May 20, 2020 CLBC Update

President’s Report – Brian Ranger

We have been working hard around the club to prepare it for the future, whether we open this year or not we decided to do a lot of the work that was needed to keep our club and greens in the best shape we can.  I have been meeting every 2 weeks with the Alberta Bowls Executives and other Club Presidents from the Alberta province, we have been sharing our plans and working with the information provided by both Bowls Canada and Alberta Bowls. We now have working documents from the Alberta government and our associations to work with prior to reopening the club. As of today we received ‘official permission’ to begin the return to play stage 1 from the province from the EDTT Minister Office of Alberta today. You must follow these two guidelines: Guidance for Outdoor Recreation and then it also refers to Workplace Guidance for Business Owners. It seems our non-profit clubs fall under the same guidelines as business owners do.  The regulations we must follow were pretty much all covered by Bowls Canada’s Return to Play Protocol as well. Phase 1 is practice only, and socializing must be discouraged. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be preparing the greens and the club house for reopening. There are a lot of conditions and restrictions that we must follow before we can reopen, it will also require all members to follow strict rules.  Some of these conditions will require major changes to the way we play the game as well as how we keep ourselves and fellow bowlers safe. The next board meeting is on Tuesday May 26^th at that meeting we will be finalizing whether we can open the club and under what conditions we will need to operate. Between now and then we will need to prepare the greens for play as well as create the necessary protocols required for us to open. We will not be opening prior to June 8^th and when we do there will be an expectation that all bowlers will need to pitch in and ensure proper cleaning protocols are followed. 

What has been going on at the club?

Keith Wylie – Vice President Corporate challenge has been cancelled for this year.
Doug Woodward – Club Director Mary Anne and Doug have been doing a lot of work around the clubhouse getting it ready for opening when we are ready. Usually, our spring cleaning is done on one day with a good number of volunteers.  Due to this year’s restrictions we have been slowly and steadily getting the clubhouse cleaned.  Besides giving the clubhouse a good cleaning, a number of improvements are underway and planned, with the help of a few volunteers and contractors.  They include matters of safety (lighting, access), security (fencing and access), fixing drainage issues, and appearance (exterior paint).   
Shannon Ross-Watson – membership director has been setting up new Jitney board and working on the gardens with assistance from Gayle 
Sandy Young – Bar Director has cleaned and reset up the bar area.
Chris Underwood – Treasurer – reviewed our insurance policy and changed vendors, filed the annual reports required by the city and AGLC.  
Glen Mossman – Greens Director Ursula has been doing her spring start up routine on A and B green preparing them for when/if we start the season. (see Green D update below) 
Lyall arranged for the rotary mowers, aerator, verti-cut mowers, grader and roller were all taken to The Legions Golf Club in March for their mechanics for service and make them ready for the 2020 bowling season.  All the equipment has now been returned to the Commonwealth and are now in use.  We have one mower and the laser grade yet to be picked and returned to the club.

Green D work

The bowls committee (Glen Mossman, Brian Ranger, Lyall Adams and Ursula Poitras) have put together a plan to replace the plinth boards and fix up the D green. (Horizon grant of $25,000 has been received) Lyall provided us with a game plan that was used on various greens in the past and we started work on Monday May 11th to ensure we knew what work we were going to have to do and prevent unforeseen issues we dug up one side of the green. Imagine our surprise when we found that there were concrete pylons 5 feet deep and about 1 foot in diameter every 6 feet holding up the rotted-out plinth boards. As we continued to remove one side of the boards, we found that they were bolted to angle iron imbedded in concrete pylons. We then discovered that there was a concrete shelf below that, that must have been planned to support the plinth boards during the original install. At this point we revised our plan and will be using the existing infrastructure to replace the plinth boards. We have stripped off the sod on the greens and will be taking the sand down to the original level of the greens. Next week we will be bolting the new plinth boards to the concrete pylons and ensuring that they are level all the way around the green. After that we will be topdressing and reseeding the green and it should be ready later this summer weather permitting. It is anticipated that D green will be seeded before June 01. The green will be seeded with Special Distinction, a variety that likes little watering, little fertilizer and likes to be cut short and rolled – a greens keepers dream, Again depending on weather conditions, this type of seed germinates quickly and the supplier has indicated that it could be played on 6-8 weeks after seeding.
Depending on the success and funds available the experience gained in re-building D green will be used in the renovation of C green either later this year or next year. A section of the plinth boards needs to be replaced in the SE corner.