Message From Chairman and Club Captain
Dear All,
Following Ash’s email (see attached) a belated Happy New Year from me!
For clarification senior training starts this Sunday at Bedales’ Sports Hall, 5 to 7 p.m. and is preceded by Under 15 training (4-5). Coaching started with the Under 13s on Monday and will be in full flow by Friday evening (all details can be found on our homepage: http://petersfield.play-cricket.com) Many thanks to Paddy May for all the organisation for this programme and to Dave Squires for keeping us up to date through the website.
2015 has started with a bang with a comprehensive victory by the senior indoor side winning by 5 wickets against Locks Heath on Sunday, with both the Under 16 and Under 13 sides playing this Sunday and with some coaching through the autumn the last few months have been busy on and off the field (sports hall!). I thought it was about time that I brought everyone up to date with where we are with other planning; if you didn’t fall asleep during my speech at the senior presentations evening or have read my report for the AGM you can probably turn off now although there are a couple of updates!
Last summer the committee decided that we should invest in improving the facilities at the club with an application to Sport England through Inspired Facilities over arching our activity, this application is to primarily modernise The Heath Pavillion but the work now also includes a significant investment to improve the playing conditions at Penns Place. We submitted this application at the end of October for £75,000 as part of a target of approximately £96,000. In addition to the pavilion, within this strategy the following are included:
Funding for new mobile covers, sheets and hoses.
Water removal equipment (we have now secured enough money to purchase a water hog).
Improvement of drainage at The Heath. As part of the application we have had numerous meetings with South Downs National Park Planning Authority, West Sussex Archeology Group, Friends of Petersfield Heath, briefed Neil Hitch at Petersfield Town Council, secured a free Geophysical Survey which will hopefully be done in March (unfortunately we missed the window in October because of the archeological group’s other commitments). We’ve had meetings with possible contractors and are waiting for them to come back with a costing on one possible option. We are also planning to meet with English Heritage following a recommendation by the town council. We have secured £1,000 towards drainage improvement from the Lloyds Bank Community Fund, thank you very much for all of you who voted for us.
Inspired Facilities is a very competitive process but we feel that we have left no stone unturned; there has been a survey of the club and other activity, in addition the Hampshire Cricket Board has recommended our application with a supporting letter to Sport England and the ECB has been consulted. There is clearly no guarantee of success but I think it demonstrates the vision and forethought of the club in trying to improve the short term and protect the long term.
Our vision has been based upon providing more cricket for as many in the community as possible which includes a plan to provide cricket for those with disabilities. It is also taking consideration of the number of ladies and girls playing and training and buoyant health of our colts section.
Just before Christmas the club purchased some second-hand equipment including a roller (a significant investment as our current ones are old and unreliable, and a new one would be beyond our current budget), mobile covers for Penns Place, a batting cage, more sight screens a mobile scoreboard and various other pieces of equipment both for cricket and to assist ground preparation. We are very grateful to two significant contributions: Agincourt Contractors and Windmill Information Systems to assist us in purchasing this equipment but to realign our budget there will have to be a significant fundraising campaign this season for which hopefully every club member can play their part (that is a very thinly veiled warning that members of the committee but especially the captains, Lisbeth Thomas and Judith Squires will be seeking you support, they know where you live!).
2015 promises to be a busy and exciting season!
See you in the nets soon.
Kind regards,
James.Stratford-Tuke
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ash' Email if not already seen
A warm 2015 to all,
I have taken on the Club Captain role for 2015 and would like to thank Marcus for his enthusiastic and passionate contribution in previous years.
As a Club we have made great strides in recent years and we should be rightly proud of our inclusive nature. The level of junior coaching we provide is outstanding. Our desire to serve the community by spreading the spirit of cricket to as many young men and women as possible is bearing fruit. Thank you for all your endeavours so far.
Colts Indoor training starts Monday 5th January 18:00 to 19:00 at TPS, Adult training starts at Bedales 17:00 to 1900 11th January. Schedule of training
For all the players at the club, the preparations for a successful 2015 will start with the first ball.
Rest assured since September the Club has been working incredible hard to directly support play and performance.
The Committee have agreed to purchase: covers (for both the Heath and Penns), a water hog and batting cage for use at the clubs grounds
Providing team captains arrange suitable cover management from within their own squads for their home games, these purchases will reduce ‘rained off’ games and maximise play.
Future fund raising will focus on supporting the Heath’s drainage and pavilion. Carolyn Warne has already contributed a significant amount of her time in order to process various grant applications, as players we can do more. I will be seeking your support later in the year.
Looking ahead to outdoor training the ambition is for promising Colts and the 1st Team to receive bi-weekly Level 3 coaching from Rob Maier.
With consensus, I will look to move outdoor training to Tuesdays vice Thursday. This will aid team selection and give respective captains a face-to-face opportunity to iron out any discrepancies prior to publishing the teams on Wednesday evening. [This can only be successful if players provide their availability in advance!]
Subscriptions: if you do not pay them, you are not insured to train or play. You will not be selected regardless of your ability.
The first pre-season games will commence 11-12 Apr.
My primary objective is for all 3 senior teams to be promoted. While this is entirely realistic given the talent in the Club, it must not come at all costs.
The Club will continue to inspire the love of cricket and players must embrace a Club mentality. Performance improvements across all teams will safe guard quality playing opportunities in the long term and avoid player dissatisfaction caused by gulfs in standards - there is a team for everyone.
One last plea: Whatever level you play at, support your team captain. Get to the ground early and don’t be the first to leave.
See you in the nets,
Ash
Acs752014@gmail.com
