The Ashby Croquet Club committee met on Tuesday 17 March and discussed the current situation with Covid-19.
The committee noted the following:
- this is a fast-moving situation and all club members should look out for each other in this difficult time;
- Moira Miners’ Welfare Sports & Social Club will not be open for the foreseeable future but there is no plan to prevent access to the car park for bona fide key holders;
- the Marlborough Rovers and Moira Car Boot Sale will not be operating until further notice;
- the CA has formed a task force to monitor the situation and interpret Government advice in the context of croquet;
- the CA website includes up-to-date information on the output from the task force.
The committee agreed the following:
- the club courts remain closed for winter maintenance until 29 March at the earliest and club members will receive an e-mail message to confirm when the groundsman is happy for the courts to open;
- Ashby Croquet Club will run NO competitive croquet (including the Coors & Bass Shield), NO club croquet (including Sunday afternoon, Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning and Thursday evening), NO coaching (including taster sessions) and NO social gatherings until at least the end of May 2020;
- the club will remain accessible to all bona fide key holders but they should note that, at all times, its members should follow Government guidance on social distancing;
- the club Radar key will not be available and club members are not to use the disabled loo attached to the Sports & Social Club;
- members will be able to use the male and female loos for which the club holds keys;
- club members are not to bring members of the public to use any of the club facilities until further notice (in particular, the club’s Public Liability Insurance will potentially not be effective at this time);
- to attempt to provide hand sanitiser for use by members when they are at the club but members should bring their own supply of sanitiser and soap to be sure that these are available for personal use;
- the club will stop organising any form of communal catering for the foreseeable future (members are responsible for bringing any food or drink they wish to consume if they go to the club);
- to appoint Tim King, Arthur Rowe and Mick Haytack as a steering group to monitor the situation and to advise the rest of the committee and wider club membership if any change in approach is necessary.
Before the courts open for the start of the season, we will confirm how we are going to control numbers at the club so as to allow everyone to practice appropriate social distancing.
The committee is next due to meet on 5 May but will change this plan if circumstances so require.
In brighter news, the committee was extremely grateful for the hard work in the past two weeks put in by working parties and, in particular, by Julie Boulton’s husband, Rob, who made sterling efforts to trim the hedges for us.