Notice from the committee

The committee makes clear the following two points to all playing members:

1. Annual subscriptions are due by Monday, 28th May latest (£115 for seniors, £57.50p for students and unemployed, junior rates as previously advised to the junior section). Staggered part payments will be accepted dependent on prior agreement with your captain, the treasurer or myself. There will be a selection meeting on Monday, 28th May, and anyone who has not paid their annual subscription by this time, or who has outstanding debts from last season, will not be selected to play the following weekend. 
2. All players are expected to use the club web site in order to reduce the workload on captains. All players should enter their availability for the following weekend before the Monday evening selection meeting, and then accept or decline selection notifications as appropriate. Any players who do not use the club web site may be selected in a lower XI than they might have expected, or not selected at all. Priority in selection will be given at all times to players who have made themselves available on the web site. 

Matthew Stevenson
Hon. Secretary

With the Sunday junior sessions finally starting, we will be running an experimental tuck shop during the morning. This will run for the month of May after which we will assess whether there is enough interest to justify continuing through the summer.

We will start by selling items such as drinks, crisps and chocolate bars.  After that we are happy to sell whatever is requested, as long as there is sufficient demand for it.

So bring some cash with you and let us know what you would like us to have on the stall.

Murray and Anna Scott

We have a number of volunteers who help us run the junior cricket teams.
However, changes in circumstances and work commitments mean that we need
some help in coordinating the teams. Umpiring and scoring are not
required, although any parent who can do this as well would be greatly
valued.

Duties are:
Organise a team of 11 boys or girls for matches using the website database.
The website can be used to automatically e-mail all relevant parents thereby
simplifying the process enormously.
Organise getting the team to the match on time

The teams that need a coordinator are:
U10
U11
U12
U15

If anyone is interested please contact James, Keith or Murray
keith.neave@gbr.xerox.com; jmavallance@hotmail.com; murrayscott172@btinternet.com

Dear Club Member,

Thursday evening nets start up this week. The Clubhouse and Bar will be open this season on Thursday evenings, so we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Best Regards,

Jonathan.

Social Secretary.

 

We currently do not have any regular scorers for our senior XIs. If anyone, especially one of our juniors, is interested in becoming a scorer then please let me know. We will provide training and payment as appropriate.

Matthew Stevenson
Hon. Secretary. 

Committee Meeting, Monday, 16th April, 2012

• Present: Keith Neave (chairman), Saqib Ahmed, Jonathan Chater, Murray Scott, Matthew Stevenson, James Vallance.
• Apologies: Martin Crossley, Jeremy Sewell, Dan Webb.   

Matters Arising

• Saturday 1st XI Captaincy: Matthew Stevenson reported that Raf Mughal had resigned as Saturday 1st XI Captain due to pressure of work. Saqib Ahmed has agreed to replace him, and Asim Ahmed will be his vice captain.
• New sign: Keith Neave reported that the new sign for the front entrance has been ordered and will be delivered in the next few days.

Cricket Report

• Club Day, Saturday, 21st April: Matthew Stevenson reported that about 18 players had confirmed their availability for the practice match on Saturday, and a number of others have yet to reply. As usual, we will see who turns up on the day and sort out two teams accordingly. 
• Player numbers: Matthew Stevenson said that he thought we were probably short of numbers re getting three XIs out for the start of the TVCL season on Saturday, 12th May. James Vallance said that, while this is obviously disappointing, the development XI is a long term project and difficulties in getting it up and running were to be expected.
• Club web site: Matthew Stevenson reported that there had been an improvement in use of the Hits Sports web site compared to last season, but that too many players were still not proactively entering their availability. The committee agreed that, if we do not have a full take up by the end of May, then we will have to start considering financial penalties. The full benefit of the Hits Sports web site will not be realised unless all players use it.

Junior Report

• Coaching badges: Murray Scott reported that he had passed his ECB Level 1 Coaching examination; Keith Neave said that he was taking the examination this Saturday.
• Administrator: Murray Scott reported that he had persuaded one of the parents, Jenny Hutchinson, to take on this role.
• Junior managers: James Vallance reported that Phil Murphy will run the Under 13s and Paul Morris the Under 14s. A the moment, all the other teams will have to be run by Phil Noot, because neither James Vallance nor Murray Scott are available on midweek evenings. Murray Scott took the action to try to recruit some more team managers from among the parents in order to take the pressure off Phil Noot.  

Treasurer’s Report

• 2011 Annual Dinner debtors: Murray Scott reported that no further progress had been made on this issue. The debtors are as follows: Asim Ahmed £20, Razaq Ishaq £45, Zamir Khan £45, Faris Khan £20, Qasim Khan £20, Rehan Khan £25, Raf Mughal £25 and Abdul Sattar £25.
• 2011 match fees: Murray Scott reported that no further progress had been made on the one match fee outstanding from the 2011 season - for the 1st XI friendly match at Dunstable in September, and he is chasing Mudho Ahmed for this.
• Action on debtors: it was agreed that all debts, including this year’s annual subscriptions and the above, must be settled by the end of May or the said player will not be selected – even if that means the club defaulting on fixtures.  
• Bank charge: Murray Scott gave Matthew Stevenson a letter to sign and send to NatWest re the £70 bank charge which has been incorrectly applied to our account (see January minutes).
• Current balance: Murray Scott reported that, taking into account all outstanding bills, the current balance is circa £700.
• Match fees for the 2012 season: it was agreed that match fees should remain at the same level as in previous seasons: £15 for the Saturday 1st XI, £12 for the Saturday 2nd XI, £10 for the Saturday 3rd XI, and £10 for all Sunday XIs.

Fund Raising and Social Report

• Indian Barbecue: Saqib Ahmed suggested having two separate menus given that the 1st XI is playing away on this date. It was agreed that the ticket prices should be the same as last year, namely £10 for adults, £5 for juniors and £25 for families, and that we should cater for 80 people. Saqib Ahmed took the action to discuss the plans for this event with Shabir Ahmed and Bashir Ahmed.
• Advertisements on club web site and fixture booklets: James Vallance said that adverts could be posted on the Hits Sports web site and it was agreed that we should pursue this rather than trying to produce a fixture booklet.
• Annual Dinner: this event will now be moved back a week to Saturday, 22nd September, because a number of key people in the club cannot make the 15th.

Ground Report

• New/improved practice facility: Martin Crossley was unable to attend the meeting but submitted a document with his recommendations for review by the committee. He recommended upgrading the existing facility for the 2012 season with a new, thicker mat with an underlay and new netting to make it usable for all but the quickest bowlers, and then putting down a third lane next winter for the 2013 season which would be suitable for all bowling speeds. James Vallance said that he needed four lanes next season so that multiple groups of juniors could practice at the same time, so it was agreed that we would have to provide some mobile net facilities. The approximate costs would be circa £6,000 for the refurbishment (this would have to come from club funds) and circa £11-13,000 for the new lane (half of the funding for this could come from grants). There was then a discussion about whether it would be cost effective to build a fourth lane at the same time as the third; Murray Scott said that Martin Crossley had considered this but the discount on the extra lane was not as much as one might have hoped. After a long discussion, it was agreed that we should a) proceed with the refurbishment pending confirmation that CPSA will provide the funds, b) build a mobile net from matting and poles that we currently have, and c) purchase an additional mobile net at a cost of circa £800; Keith Neave took all three actions. It was then agreed that we should proceed with the new lane project as well: more discussion on the number of lanes we need, and how we will fund this project, will be scheduled for future meetings. 
• Groundsman contract: it was agreed that the end of season work should be included in Shabir Ahmed’s terms of reference, and that we should therefore pay him for the whole of September rather than just half the month as present. It was also agreed that he should be given a 4% cost of living pay rise, so his salary for 2012 will be £3120 payable in six monthly instalments of £520. However, it was also agreed that he should be given a precise list of tasks against which his future performance should be measured. Keith Neave took the action produce this list of tasks, and Matthew Stevenson took the action to explain them to Shabir Ahmed.
• Moles: Keith Neave reported that the moles had fortunately moved away from our outfield at the moment but the threat of them returning remains; he will still ask Gerrards Cross Golf Club to fertilise the outfield – the chemicals usually drive away moles.  
• Square, outfield and machinery: Keith Neave gave a very brief report because it had already been a very long meeting; in a nutshell, the square and outfield are both looking good at the moment.

The following officers were elected at the AGM on Friday, 25th November:

Chairman: Keith Neave
Secretary: Matthew Stevenson
Treasurer: Murray Scott
Fixture Secretary: Dan Webb
Club Captain: Saqib Ahmed
Junior Manager: James Vallance
Social and Fundraising Rep: Jonathan Chater
Ground Rep: Keith Neave
CPSA Board Rep: James Vallance

Selection Manager: Matthew Stevenson
Saturday 1st XI Captain: Raf Mughal
Saturday 2nd XI Captain: Jeremy Sewell
Saturday 3rd XI Captain: Keith Neave
Sunday 1st XI Captain: Mudho Ahmed
Sunday 2nd XI Captain: Vacant