Dear All
I hope all is well. Our 50th anniversary season is finally here!
Last weekend was a great start to the new season - last Friday and Saturday saw the first junior training session and then the first game at the Paddock. The sun was shining and the ground looked a picture as Deano's XI took on Jake's XI in a mixed 1st and 2nd XI interclub game. It was a closely fought match in which everyone dusted off some cobwebs and enjoyed engaging with cricket and each other again after so long. Congratulations to Jack Stead who scored a ton on debut and Charles Allen who scored 82 after a year out of the game. Well done to Deano's team who won by 15 runs in the end.
Onto this week, and some important updates and reminders regarding Covid restrictions and ECB guidelines. The key thing to note as we move into competitive matches both home and away is that, I'm afraid, no supporters are permitted at matches until May 17th. This is part of the ECB roadmap for all club cricket in England and Wales and is not something we can ignore. The exception to this rule is if someone is seated at a table, being served a drink via table service from the bar. People cannot just come over to a game and watch the cricket as a spectator just yet. So, we hope that this weekend the bar will be open for business for some of the weekend but as we have been redecorating the clubhouse we need to ensure it is clean, safe and prepared before offering this facility. I will update members later in the week on the definite arrangements. Of course, we want people at the paddock enjoying a drink and we hope to offer the table service hospitality as much as we can. But, for the time being, please don't attend a match as purely a spectator as that is against the rules and the ECB are proposing potentially very serious sanctions for clubs and leagues who ignore these guidelines. Please just be patient with us and we will get there! If you have any questions about this then please do ask me, or check out the ECB roadmap and government guidelines online. They make a thrilling read I promise!
One other thing to note is that car sharing is currently illegal in the UK under Covid rules. This means that players should not share lifts and taxis with each other when travelling to games. Please liaise with your captain about this as you work out the best way to get to matches in the coming weeks. Again, we hope that this will only be for a few weeks and will change on May 17th. In the meantime, please do make alternative arrangements to get to the first few games of the season.
Please do pay your annual subs online asap if you have not already done so. £220 for the gold membership, or £60 annual subs and then £10 per match for adults or £5 per match for students and juniors in adult matches. Please put your name as the reference.
I just wanted to add that a lot of people have worked very hard over the last few weeks and months to get the ground and clubhouse ready for the new season. The 50 hour net was a real success with £5650 raised which is really amazing. We have put grants, sponsorship and fundraising money to good use by investing in our facilities, redecorating and buying lots of new coaching equipment including a bowling machine to accompany the mobile net we bought last season. The juniors have a new Head Coach, Paull Bobb, who we welcome to the club as a great new addition, and there is a really positive vibe around the place at the moment especially at training sessions. A reminder that the 1s and 2s train on a Wednesday evening and the 3s and 4s on a Thursday evening. Please do make every effort to attend (but don't share balls and keep socially distant!). Exciting times ahead - let's keep the momentum going and enjoy the season!
A couple of other things:
- please also check out our social media pages as we are now much more active on Instagram and twitter - thanks to Scott Doody for his continued work on this.
- if anyone is interested in sponsoring the club there are lots of opportunities for local businesses to do this - check out our snap sponsorship page for all the details or contact Scott Doody directly. A number of local businesses have done this and it is mutually beneficial for both parties.
- if anyone has any second hand cricket kit, especially batting equipment, that their kids have grown out of or they don't need anymore, please do donate it to the club if you are happy to do so. We have a number of 7-10 year olds in the juniors who are relative beginners and don't own their own batting stuff yet, and it would be great to provide them with some equipment as they navigate their way through coaching sessions and their first few matches with a hard ball. This would be very much appreciated - please just drop it at the club on a Friday night or at the weekend.
Many thanks
JK