President’s Update

 

I commence this update by firstly wishing every pennant player an enjoyable and successful season playing for Sorrento. It’s an honour to wear the club colours and I trust everyone does that with pride and pleasure. It is often said, correctly, that the role of a selector is a very challenging and time consuming one. My thanks go to Jan Cook and her team, alongside Peter Crow and his team as, week by week, they seek to choose the best combinations to represent the club. They work within clear guidelines which are published on our website for all to see.

I would also like to thank our hard-working vice-presidents; Glenn McCarthy and Trevor Orton, for their efforts so far this season. Trevor has also recruited Shona Carter and Wendy Saul to “office-sit” to allow the club to be manned every day for member roll-ups, Probus, Mahjong and other groups to use the club’s facilities.But the club is still in need of a treasurer. This need is urgent, so if there is any member, of any membership category, who has the desire and accounting skills to fulfil this critical position, please contact me. The commitment would be in the order of 2-4 hours per week.

Let me bring you up to date regarding the synthetic green project. The present GC remains very thankful for all the good work the previous GC did in obtaining the State Government grant amounting to one third of the total project cost. At that time our E green was considered the only option for the new green under the “participation clause”. I’m pleased to say that after much thought and discussion your current GC concluded that A green would be a better option for a synthetic rather than E green. Thankfully, the City of Joondalup delegates were open to our suggestions and could see the reasons for the changes we proposed. Our Green Keeper, Allan McFayden, also brought compelling and practical reasons supporting the change. SBC reps met again with Council on Thursday 6th October to discuss issues surrounding irrigation, site access for heavy machinery, boundary walls, artificial turf surrounds and temporary fencing during construction. Council reps were very positive at this meeting and reiterated that Council is committed for this project to go ahead and indicated that they will provide an interim scope of works in a weeks’ time. Nicholas Jury from Council again visited the club on Friday 7th October to observe the greens watering system and surrounds reticulation. Surveyors were onsite on Monday 10th October to locate and identify watering valves and pipes and any other underground systems, hence you will notice the markings painted on the ground in numerous locations.

Keith Armstrong from Council indicated on the 6th October that actual construction of the green will not commence this year as the contractor has quite a number of jobs already booked in prior to ours, however a number of preparatory works may take place from now. We anticipate the many benefits for having A green as our synthetic: reduced maintenance costs, Friday night pennant games, evening club events with an acceptable green speed, social bowls in the evening with proximity to the club house. Having a synthetic green will also enhance our chances of pennant success for obvious reasons.

Financing the project is the issue we face. I remind you that donations would be most welcome. At the time of this report, we have received pledges amounting to $23,000. The option for paying membership fees four years in advance, as mentioned in a previous update, is one I would like you to consider. Many thanks to those who have already paid their fees this way. The above mentioned pledges and the prepayment of fees is encouraging, and I would urge our members, if possible, to seriously consider  supporting our club in these ways.

Your GC is working diligently to ensure the “health” of the club now, and into the future. We thank you for your support as we seek to offer leadership.
Barry Bradshaw
President