Another mid-week one, too, early December. I hope that the choice of day will mean fewer clashes with all the other work, family and mates’ xmas events with which folk are inundated at this time of the year and allow more of us to get out at the same time with no excuses! - so it’s 4th December and the meal is booked for 8pm.

The Xmas brochure is available here (pdf), but I’ve put the highlights below for you. Ain’t I nice. It’s £20.

I’ve booked for 18 and the usual ‘rules’ apply: First come, first served; £10 deposit per seat required to secure it and required asap in any case; club members and partners (sexual, not badminton) get priority and if there are any places left I’ll open it up to ‘friends of the club’. Balance can be settled on the night - I’ll collect what’s left before the meal.

I’d like to get the final list, deposits and food choices together by Monday 24th November, so that’s the cut-off.

Starters

• roasted parsnip, honey and wholegrain mustard from hawkshead relish company soup
• port of Lancaster smoked salmon, prawn and avocado salad served with a caper & citrus dressing
• locally sourced game terrine served with homemade cranberry and orange chutney
• smoked applewood cheese and caramelised onion tart served with mixed salad leaves and balsamic drizzle

Main

• locally reared roast turkey served with apricot and thyme stuffing, pigs in blankets and a port and redcurrant gravy
• baked herb crusted portobello mushrooms topped with melted goats cheese and served with butternut squash mash and winter leaf salad
• pot roast Cumbrian fell bred beef served with a red wine jus, root vegetables, button onions & creamy mash potatoes
• baked salmon fillet from Fleetwood served with horseradish infused creamed leeks and topped with a watercress and bacon salad

Dessert

• traditional Christmas pudding served with homemade brandy sauce
• auntie em’s chocolate torte served with vanilla infused crème anglais
• almond crème brulee served with homemade shortbread biscuits
• winter spiced fruit salad served with vanilla ice cream from cool cow at new holly farm

Find it here or look in the sidebar somewhere (the agenda view is pretty good) ====>

Don’t forget you can subscribe to it through Google Calendar, too; use the button at the foot of the sidebar.

Remember, selection is continuous and changes to these line-ups will be made as the weeks go by. Nobody’s position is safe and there are opportunities for movement up as well as down and for reconfiguration of pairings, too.

The addition of one or two new faces in the club gives us much greater strength in depth in the teams this year, so I would expect the ‘C’ and the ‘B’ team in particular to be really pushing for promotion and for the ‘A’ team to be aiming to improve it’s final placing of 5th out of 10 in the second division last year, with 3rd spot being a real possibility. The strengthening in the club also gives the ‘D’ team a real opportunity to pick up some good wins and have a shot at the cup.

Good luck!

‘A’ Team

‘B’ Team

‘C’ Team

‘D’ Team

Note that the Sunday sessions are free to members, but are to be used for team selection.

That’s gonna hurt…

Matches start W/C 22nd September, so we’ve 3 weeks of Monday nights to prepare before club nights revert to 1 court 8-10. I’ve put the initial dates in the club calendar (see also this entry and the google calendar button in the side-bar) and I’ll add details of the matches once I get sight of the new handbook.

The fee structure is unchanged from last year, and can be seen in full on the welcome page.

Anyway, the date is the 13th of December, that’s a Thursday night, and the place is The Borough, in Lancaster. We booked for 16 places, and the cost will be £20 per head. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, and we will require a 10 pound deposit by the beginning of December.

The Borough does excellent food and is well regarded locally. They have an excellent website, and the Christmas menu is available from there. In addition, we will be circulating fliers with details of the evening and the menu at club night. Also, I’ve put the date in the club diary. Note that that week is cup week, but we’ve worked around all the matches so that’s all right!

Hope you can make it!

The calendar is provided by Google, so you can easily subscribe to the information or add it to your own GCal, if you wish. You can do this very easily by clicking on the ‘Google Calendar’ button available at the foot of the side-bar, or by clicking here.

Saturday 18 August

• 0700-1400, BBCi
• 1300-1410, BBC ONE

Sunday 19 August

• 0700-1400, BBCi
• 1400-1530, BBC TWO

• Club Nights re-start on the 3rd, 7pm - 10pm;
• Afternoon Selection & Match Practice - Sundays 9th and 16th September;
• Matches start W/C 24th September.

This gives us 3 whole club nights for selection and practice before the matches start again. We have also booked 2 afternoon sessions on the 9th and 16th September, purely for selection and match practice. These will take place at Salt Ayre, where we have 2 courts for 2 hours between 2.30 & 4.30.

This season, club night will be restricted to 1 court 8-10 on Monday nights at the college when matches are on.

All dates and events will be updated to the club calendar as they become known.