March 2009
Dear Vice President
Welcome to our 15th Newsletter to Vice Presidents and may I wish you a belated happy and peaceful 2009.
Vice Presidents' Day and VP News
On 8th June 2008, VPs and guests enjoyed a pig roast and a glass or two of wine with us at our Vice Presidents' day. You will recall that on VP Day we play a side made up of Old Boys. After a spirited batting performance by the Old Boys in 2008, the Rowington side tucked into the Old Boys' bowling with gusto to seal a comfortable victory. Dorothy Sly presented the newly inaugurated Bill Sly Memorial Cup to her son Graham who captained the winning Rowington side. The date for VP Day in 2009 is Sunday 7th June and we hope for good weather and a good turn out of Vice Presidents. This is a good opportunity to meet other villagers and others who support the Club.
The really sad news in 2008 was the death of Val Jay and Bill Sly. Val died in February after a courageous fight against cancer. In recent years, she had become the 1st team tea lady serving up sumptuous teas every other week in the summer. She had been a keen supporter of the club over many years and in the '70s was a helper and supporter of the cricket club fundraising bingo held regularly at that time. Both her sons, Steve and Sam, have played for the club although Sam has since retired from the game. With her son Steve being a major playing and administrative member of the club, Val and her husband Bob were regular spectators at the ground and Bob has helped, and continues to help, on various projects around the ground. Val has been greatly missed by family and club alike.
Bill Sly had been a member of the club since before the 2nd world war. In more recent years he had been the person who religiously mowed our outfield and kept it in pristine condition. He and his father before him had been involved with the club for close on 100 years both playing and helping to maintain the ground. As a player he was a right armed medium paced bowler and but for his brother Eric he would have won a lot more bowling cups. He leaves a widow, Dorothy, daughters Trudy and Becka and in true Sly tradition two cricketing sons Graham and William. He was a true village man. He was never happier than following his routine of visiting the local hostelries and chewing the fat on local issues and people. He usually had a comment or two to make about the cricket played at Rowington with a comparison as to how it was in the old days. We really miss him, but in his memory we will now play for the Bill Sly memorial cup on each Vice Presidents' day.
I recently attended the funeral of Bill (C W P ) Everitt. Bill was youngest son of Bob Everitt and Bettie Everitt. Bob had an association with the club as player and official for about 50 years. Bill played cricket for Rowington in his early years before marrying and moving his allegiance to Hampton Cricket Club where he also played his Hockey. Towards the end of his cricketing career he returned to Rowington where he bowled his leg breaks and was a strong hitter in the middle order. In recent times he had turned out in the Old Boys game with his son David. He leaves his wife Patty, son David, daughter Jenny and 4 grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them. Bill’s brother Kemble remains as a life member of the Club.
I have also heard of the death of Richard Ormond who had a few games with us 2 or 3 years back. He was the father of Jimmy who played for Leicestershire, Surrey and who had one game (I think) for England. Richard was a teacher and bowled off spin in our second team.
Club Supper
The Club supper was held at The Ardencote Hotel in October and was expertly organised by Steve Jay. We had over 110 attendees, a record for the club. Speeches on the cricketing side of things were made by Anthony Collins, Scott Rogers, John Glover and Steve Jay. Based on the performance of three of them we should have a poet laureate in the club soon. Cups were awarded and presented by our major sponsor, John Shepherd.
The Playing Results
Our results were the usual mixed bag. Our first team gained promotion after being placed second in their division. The team was well skippered by Scott Rogers and congratulations go to him and his team.
The second team was relegated in 2008 and will now play in the bottom division of the league. We are hoping that this will prove a springboard for greater things. Player availablity was better in 2008 but we still need further strength in depth. The future does look better, however, due to the strength of our Junior section. In 2008, 65 Juniors were registered and we had 5 coaches ably led by John and Naomi Glover. On Monday nights the ground was alive with activity, with children aged from 6 to 13. We entered a team in a local under 14 league and they did exceptionally well. Two of the under 14s played regularly for our 2nd XI and our Sunday side and we hope more will get and take their chance. In addition, Damian Sheridan coached and found games for some of our younger children, again with some success.
Our Sunday side continues to do well under the leadership of Graham Sly but the weather made a mess of a lot of our fixtures, another terrible summer for rain. Even with covers and our fine drainage a number of our matches had to be cancelled, frustrating the players and causing a lot of extra work for the groundsmen.
Indoor nets are scheduled at Myton School for 1st, 8th and 15th April and so, if you are aware of anyone who wants to join the club and who would want to come along, please put them in touch with Steve Jay at steve[at]fraziers.co.uk.
We are still stretched on the ground staff side of the Club. We were lucky that Jack Reedy came forward to do the outfield mowing and we were very grateful and relieved that he did. Yours truly assisted by Richard Watson, Steve Jay and Anthony Collins have kept the square in some sort of order. We still need further help and if anyone knows of anyone who would be interested in helping please let us know. It is very satisfying work but clearly requires a fair amount of free time to devote to it. Occasional help to cover holidays would be particularly helpful.
We were lucky that Jackie Rogers came forward to do all the 1st team teas and she was presented with some flowers (and an apron for 2009) at our dinner.
The cups this year were won as follows:-
1st XI Batting - Graham Sly
1st XI Bowling - Scott Rogers
1st XI Catching - Eike Gilbert
2nd XI Batting - Anthony Collins
2nd XI Bowling - Sam Ostler
DFB Award - Andy Shaw
Bettie Everitt Trophy - Tom Williams
Clubman of the Year - Jack Reedy
The Chairman’s Trophy - Graham Sly
The Players' Player of the Year - Scott Rogers
The Ground
The ground was in reasonably good shape before it disappeared under the snow and the square has grassed over quite nicely after the autumn reparations. We now need a warm spring to get the ground back to its best after the winter. We have just had some more drainage completed to help with bowlers' run ups.
NatWest Cricketforce 2009
NatWest have sponsored cricket for many years although whether this continues to be the case in the current economic climate remains to be seen. One initiative they support is a weekend where all cricket clubs are encouraged to sign up to complete major projects at their clubs. For some this is building new pavilions or building new grounds. Our requirements are more modest and involve making improvements to the toilet block, undertaking some external decorating and generally tidying the ground and getting it ready for the season ahead. Everyone is encouraged to get involved be they players, VPs, Juniors or other local people. If you would like to get involved or believe you can offer materials please let me know on 01564 782961. The event weekend is 4th and 5th April 2009.
The Rowington Web Site
Many of you may know that there is now an excellent Rowington Village web site and the Cricket Club is a significant contributor to it. On Monday mornings you can read the 1st XI match report from the previous Saturday. This will feature an average of 5 mentions for Steve Jay, however well or badly he has played. You will never guess who writes the reports. The Club's web address is www.rowingtoncc.co.uk.
Subscriptions & Other Financial Issues
As usual I would like to thank you for your continued support, without which it would be difficult to run the Club as well as we do. I hope you would like to continue to support us and, assuming you do, your Vice President’s Subscription is now due for 2009. The attached form invites you to remit your sub and indicates what you paid last year (or for e-mail recipients it is in the covering e-mail). Payments should be made to Rowington Cricket Club.
As I have previously reported we are a Community Amateur Sports Club which means we can accept gift aid payments. The position is that the VP subscription is set at £5 which cannot be paid by Gift Aid. However, many of you have been happy to make further donations beyond this minimum subscription and these can be made by Gift Aid directly to the Club. The attached form guides you through the process. The subscription form also invites you to supply an e-mail address. As more and more communication is being dealt with by e-mail we are trying to follow suit and a few of you will receive this communication by e-mail. If you have not previously advised an e-mail address and now have one please let us have it with your subscription form. This will reduce time and costs quite significantly.
On another matter everyone likes to save tax and there is that old saying “there is nothing more certain than death and taxes”. If anyone is looking to save tax as their last act on earth, you may be aware that gifts to charity are exempt from Inheritance Tax. There are many more worthy charities than the cricket club but if you were to make a specific legacy to “The Rowington Cricket Field Trust” in your will that would save you Inheritance Tax as well as benefitting the Trust that owns the ground where funds can be used for ground improvements.
We can also advertise your business in our fixture card for a modest sum. If you are interested please e-mail Steve Jay at steve[at]fraziers.co.uk.
Once again thank you for your support. If you are aware of other local people who would like to support us either by playing or becoming Vice Presidents, please let us know.
Yours sincerely
Brian Taylor - Chairman
