As I stand here in front of you as the 21st Chairman of this great club of ours it is with a tremendous sense of pride I can deliver my annual report. Having been elected 12 months ago, I must firstly thank Graeme McGowan for handing over the position with the club in a very strong position. Graeme referenced in the last couple of AGM's the ambitions for governance of Upton Cricket Club, those being around running the club in a fiscally responsible manner, providing the right opportunities for our members cricket wise, promoting cricket as a sport for all in the wider community and maintaining and improving the club for future generations. These are not just visions of Graeme's tenure but ones which all future Governing Committees should strive to achieve.

When we sat down as a committee in January of this year, I laid down my vision for the club and it was based around the principles that we embrace ourselves as 'one club' - we aren't divided up into sections such as seniors, juniors and social members, we are 'one club'. The other key aspect was that in all that we do, we had to have short, medium and long term goals. Without these we could quite easily 'drift along' and not actually achieve anything. As I progress through this report, and through what you've seen this year, you'll hopefully agree that we have continued to develop as a club and you'll have the confidence that we will continue to move forward with some clear goals that we WILL achieve.

As per previous years, I'll focus on each 'section' as it is represented on Governing, but before I do, let me touch on a few areas that don't fall within any specific Governing category.

Community links
A key focus has been in developing our 'reach' within the wider community. When we went through the grant application process for the tearoom, we had to demonstrate that more people in the community were using the facility and that has been clearly evident as we have seen a variety of groups using the room ranging from table tennis, children's play groups, church fairs, photoshoot's and we even hosted a wedding reception. Our aim for this facility is to get the right type of usage as it's not just about having party after party in there, we have to consider our wider surroundings. It has been said before, but as we have formally closed the "buy-a-brick" scheme I'd like to once again thank those involved in the project and all those who contributed financially and we can now proudly display their names on a board located on the tearoom wall to recognise this.

Social
Whilst there isn't a Social Committee as such, we have seen various social events taking place throughout the year, and through these we not only raise some very useful funds, but they also serve as a great way of bringing the club together. It's sometimes hard for me to judge on this one, but I believe this years 'Marquee Weekend' was our best yet and my thanks go to the team who help me with that. What has been really encouraging is the desire for others to step forward and put on functions and we saw that mid-way through the season as Tom Maguire spearheaded a team who put on the "Big Night In" which combined a curry night with some overly competitive Bar Olympics. Only recently have we enjoyed another tremendous 'Hot Pot' and my thanks go to Pete Clark who has ran this function for more years than he'd care to remember. I'm really pleased to report that a sub-committee has already been formed with a view to putting on an exciting calendar of events for 2016, so keep your eyes on the website and club noticeboards for further information.

Lease
As 2020 draws ever near, which for those who aren't aware is when our lease expires on the grounds, we have recently had a really positive meeting with representatives from Leverhulme Estates, one of whom just happened to be the Grandson of the Clubs founder; WSS Hannay. They were extremely impressed with the new tearoom and really encouraged by the wide ranging use that it has generated. Whilst we didn't officially sit down and talk about the lease in detail, it is something I am conscious is coming up and we will take the appropriate advise before engaging with them.

Moving on to the specific areas represented on Governing:

Communications
A major area of development for us was in our communications. The introduction of the clubs new website and the ability to tap into the social media channels has been a huge success. To bring this to life, during the cricket season we were averaging over 200 unique visitors every day, with our best day seeing 356 people visit the site. Our goal was to be ranked the number 1 cricket club website in the country, and we achieved that - albeit for one week only, but we remained the number two ranked website for most of the season, and that is out of over 800 cricket clubs.

Our aims as we progress forward in this area have to be to at least maintain the high standards we have set by keeping the website content fresh and interesting, but also to explore other communication channels that we can tap into and promote the good work we do here.

Club Development
I was delighted that Graeme McGowan took the opportunity to remain on the committee in the role of Development Officer and he has put in place a structure which can be taken forward to ensure we are continually focussing on the right areas of development.

This year has seen us progress forward with something Graeme touched on at last year's AGM with advertising boards being displayed on the grounds for the first time. Our vision in this area was that it wasn't just about taking money off the companies advertising, but more about creating relationships with them so as they feel part of the Club and give them confidence to want to build longer lasting relationships with us. What we have seen so far, and certainly in the case of Gravity is that approach working and we are in regular contact with them working together on initiatives to develop both of our organisations.

To take this on to the next level we have enlisted the help of Gary Dixon who brings with him a wealth of experience that can only benefit the club. It's early days yet, but Gary has hit the ground running and has made some very useful inroads and I'm excited to see where this develops. The overall objective of Gary's role is to increase the revenue we bring in as a club through both external sources and also ensuring that we are on the best commercial footing with some of our supplier base.

An area that can easily go unnoticed is grant funding. We are extremely fortunate to have our Honorary Secretary; Rob Chapman constantly scouring the internet and various other channels to find suitable grants. I'll touch on very shortly where this has come to fruition, but we do also have a couple of other grants in the pipeline that if we are successful in our application will allow us to develop our facilities for the whole club even further. Without this tireless work that Rob does, we would struggle to complete a lot of these projects.

House:
Sometimes we don't appreciate how lucky we are to have the army of volunteers who give up their precious time on a Tuesday & Friday morning to do a lot of the jobs that go unseen. Without them we would not be able to enjoy the facilities we have today.

Despite the tearoom being complete and functional, this hasn't stopped the multitude of tasks being undertaken, whether that be finishing touches to the paintwork, putting new ceilings in the kitchen & toilets or the general cleaning of that room given the increased utilisation.

Moving into the clubhouse, you will have seen that we have started the phased work to rejuvenate the area we sit in tonight. Through the hard work and diligence of Rob Chapman we were able to secure a grant from the ECB's "Small Grant Scheme" to purchase a new carpet and replacement windows. Not only do they add to the aesthetics of the room, the windows will make us more energy efficient.

These are just a couple of examples of the hard work and dedication that this team put in, but I would urge anyone who has any spare time to pop down and offer some help if you can. My personal thanks goes out to all the team involved and in some cases there has been a combination of physical work and also donations of materials which are gratefully received and really help.

Grounds
This is an area extremely close to my heart having served as Grounds Chairman for three years and it was nice to be able to hand over the reins to somebody far more competent than myself in my father; John Lamb - although every now and again I do try to offer him my advice, or rather tell him what I think should be done!!

The year started well with a fantastic turnout at the annual Cricket Force weekend where a vast array of jobs were undertaken and completed. My thanks go to all those who turned up and it'll be great if we can top that next Spring. The 'grounds' work doesn't stop at preparing the outfields and wickets, as we have seen a variety of jobs undertaken including having the nets repaired, replacement drainage installed on a particularly boggy area of the front pitch over by the scorebox and the wall at the front of the clubhouse extended.

Looking at the umpires pitch marks, we have seen marginal improvements year on year for our wickets and I'm hopeful that this will continue to be the trend as we have increased the budget for the end of season works which we should see paying dividends next season and beyond.

An interesting initiative this year saw us link up with the Community Payback Scheme which saw a team of people doing work around the grounds, particularly on the surrounds to tidy them up. This is something we have really benefited from and it's great that we can welcome them into our Club to undertake their duties, and something I'm hoping will continue into next year.

Looking ahead, the major job currently being undertaken is the renovation of the sightscreens. Things are progressing nicely with all four of the screens for the front pitch having been stripped and ready for the new materials to be fitted in good time ahead of the new season. These new screens will not only be lighter, they will also require less maintenance. I mentioned earlier various grant applications in flight, and one of those is to replace the changing facilities for the back pitch.

My thanks go to John and his team for their hard work and countless hours they dedicate every week.

Bar
Ian Sharrock has continued to run an extremely effective bar despite the regular staffing challenges he has faced together with an increase in demand through a variety of functions, for which I am very grateful.

Early in the year we explored the options available to us in terms of re-establishing links with a brewery as we have been independent for a few years now. After some productive meetings we opted to link up with Heineken and that relationship is serving us well so far. We've seen new fridges and pumps installed - all free of charge, and we've also seen a reduction in our costs whilst still maintaining, or even improving on the quality of product available. We will continue to monitor this relationship to ensure it remains good for us, but the current thinking is that it will not change.

Linked in with an overall objective around creating the right environment for our members to enjoy their time at the club, I've been really pleased to see how Saturday nights appear to be getting busier again. Certainly one factor in that has been the incentives based on points accumulated across the teams on offer from Advanced Global Energy, so thanks to Tom Maguire for kicking this off. I know there are always a lot of demands on both peoples time and money, but enjoying a pint with your fellow members after a game is something we can all indulge in, and lets not restrict it to Saturdays as the club is open at other times of the week as well.

As you'll see in the year end accounts, the bar is a major revenue stream for us and your support does go a long way to balancing the books.

Junior Cricket
It was great to see Simon McGowan step forward and take on the position of Junior Cricket Chairman following on from the sterling work undertaken by the 'Wards' during their respective time at the helm.

Simon has come in to the role with a fresh set of eyes and ideas and having attended some of his early coaches meetings I was extremely encouraged by the plans and vision I saw being put in place.

The year started well with Simon and Rob Chapman submitting a successful grant application with the Wirral West Community Fund which provided us with £1,000's towards junior equipment. Given the cost of running a cricket club and ensuring we provide the right equipment, this was extremely well received.

On the field there was mixed success with the Under 9a side narrowly finishing runners up in their league and also the Cheshire festival at Hyde. The Under 13's had a good season, only losing one match to eventual champions New Brighton together with reaching the semi-final of the cup. We've seen some promising juniors following the well-trodden path of development into senior cricket, together with Callum McCormick and Luca Di Stefano representing West Cheshire in Divisional tournaments.

Closer ties have been developed with the Cheshire Cricket Board and an exciting development saw us being chosen as one of only four clubs in the county to host a girls cricket initiative with local schools which ran for about 6 weeks. This closer link up has also seen some of the Cheshire Development coaches regularly coming down on Friday nights, plus five of our juniors successfully completing the "ECB Activator" course for young people. Three of the five were girls and this, plus a steady flow of girls coming through the age groups gives great encouragement for the future and I'd like to think that it won't be long before we have females playing in some of the senior sides.

The season was closed off with a superb presentation evening - despite Simon stitching me up with having to make two speeches! The format was changed for this year, but seemed to work really well with both juniors and parents enjoying their night.

Having witnessed first-hand the Friday night sessions, I can comfortably say that Simon and his team have continued to create a superb environment for both the children to develop and progress and also for the parents to enjoy and feel part of the club. My thanks go to Simon and all of his volunteers and coaches, together with Charlie Ward and his BBQ's team for all their hard work and dedication, and I would encourage you all to witness first-hand the work that goes in on a Friday evening.

Senior Cricket
Ahead of the season there were some challenging objectives set. For the 1st XI the two goals were promotion within two seasons, and progression from the group stages of the T20 competition (in a group which featured two teams from higher divisions). Clearly neither of these goals were achieved this season, however that doesn't take away from what was a valiant effort and to still be in contention, albeit only just, going into the penultimate game of the season. Progression from the T20 group faltered in the last ball of the game against Neston, but a narrow Cheshire Cup defeat against Liverpool Competition Premier League Champions; New Brighton is a marker for how the team have progressed. Under Andy Roberts leadership, the 1st XI played some great cricket and had a tremendous spirit amongst them and I'm very much looking forward to watching how this team develops. With Andy stepping down as both captain and senior coach, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for the hard work and dedication he has shown and am delighted that Andy will continue in a playing capacity.

Matt Owen once again led from the front with the 2nd XI and they were unfortunate not to gain promotion to the Premier League, missing out by just 13 points on the second promotion spot. After starting the season with no official captain in place, Charlie Ward Jnr stepped forward to take on the on field captaincy of the 3rd XI. Whilst this presented a few challenges as he was unable to attend selection, on the field Charlie and his team performed admirably against some very strong opposition and finished very credibly in 6th place in the league. Ian Bruce started the season as 4th XI captain, with John Scragg subsequently taking over for the latter part of what was a frustrating season as a result of four consecutive fixtures being conceded by the opposition, but they did secure a fourth place finish in the league. It is hoped that these kind of problems don't happen again as it really isn't acceptable and right that our members have to forego their Saturday afternoon cricket due to poor running of other clubs.

Referencing back to my latter point there about the frustrations the 4th XI have faced, I must acknowledge that as a club we are in a healthy place in our ability to field four sides each Saturday, especially when we hear stories of other high profile clubs considering scrapping their 4th XI's. We need to ensure we have the right platform to provide the most appropriate level of cricket for our membership combining the balance of developing our younger players and the more senior players who wish to have a more sociable afternoon, whilst still playing competitively.

We have benefitted this year with some new senior playing members joining us, all of whom have fitted into the club really well. We of course had the pleasure of welcoming Ben Cant over from New Zealand where he slotted straight in to the Upton Cricket Club family and was very soon at ease eating most of the biscuits on a Tuesday and Friday morning, interspersed with a bit of grounds work. At this juncture, I couldn't mention Ben without acknowledging the role Barrie Burns plays in this. Having provided accommodation several years ago for one of our overseas player, I understand it's never easy letting a stranger into your house, so my thanks go out to Barrie for what he did for not only Ben but numerous overseas players over the years.

One particular weekend stands out in the memory as it truly emphasised what we are about as a club. The plans had been put in place and we had everything in store for what was to be a brilliant T20 Finals Day - but the weather was not kind to us. In true Upton style we were not to be beaten and we somehow managed to get three games of cricket on, and more importantly, convince the higher echelon of Cheshire that the grounds were fit to play. This was only possible by the amazing team of volunteers who got soaked to the bone getting the grounds ready. An amazing effort, and from the feedback we have received it is clear how much respect we have been shown for our efforts, well done and thanks to all those involved.

Throughout the season we had a couple of 'fun' things running - the fantasy cricket and the "Performance of the Week". These were both great initiatives which brought the whole club together and something I am hopeful we can continue in 2016.

There's been some major milestones we've been able to celebrate this year courtesy of Gary Dixon's 500th 1sdt XI game and Pete Clark's 1,000th league wicket. My message to all the players is that whilst putting your name in the record books is great, go out there and create your own milestones for whatever level of cricket you play.

Whilst there were a lot of positives to be taken from the season, it was with sadness that we learnt of the death of Sunday 1st XI Captain Jeff Woods. Jeff's input into the Sunday XI was so key as it pulled together players from all of the sides plus a strong junior input and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

My thanks must go to all those who have captained sides this year, together with Cricket Chairman Graeme Keenan who have all done a tremendous job.

Finance
I'll let Richie Simcox elaborate more when he presents his Treasurer's Report very shortly, but I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Richie for his efforts in running the Club's finances. It's never an easy job, and he keeps me in check daily!

In conclusion
Looking back at this year, I've found it a hugely satisfying year as I got to grips with my new role and through the support of the committee I feel we have achieved a lot. At this point I'd like to pass on my thanks to those members of the committee who are standing down after many years' service but I know they will always be there to lend an ear and offer an input. Whilst not on the Governing Committee, a role that often goes unnoticed is that of Fixture Secretary. John Winder has taken this on with distinction and done a fine job of coordinating all the activities involved with this - thank you John.

So looking forward, where do we go? The new committee will sit down for the first time in early January but behind the scenes meetings are already taking place to look at the future development and the committee as a whole are pulling together a "shopping list" of projects we'd like to undertake. These will then be prioritised and funds either allocated, or raised accordingly. An interest area, and one which I'm very excited about you may have seen on the website is us having a nominated charity for 2016. There is the choice of two which we could select, so if you haven't already done so, please visit the website and cast your vote and we can then unveil the plans for fundraising.

So, drawing this report to a close, I'm sure you'll join me in wishing all the new officers and all those standing for re-election the very best of success for the coming year.

Thank you to everybody for visiing the UCC website in 2015 and may I wish you all a fantastic Christmas.