Message from the Chair
We’re now a month into the season and with the recent run of good weather, lots of cricket is being played across all the teams at the Club and the Common is a hive of activity, which is great to see.
On May Day, we again supported Southborough Street Community as they hosted an event on the Common. In its second year, it was really well supported by the local community – the turn-out was so great and our drinks stall so busy that we didn’t really get the chance to talk to people about the Club and try to recruit new members, both playing and friends of – saying that, the three women who left their details have joined up, which is fantastic!!
After two washed out weekends, the senior Saturday league sides started their campaigns and with good availability one week, we had enough numbers to put out a third XI (possibly for the first time since the 1920's- if anyone knows otherwise, please do let me know).
Junior training is in full swing on Saturday mornings up at the Club and Tuesday evenings at Southfields Park (thanks again to Skinners’ School for the use of their facilities – logistics for hardball training would be a nightmare otherwise) and the items purchased via the ECB Grant over the winter to improve our catering offer at the pavilion are really proving their worth – last Saturday morning we sold more than 90 bacon sandwiches, as well as many cups of ‘decent coffee’ and with the slush machine now up and running, this really helping in making families comfortable and wanting to spend more time in the lively surroundings- and it really anchors us as a family based community club.
The women’s softball cricket section is in its second season and the numbers of players continues to increase. The growth in this section has been phenomenal- pretty much all by word of mouth- and it's really pleasing to see how it's shaping the club, broadening the membership and allowing us to be more reflective of our local community.
As we grow these new ventures, its vital that we secure some new volunteers, so a plea to all our members to think about how you can support the Club. I've always expressed the view that we need to ensure that whatever we do is not reliant on an individual, so is repeatable over time and has resilience. Lots of people sharing the workload is preferable to a small number of people doing everything. Some of our current growth is down to already stretched volunteers picking up more tasks which is unsustainable and risks burning them out so I would ask you look at the roles we require volunteers to take on and think how you can help, even if it's only picking up parts to help spread the load. With that in mind, we're also keen to understand a bit more about some of the barriers to volunteering at the Club so we've produced a short survey here to get a bit more information. If you could spare a minute to fill it in that would be greatly appreciated: Southborough Cricket Club Volunteering Survey
Here’s to continuing good weather, good times and good cricket!!
David
Volunteering Roles required:
Catering Lead
With the growth of our Saturday morning food and drink offering, we are looking to establish a role to oversee its operation. This will allow us to continue to derive the benefits that we are seeing but will also ensure that we can flood the coaching with qualified coaches, so the children get the best offer. Here’s a quick overview of what is required:
- Manage catering stock
- Saturday morning Café (from pre All Stars, so 8.30ish) through to end of Under 9's (so mid-day) for 12 weeks from the end of April to just before the summer holidays.
- Be present most Saturdays
- Organise weekly rota
- Arrange set-up and close down/clean equipment (griddle, coffee machine, slush machine)
- Manage waste disposal (recycling/food waste etc.)
- Arrange to keep kitchen and general pavilion area tidy and bar stocked ahead of weekend fixtures
- Organise catering activities for irregular events (Sponsors’ Day, Community Day, May Day, Softball festivals etc.)
- Lead on Improvements to the kitchen area of the Club
150 Club co-ordinator
The 150 Club is well established with approximately 110 squares currently sold to a mixture of former players, long-time supporters of the Club and men's section playing members. There is a real opportunity to increase playing number by engaging witht hte junior section and newly created women's section. The role requires:
- Market the 150 Club to all sections of the Club and obtain new members – signing them up to the standing order facility
- Organise the monthly draws, including keeping payment records up to date and accurate
- Publish the winners of each monthly draw on the Club website
- Maintain the 150 Club bank account
- Pass the profits to the Treasurer for paying into the Club main bank accounts,
Social Media Lead
With 483 Facebook followers, 659 Instagram followers and 832 Twitter followers, the Club has a solid following despite not being able to dedicate time to developing an engagement strategy. There's a real opportunity to grow our reach so more people get to here about the fantastic work of the Club. The role requires:
- Creating engaging and informative content for Club members.
- Creating content and continuously updating the Club's website and social media platforms.
- Building a sense of community between the Club and its followers based on our values as a family based community Club.
Social Secretary
This is an area of great growth potential. At present, due to not having a lead, social events are limited to organising the Sponsors’ Day and the Club’s Annual Awards Dinner. This is a real shame as there is so much more we could be doing to bring people at the Club together. The role requires:
- Communicate with club members to identify suitable social activities for everyone in the Club
- Organise social events for the club (at a minimum, the Annual Sponsors’ Day and Club Awards Dinner)
- Work closely with the any Club fundraising sub-committee
- Organise events to encourage new members to the club
- Motivate club members to attend events
- Liaise closely with the Club committee
If you are interested in any of these roles, please contact the Chair, David Smith.
First Aid training
We are organising a cricket first aid training course, which will take place on 15 June from 6-9pm at Christ Church (Southborough). The Club will cover the cost of the training and there are 16 spaces available.
Looking for coaches, team managers, captains and anyone else that is regularly at matches (especially junior games and training) again so we can have resilience at these occasions and also meet the requirement to have first aid trained volunteers at every event.
If you're interested in attending the training, please let David Smith know.
Dates for the diary
Saturday 24 June- Mid-season BBQ (on the Common)
Sunday 2 July- Sponsor's Day
Club Shop
We are looking to do another bulk order. If you're looking to buy some training kit or playing kit, please order by 16 June.
The Club Shop is hosted by Kent Cricket Direct and the password is SCC 2021. For info, we will be adding ladies sizing to the training kit in the next few days:
https://www.kentcricketdirect.co.uk/teamwear/southborough-cc-shop/
Men's Senior Cricket
League cricket is in full swing and Sunday cricket starts next weekend. Please make sure you update your availability early – the captains look to complete selection early in the week (Monday or Tuesday) so to be considered, update the website. If you've forgotten your password, please contact one of the Captains.
Training is taking place on Thursday evenings from 6ish until it gets dark. Please try and come along- we've missed quite a bit of cricket with the wet weather at the start of the season, so make use of the opportunity to get some overs in.
Reminder that the early discount price for subs has now ended, it now reverts to £100 for adults and £50 for students. Captains have also been instructed to prioritise paid up playing members, so another good reason to make sure you have paid!!
Women’s Softball Cricket
After introducing women’s softball cricket last year, the squad goes from strength to strength and now look more professional with new playing kits and a new Sponsor – with huge thanks to Ben Holt from Sightscreen HR.
We started training at the beginning of May on Friday evenings with coaching from Steve, David and Mark- and welcomed around 15 new members. We then competed in our first competitive matches of the season when we hosted the first round of the Kent Women's Softball League at Southborough. We got off to a winning start and, despite losing the next two games, it was a great opportunity for many of our new players to get a taste of playing matches and much was learned.
There are three more rounds and we are also looking to arrange some friendly fixtures- details will be shared on Spond, so please respond to any availability requests when they come through. And we are still keen to recruit more players to what is now a thriving squad, so please spread the word!
Junior Cricket
With 60+ All Stars, 47 Under 9 boys, 11 Under 10 girls, 26 Under 11 boys, 14 Under girls, 20 Under 13 and 13 Under 15s, the numbers are looking healthy with lots of opportunities for game time. Co-ordinated by Stefan and with lots of hours from the coaches and from a number of parents the junior section is looking quite healthy.
It's the first season we have had an under 10 girls only squad and they are progressing rapidly. We train at 10.30-11.30 on Saturdays and very much welcome any more girls in years 3-6 who want to give softball cricket a try.
We could always do with more help, especially for the many tournaments that take place through the summer for the Under 9s. We're also on the look out for the next group of coaches, so please contact Stefan if you think you can help in any way.
150 Club
Recent winning draws, with each winner bagging £100:
January : Jake Marsh
February: Kevin Parkinson
March: Giles Mansell
April: Jamie Brown
To get involved, at £2 per square per month, please contact David Smith