January 2010
Dear Vice President
Welcome to our 16th Newsletter to Vice Presidents and may I wish you a happy and peaceful 2010.
Vice Presidents' Day and VP News
On 7 June 2008, VPs and guests were due to enjoy a pig roast and a glass or two of wine with us at our Vice Presidents day. Sadly this was one of the weekends when we had some mighty rains and we had to cancel. We advised as many as possible that the VP hospitality element would be re-run later in June and I was pleased that some of you were able to join us for the revised date.
You will recall that on VP Day we play a side made up of Old Boys for the Bill Sly Memorial trophy. The date for VP Day in 2010 is Sunday 6 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.
After many years as your President Ray Morton has asked to stand down and I have been persuaded that he means it. Ray has been a very supportive President. As well as presiding over VP day and the AGM he has been a regular at the ground, watching and encouraging the teams. We will miss his input. A new President will be appointed at the AGM.
It is with relief that I have no deaths to report since my last newsletter, having reported that of Bill Everitt in my last newsletter.
As ever we are indebted to our Vice Presidents for their support.
Club Supper
The Club supper was held at The Ardencote Hotel in October and was expertly organised and compered by Steve Jay. We had over 100 attendees as in the previous year. Speeches on the cricketing side of things were made by John Glover, Stewart Jordan, Graham Stuart and Scott Rogers. As usual, Scott Rogers stole the show with his poetic report on the year. Cups were awarded and presented by our major sponsor John Shepherd and thanks were given to all our sponsors, advertisers and Vice Presidents. This year's dinner is already fixed for Friday 1 October 2010, again at one of our sponsors The Ardencote Hotel.
The Playing Results
It is great to be able to report some success on the field of play. Our first team had gained promotion in 2008 so we started 2009 in Division 1 of the Cotswolds Hills League. We might have been expected to have a difficult year but, after a slow start, the side started to fire in mid-season with a number of wins including successfully chasing 296 against Henley in 45 overs. The team then had a slump until the last few games when safety from relegation was assured and we ended a creditable 4th.
The second team was relegated in 2008 and we hoped that they would enjoy the 2009 season in a lower division, which they clearly did, as they gained promotion as champions losing just 3 games. In the writer's memory this is the first time we have had a side promoted as champions from any division. The side was well skippered by Graham Stuart who encouraged and helped some of our youngsters to show off their skills. Dale Glover and Sam Ostler in particular had excellent seasons, both also being part of our under 16 side. We wish our second team well for 2010 in the higher division.
Player availablity was good in 2009 and at times we even had to rotate players so everyone got a game. It’s a long time since we could say that. However, with an ageing first team (their words not mine) we could still do with one or two really good club players. The future does look reasonably good, however, due to the strength of our Junior section. In 2009, 60 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 7 to 13. We entered a team in a local under 16 league and they did exceptionally well, as well as winning the good sportsmanship award for their league. Dale Glover and Sam Ostler played regularly in our 2nd XI and Sunday side and we hope more will get and take their chance. In addition, John Lange and Damian Sheridan coached and found games for some of our younger children, again with some success.
Our Sunday side continues to do well. Our regular Sunday captain, Graham Sly, was injured for most of the season. A new member to the Club, Stewart Jordan, captained most of the games in the true spirit of Rowington Sunday cricket, which is to win but by trying to give everyone in the side a game. We tried our first Sunday round robin of games akin to a 20/20 tournament. This was very successful and was won by a Rowington side of under 30 year olds against a Rowington over 30s side and a side from Selly Park.
As in 2008 there were times when we wondered whether we would ever get a game of cricket because of the rain. August was difficult again. 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 in March and 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.
We are still stretched on the ground staff side of the Club. Jack Reedy has done a sterling job with the outfield mowing and remained reliable and enthusiastic despite the weather. Yours truly assisted by Richard Watson, Steve Jay and Anthony Collins has 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 Jacky Rogers and Sonya Kimber came forward to do all the first team and second team teas respectively and we are very grateful to them.
The cups this year were won as follows:-
1st XI Batting - Scott Rogers
1st XI Bowling - Andy Shaw
1st XI Catching - Scott Rogers
2nd XI Batting - Dale Glover
2nd XI Bowling - Kevin Williams
2nd XI Catching - John Glover
Sunday Batting - Alex Smith
Sunday Bowling - Sam Ostler
DFB Award - Eike Gilbert
Bettie Everitt Trophy - Dale Glover
Clubman of the Year - Stewart Jordan and Toni Timmins
The Chairman’s Trophy - Anthony Collins
2nd Team Players' Player of the Year - Dale Glover
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.
NatWest Cricketforce 2010
We have again registered for the NatWest Cricketforce weekend. 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 not that ambitious but more ambitious than last year and involve making improvements to the toilet block, building new nets, 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 week end is 27 and 28 March 2010.
The Rowington Web Site
Many of you may know that there is now an excellent Rowington 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 five mentions for Steve Jay, however well or badly he has played. You will never guess who writes the reports. The 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 2010. 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 £10 (after more than ten years 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.
There are two ways we can complete the new net project. The first is to do it ourselves and the second is to have it completed professionally. We are in the course of getting quotes from professional suppliers but initial indications are that this could cost between £17,000 and £25,000. Whilst I suspect we could reduce this cost by negotiating a reduction in the specification, any reduced amount is still likely to be beyond our means. If we could find one or more sponsors or benefactors, and with grant aid which is easier to get with a professional supplier, we may be able to get there. In these troubled times, I appreciate the chances of finding such a funder or funders is slim but if you don’t ask you don’t get. I have put a line on the VP renewal form to ask whether you would be prepared to help, beyond your normal annual subscription, towards this project and if so by how much. At this stage this would be a pledge and no extra money needs to change hands. We can then gauge whether we have sufficient support to have the job done professionally or to do it ourselves as best we can. Again the pledge could be settled under gift aid so if some one was prepared to give us say £500, that would turn into £641 for us and higher rate tax relief would reduce the cost to the donor to £375.
We can also advertise your business in our fixture card for a modest sum. If you are interested please contact Steve Jay.
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
