New Stewarding Arrangements

STEWARDING.

For those members unaware, stewarding at Milton Park is done on a voluntary basis, in order to keep all our association fees down. Over the previous three or four seasons this has saved the Association thousands of pounds. We are all part of the Milton Park Bowls Association and should appreciate those that give their time.

However, owing to several complaints your committee are considering the way Stewarding is carried. For example: There have been issues recently when members have turned up for an evening game or a roll up and the gates have been locked. This cannot be allowed to happen. Additionally, we have an obligation by way of the lease to be open until dusk.

As things stand, we have a system in place where Clubs take their turn on a daily basis. All that information is clearly shown on the club notice boards.. However not all shifts are covered, most notably:

1. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday shifts between 5 pm and 9 pm are not being covered.
2. The Saturday afternoon and evening shifts need to be covered.

3. The Sunday afternoon and evening shifts need to be covered.

Hence, we are looking for stewards on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening and in much the same way as stewarding is carried out in the daytime it should be on a rota basis so not every week will need to be the same person. Similarly, we have the Saturday and Sunday issue which needs to be resolved. Currently the mornings are covered but the afternoons and evenings not so.

How can we resolve this problem?

Hopefully members will come forward and volunteer, maybe, those who currently do not do daytime volunteering because they work.

If we do not get volunteers then we need an alternative. A ‘consideration’ will be to pay for someone’s service. This could be by way of a small expense’s settlement or in the case of a current member a reduction on their Association membership fee. If this does not work then we may be forced to employ a steward for the unfilled evenings and weekends..

We do not want to have our regular volunteers being upset about some people being paid so the best, but not satisfactory, solution is to keep the evenings and weekends separate from daily sessions.

Hopefully members will come forward as volunteers for the Monday, Tuesday Thursday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening shifts. If everyone contributes , you might only be required three or four times throughout the season.

Although no decision has been made or even considered, if we have to pay stewards it might very well be that fees will have to go up to cover these payments.

The committee have vowed to resolve this important issue and the request for volunteers/paid stewards will go on Club and the Association websites, club notice boards, and other prominent places around the club house.

In the meantime, with respect to access at any time, the committee have made the following ruling.

From now on anyone or group wanting to have a roll up, at any time, should PENCIL this into the fixture book..

Any member or team who then require those rinks for matches will take precedence. They should enter their booking in PEN and tell the roll up person their rink has been taken offering an alternative if possible. Also tell the club co-ordinator. This will enable all steward co-ordinators to know if they need to cover that session.

If it’s in the fixture book then access will be made available.

In conclusion, we must resolve these issues and any input or suggestions from members will be welcome.