May News Letter

We hope everyone is enjoying the start of the new cricket season. Lots of things have happened over the winter and a great deal of work has gone into preparing for the new season.

Parental Support

We would like to thank those parents who have volunteered to help with the coaching and running of the club this season. This is essential now we have 3 junior practice nights and we have been very encouraged to see so many new people offering their support.

 Ground and Facilities

 Many hours have been spent over the winter improving the ground and facilities at the club. Teams of volunteers led by Phil Hirst, Alan Moore and Ken Malcolm have been working very hard on the square and outfield and I am sure you will appreciate how good it is looking.  Groups have been painting, doing joinery work and many other important jobs. Many of our older junior members have been involved in these projects and their contribution has been vital.

 A new double garage has been built and essential drainage work carried out. A lot of work has also been undertaken on ground maintenance equipment. The cost of all this has been considerable, totalling approximately £7000.

 Thanks to everyone who has been involved in this – you’ve done a great job.

Practice Cage

We have been very fortunate to purchase an excellent new practice cage due to the generosity of donations from Meltham Freemasons and Andrew Sanderson. On behalf of everyone at Thongsbridge Junior Cricket we would like to say a very big thank you for providing us with such a valuable and useful resource.

 Congratulations

 Congratulations to Tom Kemp and Daniel Whiley who passed their ECB Level 1 coaching courses. Both Tom and Danny are actively involved coaching our junior members on Thursday and Friday evenings.

 Fundraising 

It is vital that we now raise money to make our ground and equipment more secure. We have had quotes of £3000 to create a fenced area where we can safely store our new net and we would also like to purchase a container to provide essential storage for other equipment.

We would like to form a fund raising team and to encourage as many parents as possible to think how they may be able to support our fundraising efforts. If you have any ideas or are willing to organise any events please let us know.

Two of our parents have been able to obtain grants from the companies they work for – all they had to do was apply. Many companies offer grants, sponsorship, matched funding etc. If anyone else is in a position to do this through their companies, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

Website

 We would like to create our own Thongsbridge Cricket website and are looking for someone who would be interested in setting one up. This would be a very useful tool to have and a good source of news and information for our members. 

Stop Press!!!!!!

Fantastic news!! – we have just been informed that we have been successful with a grant application to the Local Network Fund. A considerable amount of work has been put in over the winter by the Junior Committee to prepare and submit the application and we would particularly like to thank Sue Tonge and Andrew Wagstaff for all their time and hard work.

We have been allocated almost £7000 which has to be used to purchase valuable training equipment and coaching resources. We are delighted that this will include a bowling machine, Flicx coaching pitches and other valuable equipment from which all our members will benefit.

It is now even more important that we fundraise to provide secure storage for all this equipment.