To that end, here’s what has happened, albeit I may have missed a few bits and pieces, and I’ve also not included what’s happened on a purely cricket or financial front - I’m sure that others are in a better position than me to comment on these.

Having said that last bit, I would just bring your attention to all the hard work that’s been going on to integrate our Colts into the senior Club - and particularly the work being done to make the boys transition from colts cricket into adult cricket as seamless as possible.

Anyway, in no particular order, the following is what’s happened since about the end of the 2017 season:-

• We now have a new CCTV and alarm system, installed courtesy of Matt Isles from the Rugby Club (MFC), at extremely reduced rates, to say the least!

• A number of potholes in the car park have been repaired for free (again by a member of MFC). Unfortunately, the recent snows have triggered a couple more potholes, but hopefully we’ll get them done too.

• The kitchen now has a new sink unit (installed by MFC), plus a new freezer, a fridge and a fridge/freezer.

• The Tabernacle shower has been re-tiled and the shower tray re-sealed following the damage caused by burst water pipes in the recent bad weather.

• The gents’ and ladies’ toilets have been re-decorated (by MFC), and now have hot air hand driers - much tidier than the blue paper rolls - plus they’ve now got automatic deodorisers, so certainly the they smell a bit better than they used to - particularly the gents!

• We’ve bought a new BBQ in conjunction with MFC.

• We’re already talking to the organisers for this year’s Ramblin Man and Race for Life weekends.

• We managed to get planning permission from MBC to lift the crowns and cut off the dead wood from the 17 oak trees bordering Willow Way, between the Tabernacle and the Leisure Center. The work hasn’t yet been scheduled, but we’ve got a few years, and after the aggravation getting the permission, we’ll not rush!

• About 50 meters of trees/bushes etc overhanging the pavement between the main entrance gates down to Meadow Walk were trimmed back. This followed a complaint from a local resident, and a “polite” letter from MBC.

• An amount of remedial electrical work has been carried out. The bar now doesn’t shut down due to tripped fuses when anything is plugged in, the “Exit” signs now work and a number of live cables have been made safe. The whole place probably needs a rewire with a ballpark cost of £30,000, or at least we need a new consumer unit and a test of all cabling. The former is out of our league and is probably a waste of money depending on the “Development” outcome. The latter will be done, particularly as we’ve been advised by an electrician of the dangers of not doing it.

• The dangerous guttering above the balcony has been replaced - although this was done during the course of last season.

• We’ve also got new furniture in both the bar and function area, Again, this happened towards the end of last season, but we’ve now had three “upgrades” in two years - one, courtesy of Lashings and the last two courtesy of Twickenham via MFC.

• The site looks fabulous, not least because of the hard work by our new groundsman (Howie Waters), but also because of the Friday morning working parties that MFC organise.

• The conifers between the Clubhouse and the Tabernacle have been trimmed and shaped by Howie.

• There’s a TV behind the bar that was acquired at no cost.

• Most of the function area has been redecorated thanks to Mickey Back. There’s no point in doing it all as we’re still suffering from leaks in the roof which will make any further decoration pointless. Unfortunately the ballpark figure to redo the roof is £30,000 which is again a bit out of reach.

• The waste area to the north of the Squash Club has been reclaimed and turned into a bit more parking. This was done with a lot of help from the Squash members and the hire of a mini-digger and mini-dumper truck. It was really hard work, but great fun messing about with the “boys’ toys”.

• Hot off the presses, so to speak, there was a group of volunteers last Saturday putting together the mobile net that the Colts Section had acquired. Great work guys, especially as the instructions probably lost a bit in the translation!

So that’s a majority of what’s happened since about the end of the 2017 season, and I apologise for missing anything, or anyone.

To be honest, a vast majority of the above is simply what happens in the background, and is probably no different in whatever club and whatever sports you look at.

It’s not “headline” stuff, but without it, there wouldn’t be a place to play cricket, so if there’s any chance of a few more volunteers, it would make everything just that bit easier.

Anyway, things bubbling under for the future include:-

• We’re hopeful of getting another ECB grant (you’ll remember that the last two we got, paid for the double glazing we’ve now got around the place). This time though, we’re hoping to buy some new ground equipment.

• There’s an amount of work going on the renovate/repair the scoreboard - hopefully to give us at least a couple of years more use out of it until we know the outcome of “Development”.

• The rotten beam under the balcony needs repair - doesn’t seem to be a big deal on the face of it, but at the moment nobody fancies giving us a quote until we get a structural engineer’s report. This sounds expensive!

• We need to repair the frame of the bar “picture” window (before the window falls out!), and we also need to repair the cellar door frame following a recent break-in. Whoever did it nicked a George Foreman Grill, so at least they were health conscious!

There is any number of other things lined up, but money and, particularly, “priorities” do concentrate the mind.

Follow this space!

John Fuggle

24/3/18