First of all, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year. It is with great pleasure that I have this opportunity to say that to you in my capacity as Chairman of this great club of ours.

I would like say a massive thanks to Graeme McGowan for the tremendous work and effort he has put in during his time as Chairman over the last 3 years. Graeme's time at the helm has seen the club go through some major changes. Whilst a lot of the work Graeme has overseen is visible, it's the 'unseen' bits that he has put in place which ensures we can go from strength to strength.

For those of you that don't know much about me, I’ve been a member of Upton Cricket Club for nearly 25 years and the club holds a special place in my heart for many reasons; not least for the fact I met my wife Debbie here, and have since gone on to have three beautiful daughters. I've been a member of many committees at the club which has given me an appreciation of how the club is run from different angles. As a non-cricketer, the question is often asked as to why I have such an interest in the club - it's simple....this is a very special place, with a unique atmosphere and family feel that just grabs you and you just want to be part of it.

As I look ahead to my tenure as serving you as Chairman, my aim is to continue the good work carried out by Graeme and guide a committee who have specific strategic goals for their respective areas within the club looking at the short, medium and long term. This together with greater communication with you, the members, will see the club go from strength to strength both on and off the field.

Even though it's the close season there has been a lot going on at the club. First up was the Annual General Meeting held on 5th December where there was a larger than usual attendance. At the AGM there were a few changes to the Governing Committee with Brian Shenton stepping down as Development Officer and being replaced by outgoing Chairman Graeme McGowan, Simon McGowan taking over as Junior Chairman from Steve McCormick and John Lamb replacing myself as Grounds Chairman. To Brian & Steve stepping down, I’d like to pass on my thanks for their contributions in 2014, and to Simon & John coming on to the Governing committee, I very much look forward to their extremely valued input. There were however some vacancies not filled for other officers, those being House Chairman, 3rd XCI Captain, Selection Chairman and Over 40's Captain - if you feel you could fill any of these roles, please contact either myself or Rob Chapman (07729 118 515 or rob.chapman001@btinternet.com).

The Annual Christmas Draw once again superbly organised by Arthur Irwin and his family. Those who attended had a great night with a challenging quiz, food and great festive fun. My thanks go out to Arthur and his family for putting this night on as it is not only a great night catching up with fellow members, it raises some much needed income for the club at a time when minimal cash gets put over the bar.

On the cricketing front, both Andy Roberts (1st XI Captain) and Graeme Keenan (Cricket Chairman) have been extremely busy, talking to lots of players with the aim of securing the strongest squad possible for next season. They have retained the services of the much sought after Matty Ingram following his Cheshire debut last season and also secured the services of top Kiwi all-rounder; Ben Cant. 23 year old Ben hails from Otago and is described as "an aggressive top order batter and a very handy medium pace bowler". Ben is currently representing North Otago in the Hawke Cup (New Zealand District competition) . As well as his on-field exploits, Ben is currently working for the North Otago Cricket Association as their Development Officer which is a big boost as we will look to Ben to assist in other areas of the clubs development.

Les Atwell has had a productive few months with the annual end of season work on the squares going very well, together with them being verti-drained in early December. The aim of this for the squares is to make them play better and truer and offer more bounce. This is a course of work we've now completed over the last two winters and does take time to take effect so we should start to see the benefits of the 2013 work in the 2015 season.

As you will have seen if you've either been down to the club over the winter or driven past, the new tea-room is now complete, bar a few 'tidying up' jobs. My thanks must go out to the team who have worked tirelessly over the past few months to get the interior looking as good as it does, but the hard work doesn't stop there as it's all of our responsibility to ensure we treat this facility with the respect it . The Wirral Table Tennis League are now using the facility four nights a week, which is a real bonus to have the room utilised during our off-season. As a committee, we'll be looking at other opportunities to utilise the room in the manner we deem appropriate, and have already seen it successfully used by Overchurch PTA, Everton FC plus several families for children's parties and we've even got a wedding reception booked in for October.

As a reminder, if you haven't already "bought a brick" you're not too late as you can still do this which will be of great help as we are yet to reach our target of £20,000. Also, if you're looking for a venue to host a 'get together', please speak to either myself or Ian Sharrock and we'd be happy to discuss options with you.

In other exciting news we have been granted permission to advertise on the grounds. This will prove a great source of income in what are extremely challenging times financially, so if you are interested, or know of somebody who may be interested in supporting the club through advertising, please contact myself or Graeme McGowan to discuss this, but be quick as we only have limited availability.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with a thought...
As you'll hopefully agree, the club is in a good place and is moving forward in the right direction. With this in mind, I’d like you to consider what you can do to help YOUR club. This doesn't have to be in the form of fulfilling one of the 'official' positions, but can be simply by offering your help for the odd job here or there. I'm sure you'll find a great sense of satisfaction in doing this, but I can tell you that it means so much to those on Governing when somebody volunteers to help in whatever way they can. If you feel you can help out in any way, please speak to any member of Governing and they will point you in the right direction and as they say at Tesco - "Every little helps".

Yours in cricket

Jez Lamb
Chairman