A Message from our Chairman

Hello all, and welcome as we kick off the 2023 summer season I hope everyone has enjoyed a restful off-season and all are excited to be getting back to outdoor cricket Let's hope for some decent weather !

The Winter period hasn't been entirely silent on the cricket front, as this year has already seen our women ' s team compete in their first competitive fixtures (capped off with a maiden victory!) and participation at both junior and senior indoor nets has been great - our plan for growing an inclusive and welcoming club is progressing nicely To give an indication of what this growth means, I'll turn to my best friend numbers! This coming summer we ' re fielding six competitive teams, playing in 85 fixtures (that's excluding friendlies and festivals), and are scheduled to be hosting upwards of 43 matches on the Hill That should definitely cover #CricketForAll all supporters too! None of this is possible without the hard work and support of many people who volunteer their time to organise, coach, administrate, etc, so I'd like to offer a huge thanks to all who work to make this club what it is, you ' re very much appreciated! As ever, if anyone else fancies helping out, please don't hesitate!

You may also notice that this year we are being supported by a range of wonderful local businesses who have engaged with us as club partners for the season, in what we hope is a mutually beneficial relationship We're extremely grateful to them for being so generous with their support, which helps enable us to provide the facilities and opportunities for cricket that we do - I'd strongly encourage all our members to repay them in kind with your patronage if possible! We're always looking to expand our ties with the local community, so if you know of anyone who may be interested in a similar partnership do get in touch

This programme (we hope you enjoy it!) is one of the first of a number of new initiatives being put in place this season to better engage with all members and further build our club as a community Others include the new fantasy cricket league (still time to enter, some bargains to be had!), more social events (curry club will be continuing) and more social media output If you ' re not following the club's social accounts then please do... You'll also be aware that we ' ve restructured how we collect match fees and subscriptions this year - hopefully this new approach is easier for all parties. We have some big ideas for improving the club's facilities (more at a later date) so your continued support is vital.

On a final note, I'd like to share my key desire for how we approach our cricket this summer and how we want to represent our club, whether it be training or matches. We're all ambassadors for Ruardean Hill, so play hard and play to win, but play fair and with RESPECT. Respect on the field and off the field, for the facilities, for opponents, for officials, and for team-mates. Win graciously and lose graciously (but hopefully not too often), enjoy the game and do the club proud.

Until next time, Up The Hill! Cheers,

Andy