WOW – What a busy month that was!!! Since the turn of the year I think I’ve had roughly two club related meetings a week, from the usual monthly Governing meeting through to meeting sponsors. What has given me great comfort (and reassurance) is that the enthusiasm for the forthcoming season is bubbling over with everyone I have met with so far. Even more encouraging was the lack of moaning the wife did as my absence allowed her to catch up with all the trash TV she had recorded!

Touching on some of the meetings I had last month, whilst all interesting and exciting in their own rights, I am getting very enthused by the link up we have Vitality. For those who aren’t aware, we have a relationship with a broker called ‘Love My Club’ and whenever somebody with a link to the club takes out a policy through them with Vitality the club receives commission. There are other opportunities with them that I am just working through whereby players can become 'ambassadors' and receive money from people they sign up. This has the potential to be massive for the club and individuals, and when we announce the details in full I urge you to get behind it as not only could you bag yourself some decent insurance cover (I have a policy with them and it’s a lot better than my old policy), you’ll be helping the club out as well.

Along similar lines, myself and the Toms (Marsland & Maguire) also got together to discuss wider sponsorship & advertising opportunities. Trying to attract ‘big’ sponsors is hard so our aim is to offer a variety of sponsorship options ranging from £25 up to £1,500. We have produced a flyer which will be distributed to all local businesses together with being advertised on social media. When you see the flyer come out, please help share this with your network of contacts as it all helps.

At the January Governing Committee, I was delighted to welcome Steve McCormick on to the committee as he very kindly stepped forward to volunteer for the post as Communications Officer. Steve needs no introduction (but I’ll do one anyway!!) as he has held numerous positions on the committee in the past, not least being a former Chairman (there are now 3 former Chairman who can “help” me on the committee!!!). The added bonus with Steve is he has offered a sort of “two for one” type deal – it was either that or he told me to BOGOF!! Seriously though, and I am delighted with this as Steve’s son Callum wants to get more involved behind the scenes so will be working closely with Steve and getting involved more. Whilst Callum can’t officially hold office, he will be invited to listen in to what goes on at the Governing Committee meetings and I think it’s great that we can offer this opportunity for a 17 year old to get involved.

I commented in my Annual Report at the AGM that we needed to reignite the “Sportsman’s Dinner” and if I’m honest I was feeling pretty dejected with it after 17 years. Well, I am the polar opposite now having announced a slight change in format and style with having Ricky Tomlinson as the speaker. The response has been staggering and as it stands at the moment we have sold just short of 200 tickets for the dinner. When you consider we had just over 100 there last year it’s quite a turnaround! I’m also pleased to report that we have already sold 50 tickets for the Annual Summer Ball which is amazing so early in the year as this is usually an event where the flurry of ticket sales come once the season starts. Thank you to everyone who has bought tickets so far, you’ve made me (and the Treasurer) very happy!!!

And finally, despite the fact it's my first opportunity to have a beer after compelting 'Dry January' I’m very much looking forward to popping along to Birkenhead School tonight to winter nets to see how the lads are looking. So if anybody is at a lose end and fancies coming along, junior nets start at 8pm followed by seniors at 9pm and I’ll hopefully see you there.
Thanks for reading
Jez Lamb
Chairman