Chairman’s Report 2024
What a difference 12 months can make! After the disappointments of last year, 2024 could hardly have gone better. Promotion for the 1st team back to the CHL Premier League and winning the inaugural T20 Cup, beating 3 Premier League teams on the way. Paul Dipple once again led from the front and will skipper again, with a little encouragement and help. His partner in crime? Tim Foster skippered the T20 team and between them and Liam Clarke, who stepped in to captain the 2s, they managed to galvanize both teams to produce an excellent season. While many players stepped up it has to be acknowledged that Rohan Campbell, our Aussie overseas player, really delivered. 1329 runs in 16 innings, including 5 not outs, a high score of 225, average 120.82, 5 x 50s and 6x 100s at a strike rate of 126.91, was the best in the CHL by some way. The bowling was well spread mainly across 7 players, Jack Biddle leading the way with 18 closely followed by Chris Dawson, Steven Du Cros, Dave Stokes, Aidan Dipple, Stephen Capron and Oscar Silvey all taking more than 10 wickets. Tim Foster took the most wicketkeeper catches in the league and Paul Dipple, Will Noyes and Oscar Silvey took the most catches. The 1s won 13 games and lost only 3, with 2 matches victim to the weather. A presentation evening took place at the Club to recognise achievements.
The 2s achieved a creditable 4th position in Division 3, with 9 wins and 6 losses and 3 abandoned. Rob Stanley led the way in the batting in that division with 561 runs at an average of 56.1 and a high score of 114 not out. The evergreen Dave Swinburn and Adam Farrow contributed good runs and Jethro Powell with 24 and Mark Fawthrop with 21 were the highest wicket takers. Adam Farrow had the most fielding dismissals. With some of our players once again at university for the early part of the season, there will be opportunities for others, and many younger players gained valuable experience; in total 17 juniors played senior cricket across the season. Rob Stanley also won the Sunday batting award, with Sarmad Ahmed contributing good runs as well. I took the most wickets, but Jack Barnes was deservedly the best bowler, just ahead of his father, Jonathan. Peter Walton contributed with bat and ball and has a great future ahead of him, due to his infectious enthusiasm.
Our Under 15s played both in the Warwickshire Premier League finishing joint 9th and 3rd in the CHL. Our U13s teamed up with Cookhill CC and had an excellent season finishing 3rd in both CHL and Warks leagues and our U11s also had enough players and entered 2 sides in the CHL with our Stags side finishing 3rd. 63 junior matches were completed from 1st May through to 18th July which is a fantastic achievement.
Dave Swinburn, our Head Groundsman, has once again done a tremendous job, aided by his army of helpers including Russell Jones, Ben Lee, Gary Strain, Darren Turner and Pete Taylor together with advice when needed from Brad Jefferies.
Our square continues to gain plaudits from visitors and members, but we will continue to need help from as many people as possible, to continue the good work on the ground going forward. We have added some machinery and improved our security, and your committee will be looking at our capital spend going forward; reliable WiFi will be a priority for 2025. We will also need to purchase a replacement for the tractor used to mow the car park and other more uneven areas.
The provision of an additional changing facility, which was voted as the priority at the last AGM, has proven challenging. We cannot use ECB grants to buy the building itself, but they can be used to fit out, so we are now looking at second hand, basic units, which will be cheaper. As always, we will need to liaise with Ragley and Heritage England as well as Stratford Council for planning permission. Sandra has regular contact with many people at Ragley, who have been supportive of our Club. Expenses continue to rise but we now have much better controls of income and expenditure, following work by our Treasurer, Jason Lowe.
It would be good to hold more events, both to increase the social side of the Club and also to raise funds but we do need people to step up to organise and support such gatherings. The Junior and Sunday Presentation Evening again went very well, this time at The Town Hall Alcester and the format will be repeated going forward. Clubmark is due to be reassessed in 2025, which is our licence to access help from County.
I have joined the Cotswold Hills League Executive Committee as League Safeguarding Officer and the panel of umpires. We will continue to be looking at all regulations to ensure simplicity, clarity and fairness are at the heart of the CHL.
We now have around 150 kids at the Club on Friday evening training, so any help from members would be appreciated. In addition, there are now 5 of our girls and boys in County age groups. At the other end of the age spectrum, Dave Swinburn, one of 3 members playing for senior county teams, scored 710runs for the Warwickshire Over 70s 1st XI at an average of 54.6 including 1 century and 6 x 50s; he once again headed the Warwickshire Seniors run total. There are therefore opportunities for other older members to still play competitive cricket, once they stop playing league.
There will also be opportunities to Umpire our League Matches and thanks to Jonathan Barnes for also joining the CHL panel umpire cohort. There is an umpires course at Alcester Grammar School on the 24th November, which is open to anyone who is interested in gaining more knowledge, no previous experience is required, and I know that at least one club member is attending.
Our Women and Girls section continues to grow exponentially, due largely to the efforts of Ashlee Powell and Dave Magnall. We will continue to use Pitchero for all availability and fixtures in 2024 across junior and senior cricket; thanks to Adam Farrow for managing the administration of this.
As always, we are looking to add members to the Committee who can add to our skill set and if you would like to be involved, please let me know or submit a nomination form. I, together with other section heads, will be happy to provide more details of our future plans, and will be happy to field questions from members on the night.
I would like to sincerely thank the Committee members who have served in 2024, all of whom do much more for our Club than just attend Committee meetings. They are Dave Swinburn, Paul Dipple, Liam Clarke, Sandra Stokes (who is stepping down), Ian Biddle, Amy Waters (who is also stepping down), Jason Lowe (who is stepping down to be replaced by Jackie Bryan), Jonathan Barnes, Ben Lee, Russell Jones, Tim Foster, Ashleigh Powell, Dave Magnall and our Safeguarding Officer, Jenny Darby. In addition, a considerable number of other people, including many juniors, have helped in work on the grounds and pavilion, coaching and managing junior teams and with All Stars and Dynamos. They are: Darren Turner, Richard James, Alan Powell, Ashleigh Powell, Mark Johnston, Dave Magnall, Craig Ellicott, Kelly Austin, Leigh Ginn, Tyler Austin, Gemma Biddle, Adam Freeman, William Sallis, Sam Jones, Nick Campbell-Kelly, Hester Campbell-Kelly, Rupert Cross, Kobe Turner, Sam Jones, Louis Newton, Tim Jaques, Tom Walton, Peter Walton, Karl Mason, Bryn Stephens, Matt Hands, Harry Hands, Harry Francioni, Sam Taylor, Harry Blackburn, Max Hutchings, Matilda Foster, Chloe Harvey, Olivia Flack, Amelia Handy, Gary Strain and Pete Taylor.

2024 was a very successful year and it would be fantastic if we can build on that and develop even more in 2025.