Introduction
When Graeme McGowan made the decision to stand down as Chairman at the end of 2014, I thought long and hard as to whether first I could offer the levels of commitment required to take on the role, together with what difference I could make to this Club that we all care for. The philosophy that I have taken during my three years as Chairman is to serve this Club with pride, to the best of my abilities and with a vision to move the Club forward.

With a cursory glance over at the board on the wall, I look down at the names of the twenty-two members that have served with distinction before me and whilst it may be my name that goes up there, I am merely a representative of the entire Governing Committee that act on your behalf and serve as custodians of their respective positions for this period in the Club’s history.

Now I’m conscious that my opening could come across as a “goodbye” speech – quite the opposite as I’m as excited today as I was when I sat just over there and was elected as Chairman three years ago.

Whilst this report very much focuses on the year just passed, I look back over the last three years with pride as to what we, as a committee have achieved and very much forward to what the future brings as we continue to develop and move forward together. The way we operate as a committee is crucial to the smooth running of the club, and whilst we may offer differing viewpoints from time to time collectively we make the right decisions for the wellbeing of the Club and its members.

I make no apologies about repeating elements from my 2016 speech when I touch on the way in which the Club is run – that being in a responsible and efficient manner, based around certain principles, those being:

Having a sound financial footing,
Providing the right opportunities for our members to enjoy their cricket, and
Focussing on both the present time as well as ensuring we keep an eye on the long terms

None of this differs from previous years, nor for how the Club has been governed throughout its illustrious 117-year history. We may use different techniques, we may take advantage in the advancement of technologies (I can’t imagine WSS Hannay standing in front of the members in 1901 pointing at a screen!), but we all do what we do with the same end goal in mind – that being to ensure Upton Cricket Club remains the great club we all enjoy being members of. A visitor who attended the recent Hot Pot said to me days after the event that he didn’t know exactly what it was we had, but whatever it was, it was something special that we should be proud of and if we could bottle it we’d be very rich!

The structure of this report will be such that I will touch on each area of the Club and then share with you some of the key callouts from the from the recent work we have undertaken in formulating a strategic plan for the next five years. Before I do that however I want to thank each member of the Governing Committee for their tireless efforts throughout 2017. Being a member of the committee is not just about turning up on the second Monday of every month to listen to me waffle on, it’s so much more than that. They don’t do it for the thanks, the praise or the title – they do it to give something back to their club, and for that I’m sure I speak on behalf of you all when I say a huge thank you and from my perspective, thank you for being such a great committee. Whilst it’s easy to focus on those people on the committee, there are those that serve the club in other capacities, plus our team of volunteers – without you also, we wouldn’t be in such a strong position and I thank you deeply for your contributions.

Now, let’s take time to have a look at each area across the Club – you may want to make yourself comfy as there’s a fair bit to get through!

Senior Cricket
Whilst we are unable to bask in the glories of the 2016 season, there’s plenty of positives to focus on. Once again, we’ve been able to put out four league sides week in, week out. I appreciate at times that this wasn’t always an easy task and I am extremely grateful to the arduous work of the captains and Selection Chairman Paul Owen in their tireless efforts when the easy thing to do would have been to concede the matches. That’s not the Upton style, and I applaud them for their perseverance. My challenge does however go out to all the players to make the life of the Selection Committee easier in whatever way you can. Please bear in mind the considerable amount of time, effort, phone calls and messages that go into getting teams out – remember we are ONE CLUB and we’re all in this together.
I shared with you some key stats last year which emphasised that our player base was very much home-grown, and I thought I’d bring those up to date to include this year’s information.

We had 89 players represent our senior sides this year (last year it was 82)
69% of these players have played their junior cricket at the club (68% last year)
88% of the core 1st XI players are home-grown, once again proving that the pathway is there for our junior players to progress (80% last year)

The age range of our player base is:

	2016	2017
Under 20	26.80%	30.30%	3.50%
20-29	25.60%	24.70%	-0.90%
30-39	18.30%	16.90%	-1.40%
40-49	13.40%	10.10%	-3.10%
50-59	6.10%	10.10%	3.90%
60+	9.80%	7.90%	-1.90%

Whilst this is all very interesting, what does it tell us?

Our junior playing base in senior cricket is expanding
We are bucking a bit of a national trend in terms of under 40’s participation - Last year 70% of our player base was under 40, this year it was 71.9%
We offer cricket for all ages where appropriate

Ahead of the 2017 season, myself and Tom Marsland attended a ‘Disciplinary Meeting’ held by the Cheshire County League and the umpires with the aim at improving discipline not just at 1st XI level but across all sides. The more astute of you will have noticed that throughout the season we have displayed the ECB Code of Conduct in each dressing room together with the digital noticeboard. It is important that all players follow these guidelines to ensure the game is played for the enjoyment of all, and as senior players we set examples for the juniors to follow.

Looking at the teams in a little bit more detail, Simon Simcox took over the 4th XI from Ian Bruce but was unfortunately unable to fulfil that capacity for the full season due to a change in his professional circumstances. My thanks to Simon for the stint he did, and he continued the solid work Ian had done in bringing through so many of our extremely promising junior players. The club is extremely fortunate to have such a trusted ‘old guard’ who were able to take on the captaincy and my thanks go out to them. Whilst the 4th XI might not always win, offering competitive cricket in a welcoming environment is key and I do recognise that we do need to do everything we can do to ensure that this side continues. I’ll be working with the members of the Cricket Committee to tackle the problems here, but if anybody has any constructive suggestions please contact either myself or a member of the Cricket Committee.

Once again, Ian Sharrock led the 3rd XI from the front finishing comfortably the leagues leading wicket taker. They challenged hard with Port Sunlight at the top of the table and to still be in contention come the last game of the season is testament to what a splendid season they had, which saw them miss out on the title by just one point. Once again, the 3rd XI has proved a good base for our promising juniors to develop with Luca DiStefano being the latest player to progress through to the 1st XI after receiving his ‘schooling ‘in the 3’s.

The 2’s found the 2017 season a lot tougher than 2016 despite a good start which saw them cause a few upsets. My thanks go out to James Woods, and brother Tom in his absence in taking over the reins. Whilst the disappointment of relegation naturally hurts, this is a chance to regroup and get back to winning ways in 2018 with several lessons learnt that will as always, make us stronger going forward.

Whilst some may see a mid-table finish for the 1st XI as a bit of a disappointment, it’s not a view I share, and I am extremely proud of how the team handled themselves and developed as the season unfolded. Division One cricket is a tough competitive league and when I look at the league table there are clubs beneath us who’s playing resources are way beyond what we have – by that I mean some with quite large budgets and/or county contracted players. The off-season work put in by Tom Marsland and Andy Roberts paid off as the side was bolstered by the services of Chris McArthur and Neil Cross. The homework and research put in on Chris paid dividends as he outscored all our previous overseas players by some margin and we very much look forward to welcoming him back for the 2018 season. My thanks go out to all those who made Chris feel welcome and showed him friendship, together with a friend of mine; Jennie Archer who offered accommodation for Chris. Touching briefly on the goals we set, we looked to consolidate this year, and we did that.

I couldn’t talk about the season without mentioning the truly amazing support we receive. I firmly believe we have the best support around, and whilst I don’t get to many of the away games, I’m reliably informed that we always outnumber the home support. What has encouraged me this year is the number of ‘new’ faces we’ve seen down here watching cricket. We want to ensure we offer a warm, friendly and welcoming environment and we definitely do that, and that’s down to everyone.

We couldn’t talk about Senior Cricket without touching on a side that can often be overlooked - yes, John Winders Sunday 1st XI. They play such a crucial role in the development of many of our players and for many, is their first taste of senior cricket. The way John goes about running the side, and ensuring everybody gets a game is the epitome of what this club is about.

I’ll focus more on the future shortly, but before I close I should reference the introduction this year of our President’s Day which saw a splendid lunch ahead of an Upton XI taking on a Presidents XI in coloured clothing no less! Our esteemed President opted to pick a side made up of members from across all areas of the Club and it was a great way for everybody to come together and celebrate all that is great about the Club.

Junior Cricket
I must open this section on Junior Cricket by stating my sincerest of “thanks” to Simon McGowan for the three years of service he has given in the role as Junior Cricket Chairman. Unfortunately, Simon is a man of his word and did say that he would only do three years and he has stuck to it! Simon has continued the great work that has been done by many before him, and I’m sure he’d be the first to admit that it’s a team effort with all the coaches and helpers contributing to make us one of the strongest junior set ups in the North West.
I’m privileged to get to see what goes on every Friday night as I bring my girls down, and I can honestly say I am blown away with the dedication that is put in by our volunteers to make sure the children not only enjoy themselves, but their cricketing skills are developing.

Whilst Fridays are great for the children, they continue to be enjoyed equally by the parents as we continue to develop a real ‘family’ feel through the bar being open and the fantastic BBQ that is put on - thanks to Ian Sharrock and Charlie Ward for overseeing both of these areas. To compliment this, we introduced a Family Membership this year as were conscious that very few of the parents were actually members. Not only has this given a greater sense of belonging and association with the club, it has also helped us ensure we comply with the necessary licensing laws and also demonstrates that we are a growing club – the latter being particularly important when or if we seek future grant funding.

Whilst there is so much positive stuff that is going on, something that I mentioned last year, and it’s been mentioned throughout the year is the need for more coaches. We have two big resource pools – parents and players. This doesn’t have to be a full-time commitment, the more people that offer to help means that each person won’t have to do as much, but if there are people who are interested in developing their coaching skills then the club will fund the necessary courses and accreditation. This isn’t a problem that is going away and we all need to think about how we tackle this.

The more astute of you will recall I mentioned “All Stars Cricket” last year, which was an ECB initiative aimed at 5 to 8-year olds. Having gained an insight, we debated this long and hard and the conclusion was that we wouldn’t enrol on this programme as we believed what we had to offer was more than satisfactory. “All Stars Cricket” is looking to tackle a particular problem around participation of youngsters – not a particular problem we face! That being said, we will re-evaluate where we are with this and if we believe it is the right thing to do as the programme evolves we may well look to get it off the ground.
As mentioned at the onset, Simon McGowan has stepped down from his role as Junior Cricket Chairman and I am delighted that Matt Owen has stepped up to fulfil that position. Matt has been involved with the Juniors for a good number of years now, having progressed through the set up himself and I have every confidence that he will drive the Juniors forward as well.

Ladies Cricket
Moving on from the Juniors, I’m excited to be able to talk about Ladies Cricket – something we’ve not had the opportunity to formally mention at an AGM previously.
This is something that has been brewing for a number of years now as our number of junior girls has grown but we now have a formal Senior Ladies XI who are members of the Cheshire Women’s Cricket League. This comes on the back several very well attended and successful training sessions together with their very first match versus Appleton, plus victory at a Cheshire Softball tournament.

I’m really excited to watch how this develops and my thanks go out to Matt Owen, Brian Sherriff and Simon Simcox for getting this off the ground.

Administration
Whilst it’s very easy to think that everything that happens is about out there on the pitch, so much work goes on off the pitch and whilst I will talk about the specific areas shortly, there’s a few areas that don’t fall under any specific category, more the general running of the club. I’ll touch on some of these points later as I share with you our strategic plans, but a few key call outs from this year:

Firstly, our Charity Partnership with Vital Signs Foundation. Whilst we may not have raised as much as we did in 2016, we still raised over £1,000 which makes a tremendous different to them as a charity. Our members and the wider community also benefitted from this relationship as we were able to put on a free heart screening at the beginning of the year.
Public relations - a term I’ve borrowed from another cricket club I stumbled across when doing some research and I think it very nicely sums up our reach externally. What do I mean by that? Well it’s the likes of our website and social media platforms, together with updates within the local area and interaction with different community groups. Whilst some of this is the more formal things that happen, each one of us is responsible for the Club’s Public Relations as we are ambassadors for the club’s brand and share its virtues
Clubmark – we are rightly proud that we have held the Clubmark accreditation for more years than I can remember, but this doesn’t just happen. A tremendous amount of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure that we maintain the highest of standards that Clubmark demands.
And then there’s just the general ‘stuff’ that goes on, whether that’s dealing with correspondence, authorities, governing bodies – all of this appears to magically happen, but I know that there is one man pulling this all together with no fuss. Rob Chapman, your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed and we wouldn’t be in as strong a position without all you do, thank you.

Grounds
We’ll now look at Grounds and it’s very easy to get complacent and just accept that the pitches are ready for every game, but there is an inordinate amount of work goes in each week to ensure they are in the best possible condition. We all owe John Lamb and the Grounds team a huge debt of gratitude for the hours they put in, especially when you consider that there were a total of 133 games played on our grounds in 2017 – thank you guys.

With referencing this incredible number, my thanks also go out to John Winder for the tireless work he carries out in his role as Fixture Secretary which I witness first hand being copied in to his weekly updates to the Grounds team coordinating these fixtures.

It isn’t all without issues however as we saw Storm Doris cause some damage to our sightscreens which just added to the workload, and not to mention the water leak in front of the changing rooms, the mower getting stuck as well as the countless fires that have been had and John Scragg’s attempt to get some extra spin on the ball with some first-degree burns!

We were very fortunate to receive two notable donations ahead of the season in the form of a boundary rope and new scoring shed. Whilst the donors wish to remain anonymous, I have passed on the thanks of the committee and membership as these two additions certainly improve the look and feel of the club grounds. In the case of the new scoring shed, the task of dismantling the old portacabin was no mean feat and my thanks go out to all the team involved in that – these guys saved the club an absolute fortune by undertaking this task. Another welcome addition were the hanging baskets and wall troughs which were put together by some of our neighbours. I think we’ll all agree that these have really improved how the club looks.

As always, the work continues on Grounds and the team continue to work in all weathers during the winter with the latest activities seeing a lot of the overgrown bushes at the far end of the back pitch being taken back quite dramatically. A request as always – if you can spare any time to help, please get in touch with John Lamb as “many hands make light work”.

House
Like Grounds, the work on the ‘House’ – that’s the buildings for those not in the know, continue under the Ken Barrett and his team, albeit in warm surroundings most of the time! Before I go into detail, a massive thanks for keeping this place looking superb. It’s never easy given the increasing usage of our facilities which are highlighted by the following usage analysis:

Weekly sessions for the likes of Creation Station, Brixmania and Slimming World
28 weeks usage by the Wirral Table Tennis League (Tuesday/Wednesday evenings), plus other occasional usage

All of this totals about 500 hours of utilisation a year!

As you’ll see by just looking around, it’s been a busy year in here as we’ve seen the lounge area refurbished and when myself, Ken and Rob Chapman discussed the plans we felt it important to create a fresh feel to the place but still maintain the 117 years of history we have. To say I‘m pleased with the result is an understatement and all the comments I’ve heard from members and visitors alike echo those sentiments. In the lounge area we also benefitted from a parent of one of our junior members who reupholstered all the seating free of charge. As with the donations mentioned under Grounds, the generosity of our members astounds me at time – but it’s not just financial donations, the donation of time is equally significant.

Another key area of development, but maybe less glamorous was the refurbishment of the gent’s toilets under the auspice of a grant based around the environment which saw us install waterless urinals. To compliment this, we received yet another donation of cubicles and sink vanity units which have finished the facility off really well. Thanks go out to Ian Bruce for all his work in getting these installed, amongst the many other tasks he has undertaken this year.

Just like Grounds, the House team are always on the lookout for new members of their Tuesday and Friday ‘gang’ and if you can prize a paintbrush away from Ken Barrett he may even let you share his biscuits!

Bar/Functions/Social
Unfortunately, many of our members do take for granted that there will always be a well-stocked bar that is a) open and b) somebody there to serve them. The bar fairy doesn’t just wave their magic wand – well he’s been called a few things, but this all comes together seamlessly thanks to Ian Sharrock. Ian has done a magnificent job in balancing the wide use of the club whether that be the regular Friday, Saturdays and Sunday’s during the cricket season, or the hire of the club from people outside of the club. As we look a little later at our future plans, I’ll touch on this area and how we can help.

To highlight just how much the Club is used, I was staggered when I read the stats provided by Rob Chapman:

15 x Children’s parties
13 x Parties/events/quiz nights etc.
9 x Christenings

Under the guise of ‘social’ we ran a few events including a charity quiz night, a race night, the Family Fun Day and of course the 80’s themed ‘last night of the season’. Thank you to all the people involved in organising these events, it’s very much appreciated. As always, we also held our annual ‘marquee weekend’ and were boosted by St Mary’s Church using the marquee on the Thursday evening for a fashion show. Focussing on our events, whilst I’d like to think of myself as a positive person, I am very concerned about the future of both the Sportsman’s Dinner and Summer Ball given the poor numbers attending. Something must change here as the amount of money we make does not warrant the amount of effort put in and I personally can’t sustain that. If anybody has any suggestions for addressing these issues, please let me know.

Closing on a positive note, we held our 2nd annual ‘Past Players’ lunch this year and it is proving a very popular event and I’m looking forward to seeing this grow. This will only grow however with the support of everybody contacting old playing colleagues and inviting them down. We have the capacity to make this a really big event so please help us along the way. Only a few weeks ago we held the ever popular ‘Hot Pot’ and it was great to see every facet of the club represented. Thanks to Pete Clark as ever for his sterling work in organising this – I get to hear first hand of the efforts through the 17 phone calls a week we have in the lead up to it!

And finally to close this section, the Club IS open during the Winter months with Paul Radcliffe (and his home made bread) offering a warm welcome every Sunday from 4pm. Please pop down and support the club, enjoy the company of fellow members as it’s a great atmosphere and good to keep in touch during the off-season.

Finance
As always, with regards to Finance I’ll let Richie give you a full update on our position, but I want to just emphasise a few key areas. Firstly, our revenue from advertising and sponsorship continues to flourish and we are extremely grateful to all those organisations that support the club. The other exciting area is the re-launch of the 1901 Club. John Scragg has done a fantastic job here and the membership exceeds what we had in the old ‘100 Club’. Not only is this a fantastic opportunity to win some reasonably sized cash prizes, it also provides good funds which we can use towards the development of the club in whichever way the committee deem appropriate.

One final point to remind you of which I mentioned last year which I often use as a sanity check when I bounce one of my ridiculous ideas off Richie is that to just ‘open our doors’ as a cricket club it costs us over £40,000 a year.

Strategic Plans
So, that’s enough about what’s gone on – what about the future? Towards the end of the summer we started discussing our longer-term objectives and over the course of the Autumn month’s we have formulated a five-year plan. For each area, we have set out some general, principles by which each area operates as well as the specific objectives. We also laid down the objectives as we kicked off this important piece of work:

1. To write a 5-year plan focused on the sustained growth of Upton Cricket Club
2. To have clear objectives covering:

short term (2018)
medium term (2019/2020)
long term (2021/2022)

3. To ensure every area of the Club is covered
4. To have achievable objectives that are SMART

We will also work to certain principles with the execution of this strategic plan:

The Strategic Plan will be reviewed annually (December), or in the case of a major event occurring (whichever comes first)
For all objectives that require funds allocating, prior approval will be sought from the Governing Committee before any work commences
In all areas, long term objectives will be reviewed in line with the lease position together with the Club’s financial standing at the time and may be subject to change

I don’t intend to go through every specific objective, but touch on a few of the key areas. The full plan will be available on the Club’s website.

Starting off with the bar, the key call outs being:
Short term
- To increase our volunteer base to help with both external functions and the general opening/locking during the season
Long term
- To refurbish the bar to create more functional working space whilst improving the aesthetics
Moving on to ‘House’
Short term
To make the ‘link room’ more presentable
Medium term
- To improve the showering facilities
Long term
- To improve the external appearance of the club pavilion
- To provide additional, and more functional changing & showering facilities incorporating the need for segregation between male & female players
- To improve the changing facilities on the back pitch
As you’ll see within this area, we have some quite big plans – and all very exciting if we are a position to progress with these.

Looking at the ‘Grounds’, a lot of what we have laid down as objectives are things that just happen anyway, but none the less, still important that we make sure we have these highlighted.
Short term
- To ensure there is sufficient and appropriate seating facilities for spectators
Medium term
- Levelling work to be undertaken on the squares at the pavilion end
- Provision of new covers
Long term
- To provide parking facilities that ensure the flow of traffic is optimised together with the provision of additional spaces

Looking at cricket now, starting with Ladies cricket we have some very exciting objectives:
Short term
- To improve the coaching we are able to offer to all players
Long term
- To provide additional, and more functional changing & showering facilities incorporating the need for segregation between male & female players Long term

Moving onto the Juniors:
Short term
- To offer the best development pathway for the most promising junior players
Medium term
- To widen the ‘funnel’ at the older age groups to provide more players into Senior cricket

Finally, under the guise of cricket, the senior section:
Short term
- To develop the 1st to be a strong CCCL 1st XI Division One team in the 2018 season
- To ensure we have strength in depth to run four senior league sides and to provide a platform for all playing members to play cricket at a level that meets their ability.
Medium term
- To see the 1st XI pushing hard at the top of CCCL 1st XI Division One with a ‘top 3’ finish the target in the 2019 & 2020 seasons
Long term
- To see the 1st XI promoted to the CCCL Premier Division for the 2022 season

Whilst I appreciate that this seems to focus very much on the 1st XI, the committee are very much focussed on all teams and their continuity, progression and development are of equal importance – One Club.

Finally, as we look ahead there are a few aspects that don’t fall outside of the sections mentioned above.
Administration:
- To meet the ECB required standards in all areas to ensure we maintain our Clubmark status
Finances
- To look at ways of increasing Club revenue to ensure we maintain a ‘healthy’ set of accounts that first and foremost allow us to meet the costs of running the Club, but where possible allow us to develop our facilities
Community
- To work with as many community organisations as is deemed appropriate to promote the Club at the forefront of community activity
Volunteer base
- To encourage our volunteer base to grow
- To ensure any volunteer is not overburdened with Club work
Charity
- To maintain active relationships with various charities, with one nominated as a ‘Charity Partner’ for a period of two years, or longer if deemed appropriate. Any charity work however will not be at the detriment of Club finances

In conclusion
I started this report by recognising the efforts and achievements of the members and committees that have served the club with distinction over the last 117 years, and I close by looking forward to this and future committees serving the club well for many years to come.
Hopefully you’ll see that there’s lots of exciting stuff going on and we have a clear vision of where we want to be as a club not just next season but for the next five years. You’ll see there’s a lot to do but we can’t do it on our own. I would urge you to consider what you can do to help YOUR Club as we move forward in these very exciting times.

As William Shakespeare wrote, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”