Dear club members,
For those of you who don’t already know, I had the dubious honour of being voted in as the new chairman of Oakley Cricket Club last night, taking over from Gordon Scott who will remain on the committee.
I first met Gordon during the post Ashes euphoria in 2005 when we were re-establishing Colts cricket in the area and the first thing that struck me was the tireless effort that he put in to all aspects of keeping the club running. Gordon has invested hours and hours of his own time to the club without ever courting gratitude, plaudits or trophies. To me, this means only one thing…A genuine love of local cricket. I am sure you will all join me in thanking Gordy for his efforts over the years; I am delighted he is staying on the committee.
Without wishing to bore anyone in my first day in office, I think it is important that the club members are aware of the key aspects of the AGM that may affect them. Firstly, we have a new committee in place so to view the members and their titles please click here. Secondly it has been decided that because of ongoing economic uncertainty, club subscriptions should remain frozen for another season. It was also discussed that the committee should decide at our next meeting whether to bring in family discounts on match fees. We will keep you all well informed.
As the new chairman of the club, my first objective is to work towards knitting the whole club together as one. There has been a huge rise in numbers from the ongoing success of the Colts set up and because of the unprecedented pace that this has happened the club is somewhat fractured, with many seniors and colts not knowing the existence of each other. It is important that young players see the senior players as people to aspire to and the club needs to become a place where seniors will take time to come down to Oakley, have a beer and cheer the Colts on. The club’s future is based around Colts making the transition to seniors, something we are already benefiting from with players such as Julian Worthington, Jack Green, George Lethaby, Dan Sumner and Callum Van Dyk becoming regular Saturday players on merit.
With the help of George Rutt, one of the items on the agenda at our first meeting is to find a new second team captain (please step forward) and new players to bolster the club numbers. We will be doing this by launching budgeted advertising campaigns in the Basingstoke Gazette, the Hatch Warren Rabbiter and the Link in Oakley. If anyone knows potential new players please feel free to contact me on bob@cbsrecruit.co.uk. With the help of Wendy we will also be looking to arrange an evening in December to present season awards and recognition of people who have offered support to the club in 2012.
That’s about that for now but to finish, I would like to thank the club for putting faith in me to take on this role, it is one that I will relish and I am hopeful that I will receive the support from club members from the Colts right through to the established seniors and fellow committee members. I am always open to any ideas or suggestions to move our club forward.
As my Grandma once said to me
“To take on the role of another fine man, the first thing you must do is walk a mile in his shoes.”
I tried this today, but all I got was blisters and the distant cry of Gordy demanding I bring his shoes back!
Best regards
Bob Lethaby
Club Chairman
07956 537076