the work carried out over the last 12 months and the plans for the future

1) Buildings
During the last year we have:
a) Refurbished the main office.
b) Redecorated the Comps Room.
c) Redecorated the middle hall.
d) Refurbished the kitchen of the flat.
e) Repainted the external of the Locker Rooms.
f) Painted the end wall of the Locker Room (to preserve the brickwork).
g) Increased the loft insulation to 270mm and filled the cavities of our two houses.
h) Redecorated one bedroom in the flat.
i) We have just started to redecorate the dining room which includes replacing the floor covering.
j) The gent’s toilet in the clubhouse will be redecorated before Christmas.
k) In January the entrance hall, stairs and landing will be redecorated.

The main thrust from now until the centenary will be to complete the refurbishment/redecoration of the two main rooms in the clubhouse, carry out energy conservation projects and install the Solar Power System.

A minor scheme is to increase the capacity for electric trolley storage which is planned for the spring of 2012.

2) Clubhouse Environs
A small team including Jerry Cutler, John Lowis and Peter Mc Bride has been working diligently to improve the gardens and surrounds of the clubhouse. Our main focus over the next 12 months is:
a) To further improve the garden on the clubhouse side of the locker block by removing one tree and a few shrubs and re-stocking with a balanced blend of shrubs and perennials.
b) To completely overhaul the triangle of land between the clubhouse putting green and the back road. This currently resembles a wilderness. It will be converted to a grassed area as far as possible so that it can be maintained easily. This will considerably improve the appearance. During this operation a number of poor quality trees will be removed but will be replaced by an equal number of quality trees. The removal of the trees is necessary to allow the re-planting scheme but also to accommodate the installation of new cables. A new main feed cable is to be installed coming from Golf Road and we are making provision for the installation of powered barrier gates as part of the re-located entrance scheme. This will require power and control cables to be routed from the locker block.

In addition to the development work another group of members help to maintain the existing gardens including Elizabeth Shaw, Cherry Christie, Sophia Casey and Dorothy Anderson.

This year the hanging baskets on the clubhouse wall have been magnificent which is due to an automatic watering system provided and installed by Peter Broadbent and regular feeding and pruning by John Lowis. I thank all these helpers who make the effort to go the extra mile for the golf club.

The surface of the main car park is deteriorating and will require replacement in the not too distant future. Also the existing car park has two design faults. One is the lack of proper drainage and other is the lack of a solid edge. This has allowed the surface to spread and unwelcome vegetation to grow. Also the white lines are barely visible. When we do re-surface the car park we should make the car parking spaces slightly wider as per the high level car park in Altrincham. It would have been ideal to do this work in conjunction with the re-located entrance in 2012 but sadly the funding will not be available before the Centenary.

Turning to other matters I am pleased to report that Howard Johnston (no doubt assisted by Christine) has volunteered to become the Social Chairman for 2012 and to take us through the Centenary celebrations. Carol Broadbent is the current Chairman and is doing a great job but next year she is having a well earned rest. Howard has been the Social Chairman previously but took a sabbatical to try to find more Chic Murray jokes. If you have not been to one of our social events perhaps you should try. They are usually a combination of brilliant entertainment, great food and all at a ridiculously low price!

House Chairman
Derek Chadwick