The season is now getting in to full swing so I wanted to give you an update on what’s been going on and, in particular, let you know about some upcoming events at the club.

Cricket

We’re now 3 weeks into the league season for the 1s and 2s and 4 weeks in for the 3s. It was good to see the 1s register their first win at Spencer last Saturday after a couple of very narrow defeats. This win was down to a disciplined bowling performance on a good wicket and an excellent run chase, featuring a 143 run partnership between Mike Nicol (85 not out) and James Grady (72). James’ knock follows his fantastic century the previous week in the narrow loss against Chessington in what has been a great start for our overseas player. A special mention for John Tribe, new to opening the batting this year, who carried his bat for 74 not out in the first game against Camberley. The team will be hoping to build momentum with another win at home to Walton this weekend.

The 2s began with an exciting one wicket win against Epsom, with the injured James Lander being almost carried out to the crease to smash the winning runs! This was followed by an equally agonising one wicket defeat against Worcester Park, a game in which Dave Baker scored 55 and took 7 for 26, not bad for someone who normally keeps wicket! The third game against Old Whitgiftians was also lost but featured 5 for 29 from Jack Bradley.

It’s been great to see the 3s back in action after a two year break and they are now 4 games into the season, with a record of won 2, lost 2. The team has been a really good mix of younger players and more experienced members, including some juniors parents and members who have been dragged out of early retirement! This is exactly what we wanted to achieve and we’re really pleased with how it’s going so far with some good cricket being played in an enjoyable environment. There have been 50s from Fin Rose, Joe Wiggins and Joel Friend (97 v Albury featuring a 130 partnership with younger brother Alex, who scored 43). The bowling highlight was Duncan McCullough’s 5 for 16 also against Albury.

The Leatherhead Swans T20 team have played 2 matches in this years Surrey Slam, with one win and one loss. This team, lead by Fin Rose, is targeted at our younger players, although it has been great to see Nic Vos play in both alongside his son, Nathan, and also features players from our sponsor Bytes Software. The next match is on 5 June away at Ripley. Also in T20, the Over 40s Social XI began their season with a match against Walton and this new team, under the leadership of Andy Meyer, has been very well supported with many junior parents signing up to play this season. There’s a match report on the website together with a great photo of the team looking resplendent in their Persil sponsored shirts! Finally on the adult side, the Sunday Strollers have played 3 matches so far, but unfortunately have suffered a few cancellations. On the positive side, this freed up Sunday regulars such as Jamie Mead, Tony Garton and Paul Dolan to play for the 3s and it was great to see them supporting the club in this way.

Junior cricket is in full swing now with lots of fixtures for all age groups being played and scheduled. Training continues under the guidance of Ken Rose, supported by James Grady and the team of coaches, all but one of whom come from the ranks of club members. Results to date have been mixed but there remains lots to play for in the remainder of the season. It’s been great to see so many of the older juniors playing Saturday and T20 cricket and performing well, something we’re looking forward to building on during the school holidays.

Summer Cricket Courses

In partnership with member Peter Crossman and his company EzeeCricket, we are running two full week cricket camps at the Club this summer, in the weeks commencing 29 July and 19 August. You can find out more by clicking on www.ezeesport.com/pages/summer-holiday-camps or contact Peter on peter@ezeesport.com or on 07717 721231. Ezeesport also run multi-sport holiday clubs throughout the summer holidays every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

What’s on at the Club

There’s lots going on at the club over the next couple of months for you to enjoy. With apologies for the short notice, it starts this Saturday 1 June, when we are planning to show the Champions League final after the 1s game against Walton. This does depend on John Lewis delivering a replacement TV this week - the first one they sent us and which was mounted last week was cracked! So fingers crossed.....

We then have the World Cup Family Day on Sunday 23rd June, which will feature a 4 team junior 10 over match tournament, BBQ, bouncy castle, cake stall and other stalls and a raffle, with the bar open all day.

On Friday 5 July, we will have a wine tasting evening, again hosted by Hannibal Brown Wines. This will be followed by Race Night on Saturday 20 July.

Further details of these events can be found on the website and on the events notice board in the club.....when it goes up hopefully this week!

There will be a raffle at the World Cup Family Day and there will also be prizes at the Race Night. We are always looking for prizes to offer and so if any of you have anything you’d like to donate or have contacts who might be willing to do so then please do let me or Louise Sutherland know. These events are designed for the enjoyment of our members but they also serve as an important source of fund raising for the club, so anything you can offer would be most gratefully received.

Finally on the social and events side, I’ve had a number of recent requests from members about hiring the clubhouse for private functions. This is not something we’ve actively marketed in the past but is something we’re happy to do for our members. There is incremental cost for the club in hosting such events (bar stocking, bar staff, cleaning etc.) so we have decided that there should be a hire charge of £125 for an evening event, which will include one bar person for the evening. The bar prices will not change from normal, so we think this is great value for any member wanting to use the club in this way. If you are interested then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Ground and clubhouse development

The new ground entrance sign is planned to be installed this Thursday and that will conclude development on the ground until the autumn/winter, when the net development, car park extension and new storage shed is planned. The clubhouse work will conclude with the new TV installation and a few other final bits and pieces.

We are currently finalising the lease for the new development with MVDC and the Gym club and are in the process of applying for funding from Surrey Cricket and the London Marathon Trust. We are also discussing a major club fund raising dinner/event so watch this space.