mag 1210.pdf - Holybourne

Holybourne Cricket Club Autumn 2010 update
One of the downsides to the regularity of seasons and
seasonal sports is that one tends to think along similar
lines at the same time each year. And our cricket club
is no exception to that. At this time of year we tend to
reflect on how the season has gone, keep our fingers
crossed for a successful Bonfire night and the members
(but certainly not the committee) go into hibernation –
from a cricketing perspective.
We have completed another very successful season, our
Colts progress at a good pace and our adults – young or
old, lithe or creaking, skilful or keen – keep the runs flowing
and the wickets tumbling. The First XI did an excellent job
of consolidating their position in the Hampshire County Div
4 having lost a number of players from previous seasons.
The Second XI made a brilliant start to the season but
couldn’t quite keep it going and eventually finished in 4th
place – but still a great season. The Sunday side had a
quite strange year in that lots of games were not played –
unusually not to the great British weather but more because
opponents could not raise teams. This seems to be a
growing problem generally and we are actively looking at
other ways of keeping Sundays alive in different ways and
hope to have more news soon.
Probably our greatest achievement this year was to
formally achieve Clubmark status. This is a national
programme which recognises good practice in a number
of areas involved with Colts cricket. Think of it as a
Kitemark or BSI accreditation for cricket clubs which have
a youth section. Essentially it means we adhere to high
standards of care, control, coaching and development of
younger cricketers. It brings advantages to the club in
terms of additional support available from county and
national level and sends a very positive message to the
community, schools, local authorities and funding agencies
about the quality and safety of a club’s junior section. But
such status does not come easily!!! The resultant
paperwork could readily be passed off as a decent sized
thesis – and frankly this has taken longer than a Masters
degree would have done. But we are there – tremendous
kudos to Paul Taylor for getting this finished. All we have
to do now is maintain the accuracy of the information but
that is another matter………….
I mentioned up top, that this is being written around the
time of Bonfire night. Work demands mean it has been
written in several stints so I can now record that November
5th was another very successful event. Lots of people
from the village, with their friends and family from outside
saw another excellent display of fireworks along with our
huge roaring bonfire. A huge thank you to all of you who
came along and also for the very many compliments you
passed back to us – they are warmly received and help to
justify continuing the event. It seems the bonfire component
of the evening is something of a rarity these days but we
will be endeavouring to keep it going in the future. We are
also looking at ways of making the firework display bigger,
brighter, louder and longer. Whatever we do decide to do,
I feel extremely confident you will not have better value for
money.
And so to next year. The committee is already looking
ahead to see how things will shape up. The two league
sides will continue and we hope to have exciting news on
the Sunday side for the next edition. More of our colts will
make the step up to senior cricket – and they have been
an amazing success for the last 2 or 3 years – and at the
lower end of the age spectrum we hope to see some of
those tiny tots start to demonstrate their natural aptitudes
which we will help to nurture and develop. Who knows,
the next Strauss, Flintoff or Botham may be out there
asking mum and dad for a bat for Christmas!!
On behalf of the Club and the Committee, I would like to
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous,
successful and healthy New Year.
Here’s to another season with leather and willow - cheers!
Richard Kelly
The Holybourne Village Magazine - Winter Issue 2010
Page 21