I’m delighted to be writing to you for the first time as Chairman of Leatherhead Cricket Club. I’ve been involved with the club for around 12 years since my son, Adam, now the Club Captain, joined as a 12-year-old. It’s been great seeing the club develop and grow over this time and I’m looking forward to helping the club continue to prosper in the coming years.

As well as introducing myself, this letter sets out the committee’s plan for the club for 2018, what’s been happening to put this plan into action, membership fees and registration for 2018.

As a committee we have three broad goals for 2018, which we believe will give us the platform to kick on in 2019 and beyond:

1. Revitalise senior cricket

2. Continue to develop and grow colts cricket

3. Build the club as a social hub.

1. Revitalise senior cricket

2017 was a challenging year for senior cricket. Whilst the 1st XI performed well, the 2nd XI were relegated and really struggled for availability, often having to play with 9 or 10 men. We were unlucky with injuries, but availability was a real problem as adult membership numbers decreased significantly.

Our focus for 2018 is:

- To rebuild adult membership and improve availability so we can ensure we have competitive 1st and 2nd teams
- Adam Dyson will continue as captain of the 1st XI and Matt Baker, a first team regular for many years, will become 2nd XI captain
- We have secured James Crowson as our overseas player. James is South African, from Cape Town, and is a top order batsman and off spin bowler. He’s also a qualified coach and will work with our Colts throughout the summer
- Through the leadership and efforts of Matt Joblin, we have also made good progress in attracting new members to the club, so I think we can look forward with confidence to the upcoming season.

2. Continue to develop and grow Colts cricket

We have a large and vibrant Colts section, with coaching and competitive cricket from the ages of 5 to 17. It is a vital part of the club and we are looking to continue to develop and grow Colts cricket this year and, in the future, as follows:

- We have appointed a new Head Coach, Ali Shah, who was previously head coach at Hambledon CC. Ali will lead the coaching team for all colts age groups and will be supported by Peter Crossman and a team of level 2 coaches, including a number of Colts parents and James Crowson, our overseas player
- We will offer regular sessions for all age groups and, subject to demand, will continue coaching through to the end of August
- I’m also pleased to say that Ali will play for the club
- Finally, MVDC have been receptive to our new pitch ideas and we are hopeful that we’ll be able move forward with our proposals in the near future.

3. Build the club as a social hub

We have always been a friendly and sociable club and we want to continue to be. It’s a key reason why people become members and it’s important for attracting new members; all clubs can provide cricket for adults and Colts, but we want to do more than that!

- I’m delighted that Andy and Lanie Baker have together taken on the role of Social Secretary with a plan to put on a series of events throughout the season. So far, we have planned;
- Presidents’ Day on Sunday 27 May
- Race night on Saturday 9 June
- Wine-tasting on Friday 15 June
- Midsummer Madness on Saturday 7 July, with more to come.
- We are committing funds to upgrading the clubhouse over the next month or so. We’ll have new men’s and ladies’ toilets and improvements in the kitchen, in particular a new double electric oven and hob.
- We’ll also be working on our website and social media to provide more information about what’s going on at the club.

So that’s the plan for this year and hopefully you can see that there’s a lot going on. The next big day for the club is the Workday and Member Registration on Saturday 7th April. This is the day that we get the club and grounds ready for the season, as well as being an opportunity for members to get together and for potential new members to find out more about the club.

Members of the committee will be at the ground from 9am, with member registration from 10am. As always, we are looking for willing volunteers to come and help with all the many tasks that are required to get the ground ready, so please come down if you can, even if it’s only for an hour or two. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

The committee have reviewed membership fees for 2018 and, I’m pleased to say, have taken the decision to hold them at the same level as 2018 across all membership categories.

To help finance these improvements, the committee has relaunched the 200 club which has been a fixture of the clubs fundraising for many years.

The 200 club is basically a type of lottery. Currently adult members pay just £4 per month over the full year to be entered into a draw with the chance of winning cash prizes of up to £100, with a £250 prize currently once a season. The model for the club is that 50% of members contributions are paid out as prizes with 50% being used to help fund the club.

So, with this year’s membership registration, we are asking for adult members and Colt’s parents to enter the 200 club and commit to a £4 contribution per month. It’ll be a bit of fun, a massive help to the club and you’ll also get the chance to win some cash!

We look forward to seeing you all soon as the new season approaches.

Ian Dyson
LCC Chairman