Now that the festivities are well truly over and the unused Mistletoe has been collected by the delayed Kirklees bin collections, we have started the refurbishment of our new bridge club at the Oasis centre on Merton Street.

So far, the work undertaken has been to knock the stuffing out of the inside of the building to allow both the rebuilding of new bathroom facilities and to open up the playing area from the kitchen and social area.

If you happen to pass by you may therefore notice skips of rubble and partition walls being filled and removed. This is as planned and progressing as intended so need to be alarmed but please don’t go in as it is a building site at present.

Meanwhile we are also getting our act together in leaving Cambridge Road and using it as a good opportunity to have a clear out. Liz will need help deciding what needs to be moved, what is to be thrown away and what will remain left behind. Can I reassure all members that you will all be in the “moved category” whether you respond or not to several email requests from Liz that are about to land in your inbox. She will be asking for various volunteers to assist in this process and your thoughts on other things- watch this space!

Feel free to volunteer younger members of your families and social circle to help with lifting and shifting of furniture etc (but not moving members!)

I am also pleased to welcome on board Liz’ husband, Kel Greensides who has volunteered to be our “Maintenance Man” for a year to assist us with all the little but very necessary tasks around the edges of the major building works. You may see him around but please go through the committee if you think of anything that may have been missed.

We no longer own Cambridge Road so you also may see or hear that it is up for public sale. Our landlord is called Tahir, and I believe he is keeping his options open at the moment.

I plan to update you with progress on an ad hoc basis but by all means pester me if you can catch me away from a football match!

Michael