Fourteen members were invited to join the working group, here are the ones who accepted:

• Ali Buller - registered user
• Andrew Cook - system admin
• Pam Cook - registered user
• Di Greeno - registered user
• Yvonne Hayman - registered user
• Denise Schamroth - registered user
• Paul Voller - registered user

We carefully picked the invitees to make sure the group reflects the diversity of our wider membership, keeping in mind things like:

• How comfortable they are with change, especially when it comes to IT and online processes
• A mix of age groups and different lengths of membership
• Being confident enough to say when something isn’t clear
• Willingness to speak up if they disagree with anything

The working group kicked off testing in mid-November and is nearly done with their first look at how everything works and how we can tweak the system to fit our needs. They’ve put a lot of thought into how the system can support the Fixtures Secretary’s role, and in particular, how the complete summer fixtures list can be uploaded at the start of the season.

The working group has made extensive use of WhatsApp, including the 'poll' feature, to collaborate and work through their questions and issues arising. They have also communicated with the Rink Diary support team to better understand how some of the features work.

On 10th January, the group will get together in person for 2-3 hours to go over different scenarios, like:

• Prioritising or changing rink bookings
• Making provisional bookings for competitions and County fixtures
• Handling situations when members forget to cancel
• Greenkeepers needing to close a rink for maintenance

After that, the working group will decide if they want to recommend to the Management Committee that we move ahead with rolling out the system.

If we decide to go ahead, the next step will be to train our members so that they are able to register and use the system for the start of the 2026 summer season.