A great turnout on Saturday for our pre-season sortout down at the ground – thanks to all the players for their support. All the major tasks were completed and I think Stan was happy with the help he received and the place now looks ready for the months ahead. A bit more painting and plumbing is still to be completed indoors over the bank holiday before we start by welcoming the juniors back for training on Tuesday evening.

The 1sts start their season next Saturday with a trip to Knowle and Dorridge down past Solihull in the Williamson Trophy then the 3s and 4s the following weekend are back in league action. After the long winter break the season’s back with a bang and we just need the weather to perk up a bit in the next couple of weeks.

A great boost to the teams is the welcome return of Chris Pearce for a few weeks as he sorts out his emigration to the sun and fingers crossed we may have some more news on a possible replacement for Guesty in the near future. Chickens not hatched yet but at least they’re rattling around in their shells !

Thanks again to players friends and supporters alike, and especially not forgetting the long-suffering “cricket widows” who’s white-clad idiot partners are about to abandon their chores for another few months and run around making the white clothing interesting shades of green brown and red.

A great evening was had by all at the Annual Club Dinner on Friday night. This event always feels like the start of the season and it’s good to get the chance to meet up once again with old friends and team-mates over a beer or three and gaze out at Stan’s green stuff in anticipation of good times to come. Talking of our not so grumpy Groundsman he was the worthy recipient on the night of the President’s cup – awarded for outstanding service to the Club and richly deserved too I may add.

 Paul Smith gave us a fascinating insight into his life and times in and out of the professional game and was an all round top bloke staying late chatting to the guests over a few more beers, signing copies of his excellent book (promised I’d get a plug in) and wishing us all well for the season. He was ably supported on the night by the other speakers Fred Barrett, Chairman of the Staffs clubs Umpires panel and a good friend to many of us at the Club and our own Robbie Byrne, who hopefully may be recovered sufficiently from his injured fetlock to take an active part in the coming months.

 So we’re off and running then. Tuesday sees the Junior open evening where we talk to new parents and recruits for the development section before coaching starts in earnest the following week. The bag’s out of the cellar, kit washed and new shirt taken out of the wrapper.

 It just remains to work out how the hit the little round red thing in a fortnights time. Oh and there’s snow forecast for later in the week – Summer here we come !

 As Dylan would say the Times are certainly a Changin’. We sadly bid a fond farewell to our First Team skipper and all round top bloke Chris Pearce who is following his heart to the United States and welcome Cameron Fox as the new skipper for the season. I take this chance to thank Chris for a job magnificently well done for his boyhood Club and wish him every success and happiness in pastures new on condition that I get an invite to the wedding whenever that is and he doesn’t take up baseball !

 Obviously this news isn’t brilliant just before the season but Cameron is an ideal and experienced player to take up the mantle and with Dave Wedge as his vice-captain and three new players joining the first team squad plus a fit(ish) again Robbie Byrne we are looking forward to the challenges ahead.

 The Club Dinner is on Friday, traditionally the starting gun for the season and I must thank Phil Clowsley for all his hard work as ever in getting it all organised. We’ve got Paul Smith, of the great Warwickshire side of the 80’s coming down to talk to us so it should be an enjoyable evening – perhaps he and Robbie could discuss knees !

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
           bob dylan 1964

I think it’s a given in this world that you should always worry about places which end with stan. Our club has no such worries as the foundations on which our cricket is built start with Stan instead. Our ever happy Groundsman (surely some mistake here – ed) has worked his magic over the dark months and the square is looking magnificent and almost ready for us to mess it up again in the lighter months ahead.

The carpet’s back down and the ceiling repaired after our recent water leak, the Yearbook’s just about complete, indoor nets going well and the fixture juggling game heading for the final whistle. Not a bad week at all really, very Springy and looking forward to fun times to come.

This week saw another of our new sub-committees up and running with the Alternate Users (probably going to be called Community committee or something like that) meeting for the first time. The Clergy, Lace and Acoustic Music club all attended, with Ian most keen cycling in from his Church in Fordhouses – although I suspect it was further than he thought ! Lots of good ideas emerged which we can work on. I really think our new system is going to produce results.

 Thanks to the efforts and organisation of Andy Carey we also had a fund-raising bagpack at Morrisons, Pendeford yesterday and I must thank all concerned for giving up large chunks of their Saturday to help out. It was good to see so many of our youngsters and several of the senior players and parents pitching in and a fun time was had by all as we raised quite a bit for the coffers so hopefully the refurb of the artificial wickets may be a step closer now.

 I don’t think Andy’s going to be too popular with the queue when he turns up at the bank with two buckets of change though ………….

A quiet week for the club and I this time. Spent a few hours working on the Yearbook chasing adverts and fine-tuning the pages with the printing deadline looming in a couple of weeks. Usual chats with the troops to keep tabs with events –  Woody’s still busy in the pavilion, Phil Clowsley’s on track with the Dinner (note to all he would welcome your replies without having to chase you !); Vicky’s planning events for the Summer; Paul Preece is sorting Insurances and pulling his hair out trying to extract Subs from the players and finally spent a happy hour playing with Stan in his shed, drinking coffee and admiring his new invention for putting the rope out. Not long to go now before we’re up and running – the sunshine looks crickety, not sure about the snow though ……..

No disasters this week thankfully. Mopping up continues, carpets lifted and drying out and Woody crawling round the attic doing something with the insulation.

The Fund-raising and Events sub-committee had its inaugural meeting on Tuesday – lots of positives and good ideas so that’s another one up and running then.

Wednesday saw our Annual General Meeting and I must say how good it was to see such an excellent turnout with 20odd of us crammed into the away dressing room (fixture clash with dominoes). We heard the usual reports and addresses, a particularly sobering one from Paul Preece, the Treasurer, on the state of the finances I thought; we elected all the Club Officers for the year ahead; ratified the players’ choices of Captains and Vice-captains; re-elected the Sub-committee Chairs and generally laid out our plans for the coming year. Thanks to all who attended and to all of you who work so tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our fine old Club in business.

Oh and we’ve started winter nets so there’s even been some cricket – could almost move my shoulder by Wednesday !

Not a great week really. Monday morning saw us discover a burglary in the pavilion as some lovable kids had jemmied their way in and nicked stuff. I must here thank the police who were brilliant. We all hear and read a lot of stuff about them not being interested in minor burglaries and the like but they turned out promptly, followed by the forensics team who gathered lots of evidence. So children if you’re reading – I hope you enjoyed the scotch and the chocolate, we look forward to seeing you in court ! This was followed on Friday by a burst pipe in the attic which has brought down the ceiling in the dressing room and made a right mess – happy days. Great thanks also on both occasions to Russ Hopley, a club supporter with great skills who came to our rescue to fix the damages. Just the wiring, plastering and painting to go then; gives us something to concentrate cricketforce on I suppose – but not really what we intended. I wonder if the nice Olympic people would agree to let off a couple less fireworks and send us a cheque …………..