Dear Members and Friends of the Club,
Firstly, may I welcome everyone back to the club for the 2019 season and extend a special welcome to all of our new senior, junior and social members. We hope that you and your families enjoy the summer months at West Chilt.
Pre-Season Work Party THIS SUNDAY
We're holding our pre-season work party at our West Chilt ground this Sunday 14th April from 9.30am- lunchtime. There is a great deal to do to get the ground and pavilion ready for the season ahead. If you or members of your family could spare an hour to two on Sunday we'd be very grateful for your help. Please bring brooms, spades, wheelbarrows and any other tools you think might be useful. We'll be serving complimentary bacon sarnies, teas and coffees so please make every effort to come along. Thanks.
Outdoor Nets are open
Our outdoor nets at the club are now available to use for practice. You will need to bring your own stumps and balls if you are planning to use them when the pavilion isn’t open. Special thanks go to Dave Farnes, who has spent a great deal of time at the club over the last couple of weeks getting the nets ready, and also Craig and Zoe Johnston, Jon Denton, Will Farnes, Stephen Hodgson and Jon Taylor.
Coaching Days and Times
Friday night outdoor junior coaching will begin again on 26th April at our West Chilt ground.
U5-8s - 6-7pm, U9-U11s and beginners in the girls' section - 5.30-7pm, U12-14s - 7.15pm til dusk.
Our U15/16s and our senior men's teams will practice on Thursday evenings. Please look out for messages about timings.
Our women's team and older girls will be training on Monday evenings. Please look out for messages from Sarah about timings.
Junior Volunteers
We are very pleased to say that several of our older junior members have been on the ECB Coach Support Worker course over the winter and will be helping our age group coaches at Friday night training sessions. Others are taking part in the ECB Young Leaders Scheme and they will also be volunteering in various roles around the club this season. We would like to thank them for their dedication and commitment to the club and for giving up their time to help out.
Club Handbooks
Our 2019 Club Handbooks are being printed and will be available to pick up in the pavilion. Our thanks go to Jon Taylor who has put in a lot of work to get these ready for us. They include a great deal of useful information about the club as well as lists of all of our senior and junior fixtures.
Junior and Senior Membership Fees
Junior and senior membership fees are now due. Please make every effort to pay these ASAP here. Thanks.
Golf Day - Friday 3rd May 10am
Our annual Golf Day is booked at Cowdray Park. Please see the club website for details - Golf Day
Our new second ground in Thakeham
We're nearly ready to play our first matches at Thakeham. Our U10s look like they'll have the honour of playing the first match on Saturday morning 4th May. This will be the new home of our 3rd XI and our women's team, U12s and U13s will also be playing most of their home matches at the new ground. We are very grateful to the residents of Abingworth Meadows living near the ground, who have already shown the club a great deal of support and will be helping with ground preparation and cricket teas.
ECB All Stars
We are taking part in the ECB All Stars initiative again this season alongside our normal Friday night sessions for our U5-U8s boys and girls. Our first session is on Sunday 19th May at the club. You can find out more information here.
Second-Hand Kit Stall
We will again be running our second-hand kit stall on Friday nights at the club. If you have any items that you would like to donate or would like to pick up a bargain please look out for us in the pavilion. We will also be selling junior club caps for £5.
All proceeds go towards purchasing new training equipment for the club.
Diary Dates
For a comprehensive rundown of all of our key dates for the year ahead please see our club website.