They're off, yes Winthorpe Cricket Club are officially up and running with a fully functioning pavilion. Many thanks of you who came down to the Open Day and Paul Evans Memorial game. Hopefully it has whetted your appetite sufficiently to come and visit us again; you can be guaranteed a warm welcome along with a cup of tea if required!
You will no doubt have noticed that works have been progressing a pace on the pavilion and things are starting to take shape. It makes a big difference now that we have been able to get some of the hard landscaping completed and the ground is starting to get back to it's former glory. The building is fully services and Reepham who were the first visiting team to experience the new facility were most complimentary.
By the time you are reading this Duck Race day will have come and gone, the time just seems to fly, fingers crossed that the weather was good and attendance was high especially after the appalling weather we had last year.
As I stated last month we are still raising funds in order in order to provide a roof for the pavilion just to give it that finishing touch. Over the coming weeks we should be able to be more specific regarding our targets once now that the externals are nearing completion and we can established final costs and future budgets. As always I will keep Focal Point updated of our progress but if anyone is aware of any sources of funding or would like to play the part of benevolent benefactor, or know someone who has recently won the National Lottery (or any other Lottery for that matter), please give me or any other member of the club a call, you will be assured of a warm welcome. .
On the subject of lotteries my usual reminder regarding the Bonus Ball draw which runs throughout the year providing the club with much needed funds. Without it we would find it impossible to survive, so if you find yourself in the Lord Nelson why not try your luck. Just ask the bar staff for details of how to enter and it only costs a £1.
As you will have noted from the last report Kavaliers, who are a midweek team will be playing at Holme Lane this season so if you fancy watching a midweek game please fell free to pop down and take a look, you will no doubt recognise a few familiar faces. The fixtures for both Clubs are included at the end of this report and are also available for viewing on the Village website, all we need now is for some decent summer evenings.
The Cricket Club webpage on the Village website is now up and running and being added to and refined bit by bit so please take a look at that and also while you are browsing please take a look at the Club's own website on http://www.winthorpecc.co.uk/ which has now been bought up to date now that our Treasurer has sorted his IT problems out.
In a slight departure from the norm I will be asking various members of the Club to write various match reports throughout the season. To date we have played two games the first of which was an away game at Washingborough on Sunday 11th May. First up to bat, pardon the pun, is Simon "scoop" Potter our illustrious Captain with his "View from the Pavilion.
WINTHORPE CRICKET CLUB 20th April 2008
Apologies for missing the March edition of the Focal Point hopefully I willbe able to give you a more thorough update on happenings at the Cricket Club in this months update. First and foremost the pavilion has suffered no harm over the last few weeks so long may that remain. We had the ground day a couple of weeks ago in order to tidy up the inside and prepare things in readiness for the new season. There will be a big pushover the next couple of weeks to make the final services connections and landscape the external areas.
Our continuing search for funds received another boost this last week when we heard from Newark & Sherwood District Council. We applied to NSDC under their Sports Grant Aid Scheme for assistance and I am pleased to say that our application went toCommittee in March and was successful to the tune of £2,000. Additionally we are in the process of applying to the Awards For All scheme with comes under the Lottery Grants forLocal Groups funding programme, so fingers crossed.
A big thank you also goes out to 2 local residents who have been in contact donating items of plant and equipment to the Club. At the time of writing one item is in storage the other awaiting delivery. The donation of these items plus the purchase of other key items will put us in an excellent position for the forthcoming season.
It has been an excellent few months for the Club in terms of the progress we have made. It is the best part oft hree and a half years since the pavilion burned down. Over that period it has been a long and tortuous route to get where we are especially as we had little or no success in the early days in terms of funding or offers of assistance. Things seemed to turn around in the middle to back end of last year when we obtained planning approval allowing us to procure the units and commence works on site. Since then the minor funding grant applications have been successful we have received assistance from a number of quarters including the ParishCouncil, Kelham Hall and Vince Dobson amongst others. This has been in addition to the continued support we have had from the Village with Duck Days and the like, so to all of you thank you very much.
Despite the recent success we are continuing to look at fundraising inorder to provide a roof for the pavilion. I will keep Focal Point updated of our progress however if in themeantime you are aware of any sources of funding or would like to play the part of benevolent benefactor, or know someone who might, please give me or any other member of the club a call, you will be assured of a warm welcome. Over the coming weeks we should be able to be more specific regarding our targets once we have completed the current phase ofworks and have established final costs.
I'd also like to remind you about the Bonus Ball draw which runs throughoutthe year providing the club with much needed funds. Without it we would find it impossible to survive, so if you find yourself in the Lord Nelson why not try your luck. Just ask the bar staff for details of how to enter and it only costs a £1.
By the time of reading this you will all hopefully have visited the groundto have a look around the pavilion on the open day which was held on the 27thApril and enjoyed the first Paul Evans Memorial Match. Another date for your diary is Duck Day whichwill be held on its traditional date of late May Bank holiday, which is Monday 26th May. Posters will begoing up shortly so all we need to do is book the good weather to ensure a goodtime will be had by all.
The Club is also looking to swell its numbers this year. To assist in this Kelham Cavaliers will beplaying their home games this year at Holme Lane. They play in the midweek league and there has been a transmigration of players between the two Clubs over recent seasons. TheCavaliers do not have a ground of their own so it is an arrangement that has mutual benefits to both Clubs and is hopefully just the start of a longstanding arrangement.
For those of you who prefer your updates electronically the Cricket Clubwebpage on the Village website is now up and running. It is a bit basic at the moment and only has fixtures and brief updates however we will be building on this over recent weeks provided Malcolm Smith can put up with my very elementary questions!
Following the AGM which was held on 4th March 2008 the following people were elected onto the committee:
Peter Bateson - Chairman
Max Cope - ViceChairman & Treasurer
Andy Fereday - Secretary
Simon Potter - Club Captain
Paul Matthews - Vice Captain
Brian Noble - Committee
Ashley Locke - Committee
Jane Greenwood - Committee
Jamie Macintyre - Committee
Neil Bailey - Committee
Neil Hartland - Committee
Should you wish to contact the Club for any reason please call anyone of the following or alternatively there is a "Contact the Club" facility on thewebsite.
Contact Details
Andy Fereday - 678622
Ashley Locke - 703988
Peter Bateson - 704787
Simon Potter - 612968