From

Message

President

Posted : 07/05/2007 21:45

Subject : Opening of the 2007 Season

WHAT a wonderful opportunity to begin the 2007 season by sending a message via The Royal Mail and Electronic Mail, courtesy of Ashford Cricket Club's new website.

Here, the full story of Ashford Cricket Club, past and present, unfolds before your very eyes. Thanks to the expertise and hard work of web designer Andy Laney, with great support from Simon Taylor and Julian Day, the club can march into the 21st century with a website as good as anything available on the world wide net.

Rest assured that members without computer technology will continue to receive the same postbag as before, but the advantage of seeing the club on-line is something not to be missed if possible. Fixtures, social events, club history, players past and present, membership details, junior development programme...the site offers a service not to be missed.

This promises to be an important season for Ashford. Under the chairmanship of Paul Koronka, we have managed to draw back from the abyss that confronted us two or three years back, to enjoy the start of what should become a sustained period of progress on the playing front and in revenue building.

Balancing the books continues to be a problem. Club cricket has never cost more to run than it does today. We owe it to the club to pay our way, to balance the books. The committee is working hard to raise funds. By supporting club fund-raising initiatives, you will be playing your part to help sustain the progress being made by our committee.

More than 100 colts joined our junior development programme in April, a tribute to the hard work put in by Simon Taylor over the winter months, supported by a loyal and hardworking group of colts officials he has appointed to run this vital section of our club.

May we wish them much success and happiness in the months ahead.

The senior club continues to make steady progress on all fronts, under the control of cricket manager Julian Day. Julian's return to Ball Lane was always a bonus, but the effort, enthusiasm and expertise he has poured into the job is nothing short of remarkable.

First and second team defeats by Hythe in the opening fixtures showed we still struggle to hit the ground running at the start of a new campaign, but if the results measure-up to the quality of some of the players available to Ashford this season, then we should enjoy a successful season with promotion again a possibility.

An exciting programme of social events has been drawn-up for the season. I would urge everyone to support these fund-raising functions. If we can develop a party-spirit for the wives, girlfriends, families and friends of our players, Ashford's clubhouse could become a very attractive venue for a shindig or two this summer.

Please may I recommend one social event in particular, the showpiece match between Ashford and the Lashings World stars, on Wednesday, 22 August. Some wonderful ex-Test players are turning out against our lads and we are expecting another bumper crowd that day.

Please come along and watch. If you would like to play a larger part in the proceedings, please book a table for lunch in the marquee. Full details available on the website.

I plan to post four or five President's Messages on the website during the season. Meanwhile, may I wish you all a happy cricketing season and take my leave with some words penned by the late John Arlott:-

The members sat in their strong deck-chairs
And sometimes glanced at the play,
They smoked and talked of stocks and shares,
And the bar stayed open all day.