Have you ever seen a comedian die on stage?........not a pretty sight I can tell you.
I remember one Saturday night (we have live entertainment on Saturdays) this comedian came on stage to do his turn.
Now one thing the normally subduded Woolton Gentlefolk hate with a 'turn'.......is swearing (and Acts are warned about this before they come on)
Anyway this was his opening line.......
'I shouldn't really be here tonight, I lost the wife during the week.........
(Audience go quiet, some look down in respect)
'What a f***ing card game that was'
Now I must admit, I laughed- I still think it's funny.I then got daggers of looks for laughing-I knew what was going to happen.
The Comedian, blissfully unaware of the crime he had commited, went on to his next joke........silence........next joke.......silence........next joke........not even a polite titter.
Death.
'Alright' he said 'I don't know who's more p*ssed off. Me looking at you or you looking at me'-and stormed off the stage, never to be seen again.
Future comedians booked for Woolton Village Club-take note!!
Saturday, 16 December 2006
Happy Hour or No Happy Hour?
.....another death defying decision to make by the Committee.
As I have said previously, we are always struggling for cash and have taken some cost saving exercises this year.
One of which was abolishing the 'Happy Hour' (actually it was a happy 7 hours!)
The happy hour is a period of time during which we charge lower prices for drinks than normal to attract custom. The hours used to be between 12am and 7pm.
What actually happened was that we got about 6 people in during the afternoon and they would spend about £5.50 between them, and we have to pay bar staff-not a good idea when the club is hard up!
So we axed it!........and it has worked, financially (mainly because we are now charging full prices during the weekend when the football is on the big screens).
However members have been complaining, and our competitors-The Woolton British Legion-have responded by making their prices lower than ours during the afternoon, and I know we are losing custom to the British Legion.
We said we would review the happy hour situation after Dec 31 this year-personally I think it should remain axed, but I am just one vote on the Committee-which way will it go?......can you bear the tension?
As I have said previously, we are always struggling for cash and have taken some cost saving exercises this year.
One of which was abolishing the 'Happy Hour' (actually it was a happy 7 hours!)
The happy hour is a period of time during which we charge lower prices for drinks than normal to attract custom. The hours used to be between 12am and 7pm.
What actually happened was that we got about 6 people in during the afternoon and they would spend about £5.50 between them, and we have to pay bar staff-not a good idea when the club is hard up!
So we axed it!........and it has worked, financially (mainly because we are now charging full prices during the weekend when the football is on the big screens).
However members have been complaining, and our competitors-The Woolton British Legion-have responded by making their prices lower than ours during the afternoon, and I know we are losing custom to the British Legion.
We said we would review the happy hour situation after Dec 31 this year-personally I think it should remain axed, but I am just one vote on the Committee-which way will it go?......can you bear the tension?
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Battle of the Bowls
An issue that has arisen this year is the Bowling Green!
WVC has quite a large bowling green at the back-which looks fantastic in the Summer, when the hanging baskets are in full bloom.
You can sit around the green or on the veranda overlooking the green and enjoy a nice drink.
However the green needs to be maintained, this costs money, about £3000 per year (greenkeepers wages, fertiliser etc).
WVC are in bowling leagues and visiting teams come once or twice per week-then they go home.
That's the problem, they go home, they go directly home, they do not pass bar, and we don't collect any revenue from bar sales.In fact using the green is free, so we don't collect any revenue from bowls full stop.
Now we have 2 snooker tables and they bring in more income than the bowls- with no maintenance-you can see the problem-we need cash off the Bowling people (and there's only about 30 of them).
We got representives of the bowling committee in front of the management committee and told them the score.Obviously they weren't too happy about stumping up-so we gave them a compromise.
Bowls section to hold 2 fund raising events in our rooms (free of charge), we take £200 off each one and they keep any surplus.
The bowling section said they would put it before their committee-we await the outcome.
WVC has quite a large bowling green at the back-which looks fantastic in the Summer, when the hanging baskets are in full bloom.
You can sit around the green or on the veranda overlooking the green and enjoy a nice drink.
However the green needs to be maintained, this costs money, about £3000 per year (greenkeepers wages, fertiliser etc).
WVC are in bowling leagues and visiting teams come once or twice per week-then they go home.
That's the problem, they go home, they go directly home, they do not pass bar, and we don't collect any revenue from bar sales.In fact using the green is free, so we don't collect any revenue from bowls full stop.
Now we have 2 snooker tables and they bring in more income than the bowls- with no maintenance-you can see the problem-we need cash off the Bowling people (and there's only about 30 of them).
We got representives of the bowling committee in front of the management committee and told them the score.Obviously they weren't too happy about stumping up-so we gave them a compromise.
Bowls section to hold 2 fund raising events in our rooms (free of charge), we take £200 off each one and they keep any surplus.
The bowling section said they would put it before their committee-we await the outcome.
Bottle Bingo
The Bottle Bingo was held last night, this is always held around Christmas and we give 1 bottle of wine and one bottle of spirit (usually Scotch), to winners plus cash.
Nice to see the place full! We are desparate for bums on seats.The Bingo crowd are 80% pensioners and most of them are regulars.However I did notice a lot of non-regulars (the prospect of free booze entices them out once a year).
Incidentally what you've heard about 'Club Culture' is true.Woe betide you if you accidentally sit in a seat of a bingo regular.....and if you wrongly call a line or full house.......just get out of there.....fast!
Tonight (Wednesday) is quiz night.
Nice to see the place full! We are desparate for bums on seats.The Bingo crowd are 80% pensioners and most of them are regulars.However I did notice a lot of non-regulars (the prospect of free booze entices them out once a year).
Incidentally what you've heard about 'Club Culture' is true.Woe betide you if you accidentally sit in a seat of a bingo regular.....and if you wrongly call a line or full house.......just get out of there.....fast!
Tonight (Wednesday) is quiz night.
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Kids Christmas Party
On Saturday 10th December we held the dreaded Christmas party for member's children.
The age range is 4 to 9, this takes some organisation, I can tell you.
The kids each get one big present (and I mean big-some of the smaller ones couldn't carry the present), 2 selection boxes and some fruit.
Tickets are limited, so there is always a scramble and moans from members who weren't able to get one.
This year we had about 40 kids there, each present has to be wrapped-this year it was Gayle, Lucy and the bar staff who did the sterling work.
We needed a 'Father Christmas' to give the presents out-and no one would volunteer.
Stupidly I volunteered-the first little boy (about 4 or 5yrs)near yanked my beard off-it was bloody hot in that costume.
I'd like to thank Frieda who did a magnificent job in making the event a great success.
The age range is 4 to 9, this takes some organisation, I can tell you.
The kids each get one big present (and I mean big-some of the smaller ones couldn't carry the present), 2 selection boxes and some fruit.
Tickets are limited, so there is always a scramble and moans from members who weren't able to get one.
This year we had about 40 kids there, each present has to be wrapped-this year it was Gayle, Lucy and the bar staff who did the sterling work.
We needed a 'Father Christmas' to give the presents out-and no one would volunteer.
Stupidly I volunteered-the first little boy (about 4 or 5yrs)near yanked my beard off-it was bloody hot in that costume.
I'd like to thank Frieda who did a magnificent job in making the event a great success.
Committee
At the start of the year there were 12 members of the Mangement Committee ( I think)-but this has dwindled down to effectively 8 or 9.
Anyway the Chairman is Ken-one of those guys who are unsung heroes, the Secretary is Sharon and the Treasurer is John.
Anyway the Chairman is Ken-one of those guys who are unsung heroes, the Secretary is Sharon and the Treasurer is John.
Setting the Scene
The Woolton Village Club (WVC) is a members only social club with about 2000 members of various ages-the majority over 40!
We are situated in Woolton, a village 7 miles S.E of Liverpool (in Doomseday book as Ulverton).
Woolton is 'famous' because John Lennon lived there, he met Paul at the Woolton garden fete at St Peter's church, Strawberryfields is in Woolton , John and Paul have played at the WVC! and Eleanor Rigby's grave is in St Peter's church Woolton (see Beatles links opposite).
The WVC provides live entertainment on Saturday and Sunday nights (may be able to stream that at a later date), has a large bowling green, golf and bowling sections, 2 full size snooker tables, 2 big screens for footy etc and Bingo on Tuesdays, Thursdays and (bone of contention) Saturday evenings.
So there it is, just a quick word painting of the stage.
We are situated in Woolton, a village 7 miles S.E of Liverpool (in Doomseday book as Ulverton).
Woolton is 'famous' because John Lennon lived there, he met Paul at the Woolton garden fete at St Peter's church, Strawberryfields is in Woolton , John and Paul have played at the WVC! and Eleanor Rigby's grave is in St Peter's church Woolton (see Beatles links opposite).
The WVC provides live entertainment on Saturday and Sunday nights (may be able to stream that at a later date), has a large bowling green, golf and bowling sections, 2 full size snooker tables, 2 big screens for footy etc and Bingo on Tuesdays, Thursdays and (bone of contention) Saturday evenings.
So there it is, just a quick word painting of the stage.
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