Downham and Clackclose Conservative Club
Newsletter No1 2024
Membership:
Thank you, everybody who has renewed their membership. We are now approaching 600 members. Good news, we have had 71 new members who have joined us since January. Welcome to you. Just a reminder that the cut off date was the end of January, after which key fobs and cards will not work. We hope that this will be a bumper year for membership.
At the moment the club is thriving. All of our Christmas and New Year activities were over subscribed. The committee wishes to put on record its thanks to Marion and all her staff for their hard work not just over this period but throughout the year.
In reviewing 2023, this certainly was a busy year for the club. In 2022, we had a building and electrical survey undertaken. This highlighted a number of significant safety issues which needed to be addressed urgently. As a club we have a corporate responsibility to our members to ensure we meet health and safety regulations.
We also felt that if we were going to attract people back, we needed to ensure the building was an inviting place to come. Last year we undertook a considerable amount of building work.
Refurbishment:
The club is now watertight. We have repaired the roof. We have also repaired the chimney. As it is a listed building, it took us sometime because we needed to get planning permission. We have decorated throughout. We undertaken a significant amount of electrical work. We have refurbished all the furniture with the exception of the snooker room. We replaced all the doors with fire doors where it was necessary. We have replaced considerable amount of kitchen equipment. We have changed all the curtains throughout the club.
We’ve looked at the future and set the upstairs flat up for letting. It now has tenants. This will bring us in approximately £9000 per annum We needed to isolate the electrics and the gas. In the long-term this will save this considerable money and be a source of income for the club. We needed to change a considerable amount of flooring to make the club safe. We have had the carpets industrially cleaned. We have put new windows in the front of the building. We have repaired the sash windows in the flat. We have decorated externally. The problem with old buildings is that you don’t know what’s going to go wrong next. We thought we’ve got it all done and then someone noticed the dividing wall between ourselves and Morrisons collapsing. It turned out to be our wall. Fortunately, Steve Cobbin and Chris Thorpe came to the rescue and did much to of the work.
Committee:
This has been the way for many of the things we have done this year, with the Committee being hands on. The Committee has been to the fore either doing the work or setting up working parties. We are lucky to have such a proactive group of people. Undoubtedly their voluntary efforts have saved us considerable amounts of money. Many of the activities have been arranged by them. We need to thank them too for organising the events at the club. It has been a real team effort led by our Entertainment Secretary Lyn Thorpe. Attached below are the events organised for this year. More are planned and will be announced soon. Jayne Webb is her accomplice. David Wilkinson continues to offer his expertise and assistance. They have been aided and abetted in this by Ken Castle who has organised cribbage plus representing as the bowling clubs; Chairman Chris Thorpe and Vice Chair Ann Buckley have given freely of their time and expertise in dealing with the numerous issues which have arisen. Pat Lynskey has acted as membership secretary. Along with our office staff Brenda and Val, we record our thanks to all.
Finance:
The auditors are preparing the finance reports for the AGM. We know that last year we overspent by £49000. This is because of the refurbishment of the building. We actually took this from our savings. We see this as an investment in the future. We look at the income we will derive from the flat and the savings we will make in energy and rates. This will enable us to recoup this money in four years. We also benefitted by a gift from Green King of £7500 which we put towards the refurbishment costs. We believe that the changes we have made will stand us in good stead for the future. We believe the provisions we are putting in place mean the club can break even.
Catering:
Our area of concern is catering. We have tried three times to franchise the catering. This has not worked. We decided we needed to offer this service to members and ‘in house” was the only way. This is something we want to develop. Our vision for the catering is that we offer cafe service at lunchtimes and good quality restaurant food in the evenings. We need to recognise our members are our customers and cater for them.
We need a basic menu with attractive specials. Theme nights or weeks. Marion has built up good numbers for Sunday lunch and we need extend our service on other nights.
We introduced a new menu on 1st February. (See below) This will be posted on the website and on the noticeboard at the club. We have tried a number of specials over the last few weeks. Our aim is to offer better quality food in the evenings. This will mean the cost will be higher than normal, but we believe our members want something more than “frying pan” food.
Upcoming Events:
10th Feb 24: Ann-Marie
St. Valentine’s Day Special (TBC)
18th Feb 24: Pops
25th Feb 24: Karaoke
9th Mar 24: Move It
30th Mar 24: KJ & The Catt
31st March 24: Karaoke
Quiz Last Friday of the month.
Bingo evert Tuesday night. Eyes Down 7.30pm
Next Committee meetings:
Main committee meeting 12th February 7:30pm
Finance committee meeting 22nd February 7:30pm.
AGM 27th March 7.30pm
Revised Kitchen Opening Hours
Monday LIGHT LUNCHES
10am – 2Pm
Tuesday LIGHT LUNCHES
10am – 2pm
Wednesday CLOSED
Thursday LIGHT LUNCHES
10am- 2pm
EVENING MEALS
5pm – 8pm
Friday & Saturdays BREAKFAST 10am – 12pm
LUNCH 12pm – 2pm
EVENING MEALS 5pm- 8.30 pm
Sunday Carvery 12 – 2pm
MENU February 2024
200g HAND MADE BRISKET BURGER
WITH SMOKED SBACON, BLUE CHEESE SAUCE TOMATO, LETTUCE, HOME -MADE COLESLAW AND CHIPS £14.95
GRILLED CHICKEN BURGER
GRILLED BUTTERFLY CHICKEN BURGER WITH BACON, TOMATOES, LETTUCE HOMEMADE COLESLAW , GARLIC MAYO AND CHIPS £15.95
RIBEYE STEAK
SERVED WITH HOMEMADE ONION RINGS, GRILLED TOMATOES, MUSHROOMS, CHIPS AND PEAS £18.99
MACN CHEESE
£9.95
MACARONI PASTA BAKED IN CHEDDAR CHEESE SERVED WITH HOME-TOASTED GARLIC BREAD £9.95
ADD BACON OR CHICKEN €3.00 EXTRA
COTTAGE PIE WITH SEASONAL VEG £12.95
CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA
WITH POPPADOM, NAAN BREAD AND MANGO CHUTNEY £13.95
HOME MADE LASAGNE
WITH GARLIC BREAD OR CHIPS £13.95
SALMON
WITH CHUMP MASH, HOME-MADE LEMON & CAPER SAUCE AND SEASONAL VEG £13.95
LOADED FRIES WITH CHILLI – BACON £8•99
OR CHEESE £5..99
cheese – Bacon £7.95
SANDWICHES ALSO AVAILABLE
DESSERTS
HOME MADE CHOCOLATE MOUSE
CHEESECAKE
APPLE CRUMBLE
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING
KNICKERBLOCKER GLORY
ALL DESSERTS £6.95 EACH
SEE SPECIALS BOARD FOR DAILY ADDITIONAL MENU
PLEASE INFORM US OF ANY ALLERGIES