Secretary’s Report 2014

Grantchester Cricket Club
Secretary’s Report 2014 presented to the AGM on Sunday 16th November

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to present the fourth Secretary’s Report of the reformed Grantchester Cricket Club.

At the end of March we received the distressing news that Matt Jones had been knocked off his bicycle and was in the Neuro Critical Care Unit at Addenbrookes. On the 7th September, in our last match at Reach, Matt was in our side and bowled well though rather stiffly. This was a true highlight of our Club year.

We have completed our third season at Spring Lane and the pitches have played better and better. The three new strips are in good condition and we now have a square of great quality. Once again Steve Wilson and Jerry Greggain are the prime movers at the ground though Nigel Heath has also worked tirelessly to keep the outfield fast and short. We have purchased a Ransome outfield triple cutter that performs quickly and efficiently in Nigel’s hands. We thank South Cambridgeshire Council for a grant of £1,000 towards the purchase of this cutter. On the 3rd August Hare St and Hormead scored 262-3 only to see Grantchester score 266-5 in reply. This is a tribute to our square and outfield, as well as to our batsmen. We have put up improved fencing at the Archer end which has saved some of the time we spend looking for balls, though this fencing needs extending. We thank Chris Parr for completing the work and for keeping the parking area tidy. We intend to continue improvements to the ground by aerating the outfield this Autumn and next Spring. This September a small group of us under Steve Wilson’s direction carried out the end of season scarifying, seeding, fertilising and top-dressing, on our own and without the help of Allan Moore; the results are most pleasing as you will see if you take a walk to Spring Lane. We record our continued thanks to Trumpington Farm Company for their ongoing support and in particular to Antony and Richard Pemberton and David Knott.

The Orchard Tea Garden has once again been most supportive in its provision of tea for home matches and for the use of its facilities on the morning of the Charity Run. We are indebted to the manager Pauline Holmes for this invaluable help. It was with sadness that we learnt of the death of Mr Callan, the owner of the Orchard, earlier in the year. We have yet to see how his successor will wish to continue the support we currently enjoy.

Once again the largest part of our income has come from our own fundraising efforts, in particular the Charity Run and the Quiz. This year’s Run was the best organised one we have done but the number of runners was lower than we had expected. We hope to rectify this next year by changing the date to avoid clashes and to improve our marketing strategy. We will also devise a different route to avoid the dangerous road crossings. Again we thank our sponsors Flair Catering and Hotel Res. For the third year the Quiz & Curry Night will be in the Village Hall following the same format as in previous years. Both of our major fundraising events are made possible and successful in no small part thanks to the generosity of Justin Fairhall. I should also like to take the opportunity to thank John Anderson of Saffron Insurance for their ongoing generous sponsorship.

If you have noticed a slight hiatus in the operation of the website it is because of the mysterious disappearance of our webmaster earlier in the year. Fortunately the almost unlimited talent we have in the Club, firstly in the person of Frannie Wray and subsequently of Christie Marian, has enabled us to remedy the situation. Normal service is being rapidly resumed. There will be earlier marketing of next year’s Run, more match reports and the popular WAGS blogs. In addition there will be an up-to-date statistics section.

We currently have about 58 paying members and 12 non paying student members.

This season we played 16 matches, won 12, drew 1 and lost 3. What concerned us greatly was the cancellation of 3 matches by our opposition at short notice and with disappointing excuses. We replaced 2 of these matches with internal Gents v Players fixtures. We in turn were forced to cancel our annual trip to Stiffkey due to lack of support. A sub-committee led by Sam Ludford is formulating a more satisfactory fixture list. Three batsmen scored centuries: AP Stafford, James Menzies and Dan Farman though only one bowler, Chris Morrison, had a five wicket haul. The batting averages were headed by James Menzies and the bowling by George Lewin-Smith. Details are on the website. We would like to thank Maxine Este for coordinating the presentation of teas and Lorna Wilson, Sue Bailey and others for their invaluable assistance. Thanks also go to our scorers Angela Wray and Sarah Fitt and to our umpires Nigel Heath and Frannie Wray. We thank all the loyal supporters who make all our home matches such convivial occasions, especially when the sun is shining on our beautiful ground.

An unusual highlight was our hastily arranged fixture against Lovely Day Productions on June 26th following their last day’s filming of ‘Grantchester’ in the Village. Both Robson Green and James Norton played in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, made up mainly of the crew. The after match party in the Blue Ball was truly a night to remember.

It may be that Club skipper Steve Wilson and your Secretary have hung up their boots. In his last game against Reach Steve did not bat and dropped a catch. Your Secretary, in his last match, led the side to victory against Lovely Day Productions and took 3-18.

Your committee under the chairmanship of Ben Travers met on eleven occasions during the past year. One item that appears regularly on the agenda is the provision of a Pavilion.

Our special thanks as always go to John and Karolin for their continuing support and for the warm welcome offered to us and our opponents after the game.

If I have omitted to thank anyone please accept my apologies. I look forward to seeing many of you at our Annual Dinner on the 8th January 2015.

David Foster – Secretary

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