News Archive 2009

January

The photographic record of the building work has been updated (28th December). Now in the gallery here.

February

The club opened successfully on Monday 16th February 2009. Here are some photographs of the interior before fitting out had been completed.

The Annual General Meeting was held on Monday 23rd February.

Letters to the Editor:

FROM A GRATEFUL BYLET MEMBER

I recently attended the AGM at our wonderful new clubhouse. There were many thanks given to the members who have given a lot of their time doing manual work, and rightly so, such as Tony Steadman, Terry Hammond, Tony Moore, Allen Jones and many more who helped out. However, there are three members of this club to whom we shall be forever indebted.

First is our Captain, Tommy McGill, with his leadership and foresight and his sheer determination that this club was going to be rebuilt. The night of the fire he called an emergency meeting at his own home and even supplied us with drinks, which is a first because he is a Scot. I remember him saying 'we will rebuild this club and it will be bigger and better than before.....and we won't let the bu***rs win'. He had not been able to put in as much time as the other two because he is in full time work, but his sheer drive and effort has really helped.

Secondly, there is the workhorse, Peter Driver. We were fortunate in that he retired last year - although he still works three days a week. He has devoted the rest of his life to rebuilding this club from 7a.m. until whenever AND NIGHTS. That is Mondays, Fridays and all weekends. He has travelled hundreds of miles looking at bricks, tiles, carpets, furniture, windows etc. etc. He has dealt with Planning Officers, Safety Officers, Building Regulation people, Councils and of course, all the contractors. His 'phone bill must be phenomenal - even at work one day he reckoned he had fifty calls!

I tell you this, if I were Prime Minister, this man would have a knighthood.

Thirdly, the quiet one, Terry Hawkins. I think he was shanghaied into this, but without his drawing ability and expertise, we would never have been able to complete this project. We had trouble with the original architect. Although he did the original outline drawings, we could not get detailed drawings from him because he was abroad all the time. Terry did all the detailed drawings for the builders and the Council and redrawing for the alterations constantly being demanded by the Planning Department and the Fire Service. He was also on site, sometimes before daylight, when Peter was at work. We must forgive him his slight extravagance with the clock tower but I must say it sets the building off beautifully.

And don't forget, every club needs a good Secretary. And Beryl Steadman has been of tremendous assistance and support. Because of her we recently were granted £10,000 by the Lottery to enable us to install the invalid chair lift.

Most clubs havee someone with an ability to organise, but we have three. Alright, there are those who would say we could have got contractors in, or even the brewery, and had this built with no problems. But I think we would have been left with a massive deficit. I for one am truly grateful to these people.

Yours sincerely,

Les Bromley

From Dave Elliott

I would just like to echo what Les Bromley has said. It has been a fantastic achievement by everyone concerned and I hope that every club member appreciates the fact as I am sure they will. As Les has said the time and effort put in by Tom McGill, Peter Driver, Terry Hawkins and the rest of the committee and other helpers mentioned at the AGM has been exceptional and I for one am extremely grateful as we now have a brilliant new club which we can be very proud of.

March

The club has been chosen to host the 2009 Ladies All-England championship finals. These will be played on Saturday July 11th.

April

A buffet and wine reception was held on Saturday 18th April to thank non-members who helped us to raise funds for the new clubhouse.

May

Sunday 10th. Scott Harries beat Kevin Brazier 21-10 in the final of the first club competition of the year - The Arthur Greatwich Cup. Losing semi-finalists were Rob Smith and (poor old) Mick Plant.

Friday May 15th was a red letter day for the club. Bylet won their first ever Shropshire Premier League away match at Newport by 3 (Andy James 21-6, Scott Harries 21-7) and both the Mid-Shropshire League division 1 and division 3 sides had good wins at home.

Sunday 24th. Scott Harries and Irene Wood beat Rich Morris and George Marsh 21-5 to win the Club Doubles.

Sunday 31st. Sam Owen beat John Baines 21-16 in the final of the Highley League 'Jim Palmer' trophy.

June

Sunday 28th. 'Poor old' Mick Plant just beat Tom McGill 21-19 in the final of the Captain's Day handicap.

July

Saturday 11th. Bylet hosted a very successful Ladies All-England championship. This has prompted the following Message from the Club Captain:

Congratulations and grateful thanks to all those club members, both Committee and Non Committee who did so much to make the hosting of the Ladies All England Championships such a resounding sucess. It was a fantastic turnout which shared out the burden of the various tasks. The weather was kind to us except for a short time near the end and comments from our many visitors were very complimentary. I am extremely proud and humbled to be Captain of our fine Club.

Sunday 12th. The new clubhouse was been officially opened by BBC presenter Adrian Chiles. Other guests included the Mayor and Mayoress of Bridgnorth and Baggies favourites 'Super Bob' Taylor and Tony 'Bomber' Brown. Over 150 members and friends enjoyed an excellent buffet, pro-celebrity bowling, five 'nearest the frog' competitions and a hilarious comedy sketch 'I Dow Like It!' performed by the Fizzog Theatre Company. A raffle raised over £200 for club funds and the signed Wolves football was auctioned for £55. Thanks to all members who donated prizes.

Letters to the Editor

7th July 2009

Dear Members

What a wonderful day we had on Sunday with our official Opening of the Clubhouse. I wonder sometimes if we as members, know how lucky we are.

Firstly, there was Adrian Chiles who gave his time for free, and what a nice guy he was. A lot of liaising went on by our club Captain Tommy, arranging this.

Secondly, with the amount of people attending we needed extra cover. Two marquees were supplied and erected by Brian Theobald - again for free.

Thirdly, there was a mammoth feast presented to us. Peter and Kath Driver gave their time for free as usual purchasing the ingredients. Although the food doesn't appear on the table on it's own. Several of our lady members gave up their Sunday morning preparing the feast. These were Kath Driver, Beryl Steadman, Audrey Field, Fiona Hammond, Irene Wood and Ann Parton. And then they spent the late afternoon washing up and clearing away. The fantastic confectionery was provided by Margaret Baker, Ann Parton, Simon Rhodes and Irene Wood. The flower arrangement in the ladies was provided by Ann Parton. The lovely sweetpeas were provided by Margaret Baker (thanks to her Mum) - and we had all this for free.

Fourthly, the furniture had to be arranged and this was done by Peter Driver and whatever volunteers he found.

Fifthly, and not least, there were the four professional ladies (including Terry Hawkins' daughter) named the "Fizzogs" with their Black Country humour. It's a shame the tennis clashed and those who missed their sketch missed a treat. I haven't laughed so much in years. And they did it for free. Anybody interested in seeing them, will find their poster on our club notice board.

And finally, what a refreshing sight to see two young lads, Matt Ealey and Jonathan Garbett, volunteering to collect and put away the chairs from around the greens.

I for one am extremely honoured to be a member of such a wonderful club.

Thankfully,

Les Bromley

6th July 2009

Thanks to Tom

After a brilliant day yesterday when the clubhouse was officially opened by Adrian Chiles it is now time to say our many ‘thanks’ to our little band of helpers who continually give their time and energy to these events.

I am sure our club captain Tom McGill will very shortly attend to this matter (he did forget on Sunday and we have threatened to resign!).

My reason for this letter is to turn the tables and extend our thanks to Tom. He has, over quite a number weeks, worked (and worried) tremendously hard to secure the attendance of our celebrities. However, despite all our many concerns the day went extremely well, followed by an equally successful evening. Tom was once again instrumental in organising the evening’s entertainment (Terry Hawkins, Alan Cleverley and Bob Taylor also gave us a song and Greg Wale did something resembling dancing!).

Back to my reason for this letter; I am sure I speak for all our members when I say ‘Well done Tom’ it was a brilliant day and thanks for all your hard work, it was so good we didn’t even mind listening once again to ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’.

Beryl Steadman

August

Sunday 9th. John Palmer bowled well with one wood to beat Tom McGill 21-17 in the final of the President's Day handicap.

Sunday 23rd Barbara Eddowes beat Georgina Marsh 21-14 in the final of the Ladies Day competition.