Well after two amazing week’s away in Morocco in 40+ degrees heat with nothing more to worry about than eating, drinking, sunbathing and jumping in the pool (plus some amazing water slides!) it’s back to reality and the relative ‘cold’ of an English summer!!

Whilst I am appreciative of the fantastic Twitter updates as I followed the games from my sun lounger, it was great to be back at the club watching the 1st XI & 3rd XI’s last Saturday (irrespective of how short the games were!), despite only arriving back home at 5am that morning!! In 1st XI game it was great to see the next one off the UCC ‘production line’ Luca diStefano make his 1st XI league debut and once again demonstrate the solid foundations laid at a junior level can provide the pathway to senior cricket. Going back to the subject of Twitter - it struck me whilst away that we must be one of the only clubs who has ‘tweets’ going out from all of our teams on both a Saturday & Sunday - further demonstration of the ‘One Club’ philosophy we’ve embodied over the last few years. That being said, and without being elitist, big Dave Smith does lead the way in the comedy (and sometimes far too clever for me) stakes and it is a great delight that he will be speaking at this year’s Annual Hot Pot - only time will tell if he can construct a sentence of more than 140 characters (apologies Dave if I’ve stolen one of your gags!!).

As I jetted off a few weeks back, I am reliably informed that an important please of club history was being put back up after numerous ‘complaints’ (or was that taunts) from some of the more seasoned members. For the more astute of you, you’ll have noticed that the old clock has now been put back up but just to cause confusion it’s back in a new location - above the bar. For those who’ve been around the club for 15+ years you’ll recall the furor when it was moved from above the link room door to the wall where the team photos are. Some never adjusted to the change, so just to keep you on your toes you’ll have to get used to its new home!!

Lying on my sun-lounger has given me chance to catch up with discussions in a forum I’m a member of with other cricket club officials (does it get more exciting!!) and there was an interesting discussion going on concerning ‘All Stars Cricket’ (ASC). For those unfamiliar with ASC it is an ECB initiative they introduced earlier in the year aimed at increasing participation in cricket for 5 to 8-year old’s. After attending a workshop about it, we decided it wasn’t for us as that age bracket wasn’t a particular challenge for us and the increase in volunteers needed would pose us a real challenge as we already struggle with what we currently run. The feedback from the clubs that have adopted ASC seems to focus in on a couple of key areas - one, that a high percentage of the participants were already junior members thus not increasing overall participation levels greatly, and two the struggle for additional volunteers. Reading this feedback, whilst fully supportive of new ECB initiatives I feel that we made the right decision and are still able to offer our junior members he right pathway for development within the club and the wider game.
At the beginning of August Charlie Ward did a brilliant job putting on a superb Family Fun Day. I couldn’t make it myself due to prior commitments but I a reliably informed it was a great day with eleven different ‘family’ teams competing in a series of fun events. My personal thanks go out to Charlie for the hard work and effort he put in to organise the day, together with his army of helpers who ensured the day went smoothly. I’m hoping that this will become a regular event as these kinds of days are a great way for the entire club to come together and once again show that true ‘One club’ ethos in full force.

Looking ahead to next season, there have been some meaningful conversations taking place between Tom Marsland & Andy Roberts about strengthening the playing ranks (across all the sides). The benefit of these conversations taking place relatively early on means we have secured the services of Chris McArthur for a second season. Chris has had a tremendous season so far with the bat scoring 787 run, and with three games still to go has already scored nearly 100 more runs than our previous highest scoring overseas player had done. Chris returning however is all subject to the challenge we always face which is around accommodation. We have been very fortunate this year that a friend of mine & Debbie’s stepped forward at the last minute (this option isn’t available for next year) but if we don’t get something in place very soon we risk losing Chris’ services which would be a real shame given the talent he has shown. If you can help out in anyway or have any ideas, please contact me (jezlamb@hotmail.com or 07887 743 230).

Talking of the future, as a Governing Committee we are reviewing where we are and re-defining our five-year plans. Unfortunately, we have to approach this like any ‘business’ would as ultimately we have to think this way to survive. That doesn’t mean we stop being a cricket club, we just need to ensure we are thinking smartly. With this in mind, I was drawn to a quote by American poet, peacemaker & motivational speaker Mattie Stepanek (*see note below) which reads, “Even though the future seems far away, it is actually happening right now”. Over the next few weeks I’ll be working with each area of the club to review where we are formulating what our short (12 to 18mths), medium (18 to 36mths) and longer (36mths+) term plans are. Within each area we will be looking at what our objectives are, how we are going to achieve them, and what support we will need along the way. Once we have these defined, I will look to share them with you as these won’t be the objectives of just the Governing Committee, they will be the objectives of the WHOLE club and will need EVERYONE to help along the way.

As I sign off for this month, I’d encourage you to enjoy and savor the next few weeks whilst we still have cricket being played before the season ends.

Cheers
Jez Lamb
Chairman

*When researching Mattie Stepanek, I was humbled to learn he died at the age of 13 and by that time had published seven best-selling books of poetry and peace essay, having also several of email correspondence with former US President Jimmy Carter shared. Mattie died on June 22, 2004 due to complications of Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy but his legacy lives on through the “Mattie Stepanek Foundation which, amongst other things aims to encourage the concept of peace and understanding. Quite an inspiration!