I wanted to give you a feeling for what happens behind the playing side of our club, what our plans are and most importantly, what you can do to help.

Phase one of my tenure in this role was all about the Junior section. We saw this as key to our future, both for playing numbers and financially too. And what a development we have seen. A ten-fold increase in playing numbers, a huge cash injection into the club and a pool of players for the Senior teams to call on now and for years to come. The development of Girl’s cricket is not only a joy to see, but vital if we are to have any future success in future grant applications. Every grant application these days by the way, is only considered if the club in question has a Disabled and/or Girls section. Let’s be clear, thanks to Tom’s (Tom Vila, Juniors Lead) work, your cricket and membership is reasonably priced, if not cheap compared to other clubs. Without his work and the Junior section income, we’d all be paying double at least. We all now must recognise what Tom has done, the hours it’s taken, and protect this work for the future by helping him out.

I’ll be honest, like many of you I am sure, I had no idea of just how hard Ali (Alastair Fantham, Secretary) and Tom work for the club, how much time they freely give up providing you with these wonderful facilities and the high quality of monetary management that keeps us stable. My priority is to spread that load for them, organise things better so we are not all so reliant on a small few. And let us be realistic here, at some point they could well throw their hands in the air and say, ‘enough is enough’. Then we are in trouble. So, what is the plan?

Well, here is Phase 2...

Tom and I have been working for months with the creche to negotiate a new agreement. This is nearing conclusion and will generate substantial extra funds. This extra money will not give us a pot of gold though; it will allow us some breathing space at best. Cricket is an expensive sport to provide for, and even with this extra we will only break even. That is fine, some would say that is how it should be. But it does mean we are always battling uphill.

Let’s be honest, we have one of the best groundsmen around, so we are delighted to have agreed a new deal to keep Mark (Mark Hobley, Groundsman & Fixture Secretary) with us. This was against some strong attempts to prize him away. His work and our facilities punch way above their weight, please do not take this for granted.

There are numerous grants available for facilities and equipment. We enjoyed tens of thousands of these towards the nets, thousands more towards ground equipment and we are working towards further income for new flooring and toilets. There is always an opportunity to apply for more, it would be great to have some help.

Management restructure – so we must find more members willing to help run this club, to alleviate the stress and burden on such a small number currently. Areas such as finance are so much easier to manage with two or more. Now I know Tom has wonderful, dedicated volunteers running the various boys’ and girls’ teams, I am so grateful to all of you who do that. But Tom needs more help off the pitch, the administrative burden shared makes it so much more manageable. The sad loss of Cliff (Cliff Geary, NCC President) leaves us with the need to review the management of our club and a chance to look at the roles and responsibilities.

As an example, I have enlisted my daughter to help run the match fee collection. We will be digitising as much as possible through the Pitchero app, to make it easier for the captains to manage collection, and for the players to pay. Be aware though, NCC is not keeping up with its membership charges nor its match fees. These will need to increase if we are to standstill, let alone progress.

I am also very pleased Charles (Charles Fidler, Member and Player) is taking on the Social Secretary role, to develop our social calendar and provide the extra funds that more pavilion use will generate. Let us be clear though, these events do not have to be for NCC members alone, any ideas as to how we can use this building and playing fields will be considered. Just look at what Dave (David Elliot, Member and Player) has done with the football forecast game (Last Man Standing) by the way, hundreds of extra pounds of income.

In this day and age, it is vital for us to not only get simple, operational messages out but to ensure the hundreds of associated people who have an interest in our club are fully aware of what we are doing, when and why! I am also pleased to announce that Richard Reid (Parent and Player) will be taking on a Club Communications position and this will be vital in the NCC name getting wider coverage and as a result, more income opportunities. Richard has also agreed to take on the Membership Secretary role, which is wonderful and greatly appreciated.

This pavilion was not built to cope with the level of use it puts up with today. Ali is back-and-forward from home on a daily basis to oversee maintenance issues, and this cannot continue for one person alone. We must find support for him, and a better way of working with the creche. Maybe we have to accept that the role has some level of payment attached, so be it. Longer term, our next plan is the development of this building, to accommodate more clubs/groups so subsequently it can pay for itself. But that takes time!

So, to summarise…

We will generate over £80k through 2026 and things will still be tight. That must change, through both cost saving measures to manage our overheads better and new initiatives to increase that number further.

We need help from you, to spread the ever-increasing workload.

We are a great club, with a superb membership who, I am sure, care a great deal about NCC. We will survive of course, but we can do better, allowing us to invest and to improve.
Whether that happens or not is down to you. Please ask yourself where you can help us, just a few hours here and there will make all the difference.

Ian Fantham, NCC Chair