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STAPLETON CRICKET CLUB - MARCH

NEWSLETTER

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to our March Newsletter.

Well things are getting busy at Stapleton and in a lot of other places. The kids are back at

school, which is a relief for a lot of us and brilliant for them (not that they would tell you

that), as they get to re-engage face to face with their friends and start getting back to

some form of normality. I’m sure a lot of you are excited by the gradual re-opening of

venues and I can confirm that we are getting ourselves well and truly prepared at The

Hollow.

So what's been happening at the club?

In memory of Phil Johns

Phil Johns (1936-2021)

Saturday, 6th March saw the passing of one of the club’s finest servants. A Life Member,

Phil first joined the club in 1951 and apart from spells at St Mark’s and Roman Glass in

the 1970s, he had been a fixture at the club ever since. Beginning as a hard-hitting

batsman and medium pace bowler, Phil ended his playing career keeping wicket as

captain of a highly successful third eleven which won four promotions in five years

between 1998 and 2002.

Once he’d hung up his boots at the age of 67, he did the scoring for the club’s second X1

right up to the end of last season, looked after the reporting of all results on a Saturday

night/Sunday morning and produced statistics for inclusion in captains’ and youth team

managers’ end of season reports.

His contribution to youth cricket at Stapleton, following his return to the club, in 1981,

was huge. He managed the under 17s for many years in two spells and carried out the

scoring duties at all junior levels countless times over many years. Further afield, he

served eight years as League Secretary of the Bristol Youth League during the 1980s,

edited and produced the League Handbook and was a long-time member of the

Management Committee. He was elected a Vice President of the League in 2007 in

recognition of his services to the BYCL.

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But, more than all that, Phil loved the game and gave so much to everyone, asking

nothing in return. He was never happier than when seeing a young player do well,

perhaps helping the team to a win. Then, sitting in the pavilion, that pint of Thatcher’s

would go down particularly well.

Phil was diagnosed with lung cancer in January and died peacefully in Southmead

Hospital. We will all miss him so much. Heartfelt condolences go to his family and wide

circle of friends.

Phil’s’ funeral is planned for 9.15am at Westerleigh on 25th March. Due to the current

restrictions numbers are limited but Rob, Phil’s son, has told us it is planned to be

shown online with details to be announced. The club will be remembering Phil formally

when the season gets underway.

Volunteers – Huge thanks

After saying that last month was quiet, well this month has started considerably

differently. Thanks to Jackie Lewis organising a willing band of volunteers we have seen

some magnificent (socially distanced) work going on at the club to spruce things up in

advance of the new season. Can we offer a huge thank you to everyone who has

volunteered so far to help prepare the club for the season, score hut and sight screens

painted, and clubhouse patio and fascia power washed; what a difference! A couple

more weekends to go and volunteers at the ready, thank you

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Other work at the club

We’ve also been working hard to get the wickets and nets ready for action. A mobile net

has been acquired which will help with training and we are waiting for a range of new

stumps and nets to arrive to help with our training sessions. The nets have been

extended and look great. Also the hump at the top of the ground is starting to sprout its

first signs of grass so should turn into a thing of beauty over the next few weeks.

Trees have also been pruned and walls mended. Thanks to everyone that’s lent a hand

to get all of the work done especially Dave Birks, Errol, Crawf and Willow.

And some people will go to any lengths to try and win clubman of the year – Give the

rest of us a chance Errol

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A note from our Social Chair

Thanks to everybody who took the time to complete our recent social events survey. I'm

pleased to announce that the votes for the most popular social event have been counted

and verified. The results are in and as follows; in 1st place is Quiz Night followed by Live

Music, Race Night, Beer Festival, Fancy Dress and Food/Drink Tasting. There were also

some other great ideas for events, all of which will be given consideration.

Now that we have a more comprehensive fixtures list, I'm in the process of completing a

social events calendar to include as many of these popular choices as possible. Once this

has been completed it will be sent out for everybody to save the dates in their diaries

Covid permitting. Otherwise, keep an eye out on the cricket club website and social

media pages.

The idea of a Supporters Club Monthly Prize Draw has proved to be a popular choice

with many of you wishing to participate. We'll try and get this up and running for the

first prize draw in April. Further details of how to enrol will be sent out on a separate

email.

That's all from me just now, so here's to a fun packed event filled cricket season for all.

Jimmy Lamb.

And now for some cricket

With all the preparation that has been done it’s almost time for the main event to start

and that’s the cricket. Thanks to some sterling work from our Fixture Secretary Nick

Adams and from Ian in the juniors, combined with Matt Chid on the website and the

selection committee, everything is getting ready to rumble. Please see below for some

key dates:

Training

• Senior Training – Thursday 1st April

• Junior Training – Friday 2nd April

Please look out for emails from Sam Millard (Senior Players) and Ian Crawford

(juniors) respectively in relation to specific times.

Matches

The senior teams will kick off with home and away fixtures against Bradley Stoke

on Saturday 10th April. Again keep your eyes peeled for availability forms coming

out from Sam Millard our Team Secretary.

Junior matches will also commence in April with the dates just being finalised

All fixtures can be viewed by going to www.stapleton.play-cricket.com

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Subscriptions, Registration, Availability and Selection

Annual Subs - Subscriptions are due from 1st April so please take action when you

receive the registration emails from Matthew Chidgey (seniors) and Ian Crawford

(juniors). All of the information about the subscription amounts and how to pay will be

included in the email, google form and leaflet that you will receive. Please pay as

promptly as you can. If there are any issues with paying subs, please speak to your team

captain or Ian from a junior perspective.

Match Day Subs – For senior cricket, match subs are also payable.

You may see, or hear, references to the Slate app around the club. This is how the club

has chosen to collect match fees from everyone who plays senior cricket at the

weekends in the coming season. We believe that this will provide significant benefits for

the club and its members. Therefore please sign up to use the app when you get an

email invitation.

It will significantly reduce administration for your Captains and the Committee because

if everyone signs up and uses the app there will be no need for the Captains to collect

cash from players on a match day;

• Slate provides us with a contactless method of collecting match fees and is,

therefore, Covid compliant;

• No payments can be taken without your permission;

• There are no transaction fees for members. Any transaction fees will be paid

directly by the club.

If you do have any queries please contact your Captain, or the Treasurer, or contact

Slate directly at help@slateapp.co.uk.

IMPORTANT REGISTRATION - Please keep your eyes peeled for emails coming

out for the senior sections. These will ask you to complete a google registration

form. It’s really important that you fill the form in promptly so please be diligent.

AVAILABILITY - As mentioned last month and above, we will also be working

hard to improve selection, communication and timings. Availability requests will

be sent out by our Team Secretary (Sam Millard) with a request for you to tell us

about your availability for the coming 4 weeks. Please respond promptly as this

will allow us to prepare, plan and deliver so that everyone knows which team

they are selected in early each week.

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New Players

It is also brilliant to welcome new senior players and in the last few weeks we have seen

a number of new joiners who I hope you will extend a huge Stapleton welcome to The

Hollow.

They are:

• Sam Robinson

• Jimmy Herrick

• Riz Baig (Riz – Welcome as a player as well as a junior Dad)

A massive Stapleton welcome to you all. We hope you enjoy your cricket and time at

SCC.

Sponsorship

Again more thank you’s are in order for the great work done by Jackie Lewis and also

the massive generosity of our sponsors who continue to grow. Again thanks to

Character Group and Western Power Distribution, Broadstone, Broadwater, Softech, Six

Sixes and Bayrol. We now have a special sponsor’s area on the club website

https://stapleton.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/317723 . Please visit the page

and click on the sponsors names to have a look at their websites. Where possible please

support our sponsors as its important where we can we reciprocate their kindness. In

terms of sponsorship if anybody else can help with generating some for the club please

can you contact Jackie on jackielew24@outlook.com as she would love to hear from you.

Club Merchandise

Things have moved forward with our playing kit. Junior shirts are in production as I

write and are available to purchase via the club shop via the Six Sixes website

https://www.sixsixescricket.co.uk/product-category/cricket-club-team-

wear/stapleton-cc/. Senior playing and training attire will also be available very shortly.

We are also finalising a junior training shirt which has been kindly sponsored by Imran

Shah of Softech. More news about this will be coming out shortly.

Ladies Social (Soft Ball) Cricket Tournaments

We are close to setting the date for Stapleton to host a Women’s Softball Tournament at

The Hollow. Please keep your eyes peeled for more information. If you would like to

play please get in touch with Jo or Charlie via email at jo_lark@yahoo.co.uk or

Charlie@bakehousefactory.co.uk .

Some compliance – Club Social Media use

As the season nears, I also need to make you aware of a key area that we all need to

keep in our minds. All of the clubs official social media platforms are there to keep

everyone informed about cricket and club related activities. Can I ask that we all keep

this in our minds when posting on Stapleton CC related sites as it is vitally important

that posts or comments on these sites relate to cricket and club related activity only.

The clubs social media policy and a document covering Do’s and Don’ts can be viewed

by following the link to the clubs website https://stapleton.play-

cricket.com/doc_details?doc_id=19879&doc_type=docs&keywords=&page=1

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And Finally

In finishing can I thank you again for taking the time to read the newsletter. Huge

thanks again to all of the Committee and everybody who has helped out in all of the

different ways. If I have missed anybody, I apologise in advance as it is definitely down

to amnesia rather than deed.

More information will be available via the club website and also via the WhatsApp and

Facebook groups in the coming days and weeks so please keep your eyes peeled.

It’s now almost time to play some cricket – yippppppppeeeeee. Here’s to seeing you

shortly at The Hollow. Have a great March.

And just to say, God bless you Johnsy. We’ll miss you mate and we will do our very, very

best to make you proud.

Cheers

Andy Chidgey

Chairman

Stapleton Cricket Club

www.stapleton.play-cricket.com