S.I.B.C Newsletter winter 25/26
Goodbye Summer, Hello Winter!!
Kicking off the new season with a bang!!
Friday October 3rd from 18:30pm
Something a bit different this year, Swale Indoor Bowls is celebrating its 25th year.
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You are all invited along for a glass on us, to celebrate the last 25 years of Swale Indoor Bowls, a night of memories & music with Mike Harris and plus a chance to renew your membership.
John Spann has written a very interesting article for the Net about our club’s origins, which is certainly worth a read so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Winter Leagues will start on Monday October 6th and run until Saturday 12th April 2026. All registration forms must be handed in and paid for by September 20th.
Competition finals week starts Monday 13th April 2026.
Membership Subscriptions and Fees
Fortunately, we have not needed to increase subscriptions this year.
From the 1st October our subscription for full membership remains at £100.00 (new members must pay a £10 admin fee) Social membership is still £30.00 and junior membership stays at £15.00 for the year.
Subscriptions need to be paid in the correct budgetary year, payments of Cash or Card/Bacs only, will be accepted between 1st and 14th of October 2025
No Cheques. Thank you.
Please make payment before 14th October, if payment is not made, we will conclude that you no longer wish to remain a member of S.I.B.C unless otherwise discussed with Management
If you decide to leave S.I.B.C please inform the Centre Manager so that our membership records can be updated.
Key fobs and locker keys must be returned.
We will be sorry to see you go but if you’re leaving due to problems you’ve experienced at the club, rather than for personal circumstances, please speak to one of the directors.
Fees as of September/October 2025
Our rink fees will remain £2.50 for a Roll-up, £5.00 per person for our regular 2½ hour sessions (league games and casual bookings.)
Meal matches will be £15.00 and Tea and Biscuit matches will cost £7.50.
Social dates
We are always looking for people to help and come up with new ideas for the social side of S.I.B.C. The Marketing Group, have offered to organise some social activities so if you can help them, please speak to Adrian Skinner, Val Hughes, Dave Kingston or Justin ten Hove.
Please try to support any social activities as these nights are arranged for you and take a lot of work, so come along and join in the fun.
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Board Business
The Board handles the running of the club, finance, repairs and policy matters.
The board welcome Adrian Skinner as our Marketing Director, if you have any ideas to boost the numbers or advertise the club please speak to Adrian. We have sadly said goodbye to Robin Ingram who has stepped down so we will be looking for a new board member at the AGM in April.
The board is having to prioritise the work that needs to be carried out and an obvious priority is the green, so please nurture it. There have been several incidents regarding eating food on it recently, which is unacceptable.
After much deliberation it has been decided that anyone eating on the rink will be fined £5.00, this must be paid before you next play or you will not be allowed on the rink. Our carpet is our club; without it there would be no Swale Indoor Bowls club. Please shake yourself off before going down to the green if you’ve been eating.
The board decided to investigate the cost of solar panels and investigated available grants. This work has been taken up by Brenda Fathers, who can squeeze money from a stone, and her team. They are helped by a Funding for All mentor. We are in the position of needing to raise £12 000 to make us eligible for grants or funding initiatives. £6 000 has been given by the company supplying the panels and £6 000 will hopefully be raised from donations. If everyone donates a minimum of £25, as John Spann reports our founding members did, we should make the target.
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Charity Work
As a club last year we raised £600 for Macmillan and would like to thank all who contributed
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General Playing Committee (GPC)
The GPC manages all bowling activities, including drives, leagues, competitions, fixtures and selection. The 100 Up club and Scroungers continue to be successful. Boston League is being introduced as it was successful when we played it before. For details speak to Ian Hopkins. An inhouse game had been organised for 28th September to celebrate 25th anniversary.
You may be interested to know that KITL are introducing two new leagues for this forthcoming season. There’s the 4, 3, 2 league for the ladies and a Top Club league.
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Please put your names down for any of the KITL leagues, whether the men's, ladies or mixed leagues.
Speaking of KITL leagues, special mention must go to the Ladies KITL League who were runners up in this inaugural year; well done! It was a close-run thing and they only lost out by four points to arch-rivals Prince Arthur.
The GPC is here to help club members with all aspects of bowling and should you have any enquires or concerns please contact any committee member.
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Junior Bowls
Meryll Drapper will be continuing to coach juniors. There is always room for people to help her and encourage the younger bowlers. In the winter season, junior sessions are on Friday from 4:30 pm.
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Volunteers
We have had a great response from members this year helping out and long may it continue! To you all, from Stewards, to Lockups & our very own handyman Alan Taylor. Thank you!
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A note from your Centre Manager
As you may know I am moving on to pastures new. We are in the process of finding my replacement, in the meantime please see the wonderful Val who will be happy to help. I’m sure you will all agree with me that Val has made a significant impact at the club and I would like to say a big Thank You to her and wish her all the best continuing in her position at the club.
Should you need anything please contact Val on 01795 42122 or enquiries@swaleindoorbowlsclub.co.uk