(...but without all the swearing, for those of you who followed the TV series of this title!)
So we're pretty much ready for the Council Meeting on Sunday 17th July now. We've received postal votes from all those Members I was expecting to vote by email rather than in person, and we have 25 delegates registered to attend in person.
All last week I was playing in the British Opens at Surbiton, which gave me a chance to check out the facilities we'll be using for the Council Meeting. I have to say, Surbiton has done wonders. I think I last played there a bit over 20 years ago, when the lawns were quite ordinary and the club hut almost finished. Now the 7 lawns are some of the flatest I've played on (lovely being able to approach close to a hoop without having to worry about your ball falling to one side at the last minute) - George Noble and team are to be congratulated. The rest of the club's facilities are also now very good indeed, and there is a great team spirit amongst the many helpers who look after the bar, catering, BBQ, clearing and setting out the lawns and all the rest of it. Well done Surbiton! And to Samir for great management of the Opens.
So, the Council Meeting is there on the 17th at 1pm - preceded by a Management Committee meeting (the only time we ever get to meet face to face!) and lunch for all Council members.
Between now and then, I'm off to Hunstanton for much of next week, as the Under 21 GC World Championship starts there on Tuesday. Monday afternoon, I'm helping to set up the safety fencing and flags, and looking after a practice session and player registration. Ian Burridge is the Tournament Manager and Charles Jones the Tournament Ref - so a high input from the MC on this one!
Straight after the Council meeting, things start revving up for the main GC Worlds, which run from 18th to 24th July. Stephen Mulliner is the MC lead on this one (thanks Stephen), so I'm just going to drop in once or twice during the week. And anyway, I've got a graduation to go to in Swansea at the end of the week.
Hopefully, after that week, things will calm down. Then there is all the follow-up to do from Council (writing minutes, circulating any further papers, identifying all the follow-up actions....) and then the large heap of topics we've put to one side to look at after Council is done. A couple of these will be urgent - especially tryng to move the bids for the first GC World Team Championship forward. We want to stage the event in about 15 months time, and have a lot to do to be ready for then.
Next blog will probably be after the Council meeting, giving my first-time impressions of this annual fest.
Martin French
