Lost Summer – Update (and some signs of hope)

I hope this update finds everybody and their families safe and healthy.  These are tough times for everybody.

Right now we should be month into the full season, with two weeks of junior cricket under our belts and our first AllStars Saturday morning having taken place.   Some things are a lot more important than cricket – but it would be so good to be able to get together with everyone.

“There can be no summer in this land without cricket,” wrote the sportswriter Neville Cardus.   So let’s do what we can to make summer happen.  With last week’s government announcement relaxing some of the lockdown regulations we have some hope.

In this update:

• COVID19 Crisis – Managing the impact on the club’s future
• Return to Cricketing Activities
• Membership Update
• Annual Subs

Managing the Impact of the Crisis on the Club

We’re an amateur cricket club and we all pay for the pleasure of playing / taking part.  It’s a really simple model, until there’s no cricket to be played and nothing to pay for.

Getting the facilities ready (and the improvements we made in the closed season) and keeping them ready mean we have ongoing costs.   A saying I’ve heard from club groundsmen is “It can take one year to wreck a square and 3 years to fix it” (the language used was a bit more robust, but the picture’s clear).   Stan has been keeping on top of this admirably.

We did our maths within the Management Committee and calculated what the losses would be without cricketing income for whatever time it’s not available.  It was extremely sobering.

Thankfully we’ve been able to get grant funding in due to one of the many government schemes and that will mean that we will not need to dig deep into the cash reserves we’ve worked so hard to develop over the last 10 years or so.

The ground is looking great – Stan (ably assisted by James Taylor) has been on top of not just the square but the ground in general.  Check out the pictures:

 

Return to Cricketing Activities

The 10 May announcement from the government of some relaxation of the lockdown rules led to a lot of questions in many sports about what was / wasn’t permitted within the guidelines.

It’s taken a lot of work from the ECB to work out the risks and the permutations and on Friday (15 May) they issued their guidelines: Return to Activity in a Cricket Club Setting

Across Friday and yesterday we’ve gone through them in detail and we’re now ready to open up the club in a limited way for club members wanting to practice.  It’s important that we stick to these – we’ll update them as guidelines develop.

2205 Return to Cricketing Activities Conditions of Use

Make sure that you read them in full, but in short they are:

• We can practice in pairs but must observe social distancing rules at all times
• The ground will be open from 5pm – 8pm daily – but is subject to a strict booking system.
• Wash hands before and if possible bring your own sanitiser to use afterwards.  We will not be opening the pavilion or facilities – outdoor facilities only
• The booking system is laid out on TeamApp – but it starts by texting James Shaw who will coordinate it

Membership Update

These are tough times emotionally and financially for most people. We’ve been doing what we can during lockdown to keep things together.

Every Thursday night we’ve had upwards of 25 households logging into the club quiz night hosted by Jame Shaw.  That’s often been 30+ people pitting their wits against questions like “Who is older Ant or Dec?” or “Which of these is a tennis player: Chestnut Huey, Peanut Louie or Pecan Dewey?”.  Thanks James – these have been an invaluable way of staying in touch.

 

We’re aiming to have a big fund-raising quiz in the coming weeks as Jonny and James have sourced some cracking prizes.  Watch this space!

The Juniors have been keeping themselves busy in their daily exercise slots and have put their efforts to good use supporting a great cause.  Peter Herbert organised a video challenge to raise a targeted £400 for Chelwood Food Bank Plus.

The resulting video clips have been compiled below.  It contains thrills, spills, hedges and some outstanding performances.  Enjoy the video.

 

They’ve smashed their target of £400 – donations currently stand at £525.  If you haven’t already and feel able to support a great cause, donations can be made here: Stockport Trinity CC Junior Video Challenge

Annual Subs

We’ve kept annual subs on hold as everyone has come to terms with what has been going on.

Once it became clear that we’d be able to survive the summer financially the Management Committee agreed that we should cut annual subs to £25 for adults for the 2020 season.   That will allow us to maintain the club and be ready for whatever cricketing activities that social distancing guidelines permit.   Junior donations will remain discretionary.  If you can pay, it all helps.

A number of people had already paid their annual subs in full before we went into lockdown (it’s nice to know some people listen to me and act on Chris’s emails 😉 ).  You’ve got 3 options:

• Have it refunded – Chris Jackson will be more than happy to help
• Have the club keep it as a down-payment on 2021 subs
• Donate the difference (we’ll claim gift aid of 25% on it)

Finally, if you want to keep up to date with everything that is going on – get yourself on TeamApp if you haven’t already.  That’s where all member communications are being updated – including the link to get into the weekly quiz!