See the table in the lounge for your personal registration form and blank team registration forms. Remember, to keep your spot(s) for next season, we need to receive your registration form and fees ($150 at least) and any team registration forms required for the evening fixed leagues that you wish to play in. Beginning in May, we will start filling in the gaps with new members and teams.

 

Here is a bit of news about the membership fees and registration process for next season.

 

Let's talk fees first. This year will see a fee increase that is more than what you have seen lately. In the past few years there have seen basic "cost of living" increases. This year, however, has an additional $15 per adult curler is included within the $415.00 total. You will probably recall the big renovation plans that we had a few years back or the recent kitchen renovation plans. In the fall 2011 the board requested an analysis of the major capital expenses expected over the next several years to compliment the ideas behind the renovation plans. Basically, the board now has an idea of what major expenses we have coming up from a "keep the club intact and functioning" point of view and an idea of the improvements that we would like to see. With that in mind the Board has started looking at how to best budget for those maintenance and upgrade costs. That $15 per player is part of the savings plan for the upcoming capital expenses and the long-term financial health of the club.

 

I don't believe that that fee increase will raise our fees significantly above other similar clubs in the area. Our fees will still be competitive.

 

The other big change for Daytime curlers is that we will now require everyone (except social and youth) to register in the spring as has been the requirement for evening curlers over the past few years. The main purpose of spring registration is to identify which curlers are planning to return in the fall and where the openings will be in each of the divisions. By identifying the gaps in the spring, we can try to target some kind of advertising or promotions throughout the summer and early fall that specifically target the groups that need players. Of course, as we have done with the evening players registering in the spring, we would also expect the returning daytime players to pay a portion of their fees when they register before the Spring Registration deadline of April 30th. Ideally, you would provide a post-dated cheque for the balance of your annual fees AT THE SAME TIME. Using that post-dated cheque in the spring would have an enormous benefit by moving a big piece of the office workload to the summer instead of the fall when the manager is busy trying to get the club up and running.

 

An additional change to the fall administration schedule is that the registration and full fee payment deadline is being shifted to September 15th from September 30th. An earlier fall deadline plus spring registration will be most helpful for fall start-up efficiency and organization. The club has had a policy for a while now that says you cannot play until your fees are fully paid. The movement of the fee payment deadline will allow us more time to process those final payments and provide the league conveners with more accurate lists of who is eligible to play. So, beginning this the fall, expect more stringent enforcement of the fee payment deadline.

 

Weekend Leagues and schedules are changing!

The selection of adult leagues playing on the weekend and their draw times are being updated. Watch for a new Sunday evening league. All of the reps for the affected leagues are involved in working out a new schedule to try to meet the needs of our members. The rescheduling is not yet complete. We expect to post the revised schedules for Friday, Saturday & Sunday by Monday March 26^th.

 

The result of all of these changes will be a healthy, full club that will be here for our enjoyment for a long time to come.

 

tks

Brian Gatenby

Granite Membership Director