Well, after what seems like a very long and busy winter the season is finally upon us, and any of you who braved the elements to take in any cricket last weekend will have probably felt warmer in the heights of winter as it was a bitterly cold day. I must say however, and i know this will be no consolation for you whilst reading this, but i am considerably warmer as i write this article whilst enjoying some Portuguese sunshine on a weekends golfing trip!

This may seem strange, but i don't intend to focus too heavily on the cricketing side of things in this months update as there are plenty of other articles on the website where you can keep up to date with what's going on across all the teams. Whilst on the subject of the website, i thought it may be of interest to you to know about how many people visit the site. For the month of April we were averaging 224 unique visitors per day, with each visitor viewing a couple of different pages on each visit. I'm delighted with this level of activity, so a massive thanks to you all for keeping on visiting the site.

What has been evident in both the lead up to the season and the first couple of weeks is a tremendous buzz around the place. This has been evident on both Friday nights with the juniors and on Saturday afternoons and evenings with the seniors. Please continue to keep the positivity going around as it's becoming infectious and will help the players throughout all the teams. There's been a couple of things which have contributed to that i believe, the first being the Fantasy Cricket which is being run by Matt Owen. This has generated a real interest in players irrespective of what team they play in and is often the source of conversation on a Saturday evening. The second is the 'Performance of the week' which has seen the two Dan's (Newhouse and Owen) claim the first couple of prizes with both helping the 2nd XI to a strong start to the season. As the junior games start to kick off, i'm very much looking forward to being able to take their performances into consideration each week.

As you will hopefully be aware, we have been updating the internal aspects of the club and have recently had some new bar fittings and fridges installed. Not only does this make the bar area look better, it also offers a better end product to you and also ensures we are running the bar as efficiently as possible from a cost perspective. To compliment this, the Waitrose grant is progressing behind the scenes. For those of you unaware, this grant will allow us to replace the lounge carpet and get new windows fitted for the main pavilion and two front changing rooms. Whilst these windows will also fit in better with the tearoom, they will also improve our energy efficiency as we won't be losing as much heat through them like we do today.

Work has continued on the advertising and sponsorship front and we are extremely pleased that we have formed some strong partnerships with three prominent local businesses - Gravity Health & Fitness Club, Arrow Kitchens and Plumbline. All three of these are keen to work with us and they are seeing the benefits already. Shortly, advertising boards will be going up on the nets and the wall in front of the clubhouse with their respective logos. I would urge you to support these businesses in whatever way you can as a way of saying "thanks" for their support of Upton Cricket Club.

And finally, it has been a pleasure to welcome Ben Cant to Upton Cricket Club. A lot of work went in over the winter by Andy Roberts, Graeme Keenan and Richard Simcox to secure the services of Ben, and i am extremely grateful for their hard work as Ben has made a telling contribution to the club in the short time he's been with us. Not only has Ben scored 97 runs in his opening two innings, he's been working with the juniors on a Friday night, helping out with the coaching of the senior squad on a Thursday night and is down at the club on a Tuesday and a Friday working with the army of volunteers predominantly on the grounds. We have also just launched some personal coaching which Ben will conduct (please click here for more details). As well as Ben being new to the club, there are several others who have recently joined and i'm sure they'd all welcome a friendly "hello" as they find their feet in the club environment and can start to feel what a great family this club has.

And finally (again!) i'd like to leave you with a quote from an American car racer called Bobby Unser who said "Success is where preparation and opportunity meet". Whether your contribution to Upton Cricket Club is on or off the pitch, take this thought with you and we are sure of an excellent future.

Thanks
Jez Lamb
Chairman