I am not going to even attempt to thank people individually for their efforts at the weekend, because I would be listing 100 + people and I would be here all night.
Suffice to say, the weekend was a roaring success, with hard work, a lot of laughs and a genuine all round affection for the club from all participants as the drizzle faded and the temperature lifted as the day went on.
For a little club like ours to get over 100 volunteers is pretty staggering really, so everyone should be very proud of their input and what it means to the future of Oakley Cricket Club.
We made some money as well, with contributions from the raffle, food, cake stall and bar all boosting the coffers substantially. I won’t publish the amounts but if anyone wants to know them, give me a buzz or an email and I will break it down for you.
I’ve said it before and I will bore you all by saying it again. By operating as a community club, we are reaping the rewards, with players all buying into the fact that if everyone supports the club off the field, everything clicks into place elsewhere.
I used to know a lot of players at Oakley who assumed it was the norm just to just rock up and play without doing the graft to keep the place going; now I don’t know any, and our membership is at its highest for decades.
The way we have targeted new members when recruiting players has worked an absolute treat and without pulling out my trumpet and blowing into it, that is my best achievement as chairman by far. All we ask is that people buy into the club ethos and do a bit around the club when they can and that has proved a major success.
However, let’s not allow the NatWest day to be the end of all our efforts, let it be the start of a great period in our history. We need to push on and get all the jobs finished before the start of the season, which will be a herculean effort but I am sure we can get there.
The next task is to get the old place looking grand so people are spending money at the bar and joining in on community events. Then the next job after that is to start playing cricket again, winning matches and keeping up the NatWest/ECB tradition of bagging a trophy the season following a ‘Showcase Event’.
Well done to all of you for partaking in what, undoubtedly, will go down as one of the most successful days in our long history.
I hope you all enjoy the video of Saturday, if you want any individual pictures, let me know and I will email them to you.
Raffle Donations
Special thanks to:
Bombay Sapphire Distillery
Test Valley Golf Club
Berry Brothers and Rudd
Summerdown Mint
Beechdown Health Club
The Beach Arms
Flip Out Trampoline Park
Hampshire Cricket Board
England Cricket Board
Jeff and Tracy King
Steve Savage
Paul Sumner