As the new season approaches, I wanted to give you an update on the club’s progress over the last year and what we have planned for the coming season. As you may have seen we have been busy making some essential improvements which will carry on right up to the start of the season. Like at the start of last season we have just started some improvements to the outfield with some essential work removing the moss, Verti drain and reseed the outfield. This should be complete before the season starts and we will hopefully see a vast improvement.
Over the last 12 months we have been working tirelessly to find funding for all of these improvements to the club starting last year with the new water heater for the showers, donations made from local businesses and individuals for the new terracing area and as you may have noticed the new staircase to access the changing rooms.
Our aim is to still improve our practice facilities, but we have found this difficult due to the cost of the grant required to install a new net system. On a positive note, we have been told that our application to the council chest fund has been successful and we will receive £2000.00 which will go towards our larger grant application.
Most recently we have also been informed that we have been successful with our application for funding to improve the outfield which will benefit the ground all year round. This funding is worth over 33k spread across 6 years and we hope to see improvements over the coming months.
Over the winter months we have been busy keeping the place tidy and making lots of improvements. These include the new concrete steps near the clubhouse, finally getting the concrete repaired along the access road, clearance of vegetation and trees over the far side to make the ground easier to maintain, the list goes on!
To all the people involved I can’t thank you enough for your hard work over the last year. Without all our volunteers the cost of the jobs undertaken would have been well beyond our reach and we wouldn’t have been able to achieve the amount of work we have carried out.
A special mention must also go out to Christine Sneddon for her work in the tearoom all year round. Christine has continued opening for the junior football teams, Huncoat United and Oswaldtwistle Juniors that have been playing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Also, thanks must go to Bryan and the team who look after the bar.
Over the next months in the run up to the season we will be focusing on the many jobs we need to get through in order to start the season with a tidy space. These include, general tidying of the terracing area, painting, rendering tearoom, more improvements inside the tearoom with new flooring and appliances going in over the next few weeks.
Once again, the list is large and it will be tough to complete without help from members. So I ask everyone now if you can help even for an hour or just to do one specific job this means that either myself or someone from the already stretch committee doesn’t have to do it. Please get in contact if you can help we have provided a list of jobs we are looking to do before the start of the season.
Memberships:
We have frozen the majority of memberships for 2024. The Club Membership stays at £30.00, OAP memberships will stay the same at £25.00. Vice Presidents and Patrons stay at £40.00 for the year after last years changes.
Senior Players memberships will stay at £120.00 with the option to add a partner for £20. Along with student memberships which stay at £50.00.
Junior memberships are to increase from £35 to £40 per child but with the bonus of parents and additional children being only £20 extra.
Increasing our membership is vital for the club’s survival as it feeds into running cricket and helps keep the social side of the club healthy and hopefully profitable.
We ask that all memberships are paid promptly before ethe season start, you can now pay all subscriptions online via our website which also includes great ways to support the club including a new way to donate. This can all be found at accringtoncricketclub.co.uk.
Jonathan Hayhurst
