NOTICEBOARD

Good Afternoon Members,

As always, I hope this email finds you and your families in good health. It has been a challenging few months, and with the end finally in sight, things are looking up for us as a Club.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting with the Officers and Committee yesterday, to discuss the logistics of our reopening, and how we will make it work successfully. I thought it would be prudent to check in with you, our Members, to let you know what has been discussed and how we plan to proceed in more detail.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have done our utmost to follow any guidance and rules imposed upon us by Government, to help keep our Members and our Staff safe. As we progress through the next stage of the pandemic, our gradual reopening, we will endeavour to do the same. Everything we have set out to achieve has been planned in line with Government guidelines, and we must not let our standards slip. We must continued to follow the rules to keep everybody safe as we begin the phased return to normal life. 

To that end, we are very excited to be opening our Club Garden on Monday 12th April, in line with Government guidelines. Like most other bars, club and pubs, we have never operated solely as an outdoor venue before, so we will do our best to make this work for you. Our opening hours from Monday 12th April will be Monday to Saturday 2pm-9pm, and Sunday 1pm-8pm. It should be noted that in the event of bad weather, the Duty Manager has the discretion to close earlier than advertised, where there is an obvious lack of demand because of the weather. However, we will always endeavour to remain open for our full, advertised hours. These hours will regularly reviewed throughout the five week period of outside opening, to ensure that supply meets demand and visa versa. 

Our garden will be equipped with 9 tables and 40 chairs, with sun umbrellas. The lighting will also be improved for those darker evenings. As the rules state that only seated table service is allowed, our maximum capacity in our Club garden will be 40 Members. Every Member must have chair. Please also be advised that from when we open our garden, we will have a strictly Members only policy. This will also be the case when we are permitted to open inside (currently scheduled for 17th May). There will be no exception to this rule. Working on such a limited capacity, our Members must come first. Once we reach our limit, the Staff unfortunately will not allow any further entry until seats become available. 

As stated, our Staff will be serving you at your tables, similar to when we were inside before lockdown. For the first couple of weeks, we will have ample Staff on duty to ensure that we are keeping up with demand, and that Members are not kept waiting. In order to speed up service times, we would politely request that where possible, you make payment by Contactless card.

The Garden gate will remain closed, and is to be used only in the event of an emergency. Members will be asked to wear a face covering, and use the secure entry door, as normal, to walk through the main bar, following the floor markings to the Garden. Once seated at your table, your face covering can be removed. In order to use the toilet facilities, or exit the Club, again, wearing your face covering, please make your way back through the building following the floor markers.

For the initial five week period of outside opening, we will not have access to TVs or music. There will be no screening of horse racing, football, rugby etc. Along with most other establishments, our Sky subscription has been paused until we reopen inside in May, so we will not have access to have them on screen inside, though it should be noted that this would be against the rules anyway. The jukebox will not be available for the period of outdoor opening. The fruit machines and lotto machine will however be in use. We ask that one person use the machines at a time, staying in the marked area to do so.

In more exciting news, we are now in a position to start making arrangements for our entertainment programme to resume towards the end of the year. We are thrilled to announce, that from September, we will have live entertainment every other Saturday evening (subject to all restrictions being removed as planned), with some fantastic acts in the pipeline, and some big acts at the end of each month. As well as this, initial plans for the Christmas and New Year period are already in progress. We are determined to make up for the lack of celebration last year, by making this year bigger and better than ever! 

Furthermore, we are excited to be able to reopen our diary for private function bookings in our Pelly Bar from July 2021. We have already had lots of enquiries regarding hall hire, and I will begin the process of contacting those people to firm up some bookings. Again, these bookings will be subject to all necessary restrictions being eased. A reminder that our function room is available to hire for Club Members only. Please see our website or contact me for further information.

Although it will be a very different experience when we reopen outside in April, we are confident that we can make it work to the best of our ability. No matter what rules and restrictions have been thrown at us in the past, we have always done our utmost to do the best that we can for you. Members expect no less. We are hoping and praying that Easter brings along a turn in the weather, and we will be able to enjoy many a day in the Club Garden, in bright and dry conditions. All being well, once we open, it will be just five short weeks until we can reopen inside once again, as we carry on with our gradual return to a much more normal Club, and a normal life.

Thank you once again for your ongoing support, and for taking the time to read this lengthy email. As always, it would be great to hear from you if you have a spare five minutes to write us a reply!

Looking forward to seeing you in just over three weeks!

Happy Easter to you and your families!

All the very best,
Dan