Hi everyone,

I hope you are all safe and well and surviving the lockdown ok as we approach the tenth week! The weather has certainly been kind and many would say it’s cricketing weather.

So as I write this it’s great to be able to say we have started some cricket in the form of adult nets, albeit very heavily regulated, on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4-30 and 8-30pm. The model for playing competitive cricket in the 2020 season remains a dynamic and fluid one, with several concepts having been explored by the various leagues, which they will act upon when permission to play is given the green light.

Whilst we still may not be playing any cricket matches at the moment it’s fair to say that with the easing of the lockdown measures a few members have been able to support Tom who is working as hard as ever to keep the playing surface at it’s best. So my thanks goes out to Dan Hooker, Mike Back, George M-J, Duncan and Pete Ireland, Phil Munden, Mark Downing and Rick Hyett for their work at the ground over the last few weeks.

Away from Willis Lane the committee met ‘virtually’ again this month to ensure the safe and secure running of the Club. Here is an update on a few of the discussion points this month that I’d like to share to keep you all informed:-

1) Club Vision – it’s fair to say that when a newly formed committee is appointed unless the communication is clear there can be a lot of ‘misinformation’ (gossip) around what direction the club is or isn’t going to take. The outbreak of Covid-19 has made this communication even harder despite my best efforts to keep you regularly informed with my monthly update. So let me be clear our vision for the club is simple:-

"To build the standard of cricket across the whole club whilst maintaining and improving our supporting facilities in a sustainable way”

2) Club Development Plan – to support the vision above the committee are currently drawing up a comprehensive 5/10 year plan and later in the year I hope to be able to share our progress with that. In essence we are actively looking at how we can improve our income sources by maximising the ‘assets’ we have so we can then sustainably invest that consistently in the playing side with quality players, coaching etc.

3) Membership subscriptions – thanks again to those that have already paid. In my note last month I outlined that we had decided not to ask you to pay any outstanding membership subscriptions until we had a better understanding of if and when we’d be likely to offer the opportunity to play cricket. Clearly this has changed since and with the nets now in full flow and other leagues gearing up start in early August the committee has agreed to initially set the fee at £20 with the possibility of it increasing further depending on the extent of the cricket that can be provided. A membership form and ways to pay can be found on our website. We ask that you pay this at your earliest convenience to ensure you are fully covered by the club’s insurance whilst at the ground, initially using the nets, and will also go some way to supporting our ongoing costs which I outlined previously at circa. £600pm.

4) Outdoor ‘all weather’ net facilities – SSDC has now passed the planning application following submission of our plans a few months ago which is great news. A good example of one of the previous committee’s legacies being followed through for the club. My thanks to Nick Eckland for starting us on this journey. A sub committee has now been set up, lead by Linda Retter, to work the project through to a hopeful completion by the end of this year. A copy of the plan can be found here on the website.

5) Youth Cricket – unfortunately we have as yet not been able to offer our Youth section the opportunity to use the net facilities but we are hopeful that the learning from the Adult session now in operation combined with any further relaxation of Government and ECB guidelines over the coming weeks may change this. Pascal will of course update the Youth Team Managers as soon as this is known.

Anyway I hope you’ve found the update useful and let’s keep our fingers crossed that the good weather continues and some competitive cricket is with us sooner rather than later.

In the meantime stay alert, stay fit and stay safe!

Thanks

Jules

Jullian Marshall-James

NPCC - Chairman