Thanks to all those that attended the Dinner & Dance on Friday. Special thank to Kathryn, Stuart and Del for getting us all organised and making the venue look so welcoming.
For those of you unable to attend please find my end of season summary speech....
"2019 has been a year of consolidation @ NECC, after a very expensive and fast-paced 2018. My personal feeling is that in 2019 there has been a real re-discovery of our North Enfield mojo. This has happened as all sections have come together and we are all firing as one; we are all motivated, we are enjoying our cricket, are well run and we are proud of our club and our heritage. That’s only my opinion, what’s the evidence?
- 1s – have an excellent team spirt being nurtured by TC with a consistent core of players making themselves available. We are playing a very good standard of inspiring cricket which is great to see
- 2s – making our debut in Division 10B with Andy at the helm with a mixture of long-standing experienced players, new faces - be they parents, existing members playing a bit more, some Ignatians players who have re-found a summer sport and most satisfying, our juniors now finding their feet in adult cricket; 10B has been a perfect platform for this. Availability has been good and as we will see later on, there have been many impressive performances
- Juniors – Wednesdays are brilliant and all teams have been well run and supported by coaches, parents and grandparents. Also impressive that we have supplied players into county and borough levels and our teams have reached semi-finals and a final of competitions featuring much bigger clubs than us!
Since my Chairmanship started 9 years ago I have always said it has been the most difficult for many years. We have needed to invest in facilities (inside and out), equipment, machinery and our coaches. We have had periods of weak availability as there have been no Juniors coming through and we had had to evolve the way the clubs operates. It has not been easy, but this hard work is now bearing fruit with new facilities, much-improved availability, slick process and importantly we are financially stable. I’m so proud of our club and how we have come together to make all these things happen!
I know I say it all the time and I won’t apologise for repeating myself, but the efforts of our Management Committee and the dedication they show is nothing sort of herculean. So much has to be right off the field for anything to happen on it. I have always been in total awe of everyone’s dedication, organisation, their considerable skill sets and motivation. Thanks to Colonel, Steve, Del, TC, Andy, Gleno, Ken, Mally, Jane, Nick and last but by no means least Richard Barber our President. A special mention to Steve who has been a breath of fresh air and I thank him for all he has contributed in only one year as Secretary.
What else of 2019?
- I’m still trying to work out the rules of DVD’s world cup sweepstake!
- we have all enjoyed well attended club social events, plus matches and playing other sports with other Enfield clubs
- we hosted the Tauranga Boys’ College from New Zealand
- I finally got round to organising the plaque for our new roller
- we broke our £50k funding barrier with our Cricket World Cup award so could continue to invest in our club
- thanks to Nina Skillet and Metaswitch for sponsoring our U17 playing shirts
- we retained our Clubmark
- and after years of chasing, we finally got the hedge cut back!
2019 has been my 35th @ North Enfield and I thank you for entrusting me as Chairman of our fantastic club."
Reminder to you that we will be wreath making next Sunday from 13.00 at the club. There will be soup and mince pies on hand. Please bring scissors/ secateurs and a bag for foraging.
We are taking a table at EIRFC President's lunch on Saturday 14th December. Can you please let me know if you want to join our table ASAP. It is sure to be another great afternoon.
Finally our November Management meeting has been delayed so sorry for not setting the date for the 2020 AGM yet. It will probably be one of the last two weekends in February as normal. I'll let you know ASAP.
I say it in every mail because it is true; NECC is as much your club as it is mine and all of us on Management. If you have any ideas, suggestions, observations or thoughts about anything re. our club then please let me know.
Many thanks for reading my mails and with very best wishes
James
James Scott
Chairman, North Enfield Cricket Club