A massive thanks to all of you who attended our opening day for 2008, the turn out was truly spectacular and I hope you all enjoyed your day. I am really looking forward to my presidential year but realise I will have to spend a little more time on my speeches as a few of you have indicated to me that they are a bit on the short side!! As I said on Opening Day, without the many people behind the scenes (male and female) who worked so hard to make the day successful, thank you very much and also to all of those who brought along a raffle prize. Please take a note to hand in a raffle prize to any member of the committee for our forthcoming Highland Games Day (notices on board in Clubhouse).
•A special thanks to Hamish and John who have been the main men for many years at Gourock Park and hopefully for many more years to come.
•Thanks to Margaret for throwing the first bowl and although she did very well and enjoyed her day, I doubt if that will persuade her to take the game up permanently, but we will keep working on her!
•Thanks to the ladies who served up a smashing spread of sausage rolls, sandwiches and of course our “famous” home baking goodies and to the men behind the bar who kept us well oiled.
•I wish my Vice President John Kane a happy and enjoyable season and thank him for looking after our invited guests on Opening Day.
•A big thank you to Gary our webmaster whose site gets better and better every season. Gary never ceases to amaze me with his enthusiasm and coverage of events on that truly fantastic website of ours www.gourockpark.co.uk.
•My sincere thanks to the following 2 people, young Jordan for coming along and piping me and our guests onto the Green and also the remarkable George Brydon for taking all our photographs and entertaining us as only George can.
•We have a very strong youth section at Gourock Park and a big thanks goes to Andy Kearns and all his helpers who make this possible.
•The Management Committee headed by our very own honorary president Mr John McCartney do a great job for the benefit of the club.
•Thanks to Bruno for the wonderful condition of our Greens throughout the season. Ronnie Mc Connachie, president of Port Glasgow Bowling Club indicated on Opening Day Gourock Park was at the top of his “wish to play on “ Greens when major competitions come along. Ian also does a power of work not just on the Greens but in general for the benefit of the club season after season.
•It was also great to see Mr David Rollo at our Opening Day, 5 times club champion and in my opinion the best player Gourock Park has ever produced.
The Wapinschaw will be starting probably mid-May (Monday nights) which we will run a league with the top 3 places achieving prizes. With the help of the effervescent Carol McMonagle who has kindly agreed to keep the league tables up to date and our 2 little elves Louise and Stacey, we hope to really make the Monday night Wapinschaws a great success. We can’t do this without your attendance, however, so please watch the notice board for the first night and please come along.
Finally, all the best to Lady President Maureen and Vice President Cathy and hope the Ladies section excel in the forthcoming season.
Happy and healthy bowling 2008.
Robert Grant
President Gourock Park Bowling Club
