Call: 0800 8 20 21 22 Email: mcourt@grassrootmedia.com

TRAINING BIBS £8 each inc. VAT

Various colours available

Can have club logo printed

Pay by instalments for larger orders, call Mat for details

3

Contents 2 Grassroot Teamwear

Cheap training bibs

4 MD’s Letter

5 Club Scarves

Use clubscarves.com to make your club money by selling your very own personalised club scarves

6-7 Grassroot Teamwear

If your cricket club is looking for new playing shirts you probably won’t be able to find them this cheap anywhere else

8 RAM Balls

Discounted footballs

9-11 Sports Psychology with David Harrison

Get some tips to change the way you think about the game

12 RAM Cricket

Discounted cricket team training equipment

13-16 Player fitness with Isaiah Barratt

This month.. Warm ups & stretches

17 The Mug Shop

Make money for your club by selling club mugs to your players, members & fans

18 Mindset Matters with Bernard Baines

The most positive man I’ve ever met passes on some of thoughts to you

19 It’s Just Cricket

Paul Cole talks about a 'pressing issue’!

20-23 ESU Scoreboards

What’s on the board, Miss Ford!

Grassroot Media Contacts Twitter @grassrootmedia Facebook.com/grassrootmedia

LinkedIn search for Matthew Court

Office telephone number 0800 8 20 21 22

Mathew Court’s email address mcourt@grassrootmedia.com

24-25 easyfundraising.org

Easy & cost-free way to raise club funds

26 Club News

Liam’s off to Rwanda

27 Twitter Directory

See which clubs are where on Twitter

28 Club Classifieds

Items for sale from other member clubs

29 Cricket Club Corner

Q&A with this month’s club of the month

30-31 KB Cricket

Check out the Stinger Bowling Machine for

under £350!

32 Drill Board

Use technology to make your football training

sessions more effective

33 Grassroot Media Guide to...

Celebrating an Anniversary

Andrew Shields from South Loughton talks

about their 75th plans...

34 Competition Winners!!

Details of last month’s competition winners

35 Michael’s Trophies

Great offers on trophies from Michael’s

36 Meadons Insurance

Cricket club insurance from Meadons

Insurance - piece of mind guaranteed

Hello and welcome to July’s magazine. Sorry about last month’s printing issues, they’ve been

resolved and hopefully you’ll find this month’s a little more colourful if you had one of the black

and white ones, and a little bit more on time!

Anyway, the magazine continues to grow as does the number of clubs involved in the business

which is all great news. But the biggest news coming out of this month is that we’re moving. Not

far, but moving nonetheless so please keep an eye out for an email from me detailing the new

postal address, I’ll also get together an advert or something similar for next month’s magazine for

you to tear out and keep handy if you need it. Emails and phone numbers stay the same so it won’t

really affect the majority of you, and the registered address stays the same too.

As some of you would have read in the e-newsletter we didn’t win either of the business awards

that we made the finals for, always next year I guess.

This month sees the addition of a new partner - ESU Scoreboards. One of the most frustrating

things from my time involved in helping to run a cricket club was when I put my hand up to find

the club a new digital scoreboard. At the time I thought “how hard can this be?”. How wrong I

was. I picked the wrong company (I’m not going to say who it is) and the problems started from

there but this time I’ve done my research, met the people who run the business and been wishing

I talked to them when I was in the market for a scoreboard ever since! Anyway you can see their

feature and details of the 10% discount we’ve negotiated for you later on in the magazine.

A quick reminder to football clubs that haven’t got their fixture numbers in yet - we need them as

soon as you can get them to us now.

Lastly, I think we’re there on the teamwear side of things so if your cricket club wants some cheap

playing shirts or if your football clubs wants a cheap kit then drop me a line. We have got our own

brand of budget playing gear, Grassroot Teamwear and have also started working with Umbro to

give football clubs a chance to get kitted out for less, and pay it off in instalments rather than one

lump sum up front.

Mat Court - MD 4

The MD’s

Letter

Call: 0800 8 20 21 22

Flexible payment plans, spread the cost across the season

or use your end of season Grassroot Media payments to

pay for your kit - email or call Mat Court for details

Ultra low costs

One simple design which helps us keep costs down

Sizes XXS to XXXL

Style of

print

Heat

transferred

club crest

Heat

transferred

crest and

sponsor logo

Embroidered

club crest

Embroidered

club crest,

heat

transferred

sponsors logo Cost per shirt

exc. VAT and

exc. delivery 11.80 14.16 13.57 15.93 Cost per shirt

inc. VAT

exc. Delivery 14.16 16.99 16.28 19.12

Email: mcourt@grassrootmedia.com

www.ramballs.co.uk Tel: 01372 722999

Email: sales@ramhouse.co.uk

Size 1

Size 2

Match Football • 1.5mm FIFA approved PU material • 4-ply strong linings to maintain shape and bounce • Long lasting air retention bladder • Official size 69-70cm & weight 430-445g • Available in sizes 4 & 5 • £15+VAT each, £130+VAT for 10, £600+VAT for 50

Football Trainer/Multipurpose • 2.5-3mm strong outer film, PU-coated glossy PVC • Strong 2 polyester and 2 cotton linings • Long lasting air retention bladder • Official size & weight • Available in sizes 3, 4 & 5 • £7+VAT each, £60+VAT for 10, £250+VAT for 50

Indoor 5-a-side • Made with hard-wearing felt • Super stretched • Hand stitched • Super Airtech bladder • Available in sizes 4 & 5 • £8+VAT each, £70+VAT for 10, £300+VAT for 50

Night Training • Extra glossy PVC • 3-ply ball - machine lamination • 4 layers of cotton • Lamination with ‘K’ grade latex • 9-ply stitched threads • SUPER BRIGHT orange colour • £8+VAT each, £70+VAT for 10, £300+VAT for 50

Junior • 3-ply lamination • Polyester cotton • Glossy PVC • Available in sizes 1 & 2 • £5+VAT each, £40+VAT for 10, £150+VAT for 50

TEAMWEAR OFFERS

At Ram we can solve your club team wear needs with our own brand shirts and shorts. We also make matching goalkeeper’s kit. Guide prices: Shirt: £27+VAT Keeper’s shirt: £33+VAT Shorts: £13+VAT We can make up any design you can think of and prices include all printed logos & numbers. Our ultra-lightweight shirts and shorts made of 100% polyester high-tech material also incorporate moisture management for player comfort

Sports

psychology

Confidence and its

links to belief "Confidence is contagious” -

Vince Lombardi.

This month’s article builds on last

month and is written in the context of

football. If football is not your sport

then simply substitute footballer for

cricketer or athlete, the concepts are

the same and transferrable. I am a

BASES Accredited Sport Scientist in

sport psychology and I am based in

Sheffield, South Yorkshire and my

company is Pinnacle Performance

(www.pinnacleperformance.co.uk). I

work with a number of different sports

and believe self-belief is the most

important aspect of the mind and I

work extensively on this with my

athletes. If you have a strong self-

belief then you can build everything

from there. This reminds me of the

story I was told at primary school

where one man built his house on

sand and another built his on strong

stone. The house built on stone

survived the storm the other house

was washed away.

This is exactly the same with self-

belief.

Your beliefs are based on your

personality, experiences and

relationships you have had throughout

your life. These have shaped you and

beliefs. Beliefs are deep rooted in

your inner core and so are difficult to

change but can be changed with hard

work. Beliefs are fed by reference

points. Think about your kitchen

table with the belief the table top and

your reference points the table legs.

A footballer needs an awareness of the

reference points that have so much

influence over them and look to

develop positive reference points and

remove negative and self-inhibiting

ones (You can check more on this on

my blog on my website).

9

10

it in their competitive first team debut.

The confidence that a player has can

be managed and improved and is

influenced by belief.

There several strategies to improve

confidence. The first and the most

important is to get experience and

learn from the experiences; look to

extend your comfort zone - "Get

Comfortable being uncomfortable".

When gaining experience work on the

following strategies:

1. Act confident. If you act like you

are confident then you become

confident. Your body can’t tell the

difference if your brain tells it a white

lie and makes something up and as

you decide the instructions that the

brain gives then you can tell your

body to act confident even you may

not be! Concentrate on giving out

confident body language on the

football pitch.

Reference points are something which

we can control so we, as footballers

should focus on this.

Reference points that are out of our

control or ones that we can only

influence (e.g winning!) should be

avoided for belief and confidence.

One way to develop belief is to work

on your confidence. Confidence is

linked to your beliefs by your positive

references points and for a football

player is subjective and can increase

and decrease quickly but importantly

you control it. You can be confident in

one situation but not others; this is

contagious so it must be managed.

This management can be improved by

gaining more experience in a football

environment and then using positive

reference points that are gained from

these experiences.

There are two types of confidence;

Training Confidence and Match

Confidence. The first is being

confident in training. Training is a

safe and comfortable environment

where there is less pressure and more

freedom to play. Match confidence is

confidence to get the job done in a

competitive environment.

There is uncertainty in matches due to

the influences that are out of the

control of the footballers so there is

more pressure and it is less

comfortable (we are creatures that

like comfort). A footballer can be

confident in one but not the other and

needs to get experience in both.

However confidence from one can be

taken from one and used in the other if

you have limited experience.

For example a youth footballer could

use their training confidence and use

11

You have complete confidence in your

ability to be successfully and you also

know it’s better to attempt it because

you have assigned a higher value in

'confidence money’ than is lost from

being unsuccessful. This will develop

confidence as a football player.

Become optimistic about your

strengths and preparations. This will

allow you to be confident and not to

fear failure.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in

every opportunity; an optimist sees

the opportunity in every difficult.” –

Winston Churchill.

Please contact me through my

website

(www.pinnacleperformance.co.uk)

if you have any comments or sport

psychology questions. Next month

we will look at another aspect of

belief and building from our strong

base!

2. Watch and observe role models.

Watch the players who you to

perceive to be confident players and

take on some of their mannerisms and

what they do.

So remember - “Man becomes what

he believes himself to be” – Mahatma

Ghandi.

So act like you are confident and you

will become a more confident football

player.

3. Use a Confidence bank. The

analogy of a ‘confidence bank’ is

where you can see what you are doing

to improve your confidence. This is

like a normal bank account you want

to put more in than you take out. To

do this there are some things that can

be done. Being aware of your own

strengths and your areas to improve is

good place to start (awareness

again!). Assign more ‘confidence

money’ to your strengths than your

weaknesses so every time you do

something well you can make a

deposit into the confidence bank. By

doing this you will always put more in

than you take out and so your

confidence will improve.

4. Don’t fear failure. In pressured

situations don’t fear failure. Embrace

these feelings as a signal from your

body that it is in a state of readiness

and demand to make key decisions

when ‘the game is on the line’

because you KNOW you are ready,

prepared and have enough in the

confidence bank.

Here’s a selection of some of the great training equipment available at www.ramcricket.co.uk

or in our catalogue which you can order for free by calling the number below

QUOTE GRASS AT CHECKOUT TO GET YOUR 5% OFF

www.ramcricket.co.uk Tel: 01372 722999

Email: sales@ramhouse.co.uk

“Ram Cricket are here to support cricket clubs, cricket playing schools and universities with an extremely wide range of products at very competitive prices. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any needs.” Nasser Hussain, ex-England Captain and Director of Ram Cricket

Player Fitness

Isaiah Barratt

This month I am going to talk about

team warm ups and also recap

stretching and provide some routines

for you to follow.

A warm up is a necessity and is the

most important part of any physical

activity. If the body is not warmed up

and prepared properly then this can

cause any manner of injuries and will

affect your individual performances.

Benefits from warming up include an

increase movement of blood through

your muscle tissues making them

more pliable, and an increased

oxygen supply & nutrients to your

muscle fibres both of which will

prevent you from getting out of

breathe easily.

This also prepares you for pre-

stretching so that you can get full

range of movement without any

injures or tears to your ligaments or

joints.

Preparing your heart for your activity

is the main part of a warm up. We do it

so that it reduces the rapid increase in

blood pressure and gives the vessels

in the heart time to dilate so that they

can with stand the pressure.

As I am new to working with

footballers or cricketers I can not tell

you about what you should and

shouldn’t be doing to improve your

performances for these specific

sports; I can only advise you on what I

have learnt from my own profession as

a personal trainer and the

experiences that I’ve learned

throughout my fitness career over the

last 8 years.

On the next few pages is what I think

you & your teams could do before

your next game.

Good luck and if you have any

questions please drop me a line.

In his player fitness column this month, Isaiah Barratt looks at warm up and stretching routines for

your footballers & cricketers.

13

14

5 min warm up drill sure to increase your heart

and get the blood pumping to the muscles. All exercises usually want to last for around 30 seconds with no rest between.

1. High knees

2. Switch kicks

3. Butt kicks

4. Walk out planks

15

5. Tiger walks

6. Squat jacks

7. Burpees

8. Mountain

climbers

9. Shuttle runs

Have a go for your self and see how you feel afterwards….

You should be warmed up and ready to go even though you may feel slightly tired

but might I add the benefits from performing these bodyweight movements will not

only warm you up but will physically make you stronger at the same time.

Arm Swings – chest, shoulders

Scorpion – low back, hip flexors

Front to Back Leg Swing - hamstrings,

glutes, quads

Sideways Leg Swing – abductors,

adductors

Lunge with Rotation – glutes, hip

flexors, calves

Handwalks- shoulders, core, hamstrings

Power Skip – preparing for explosive

movements

Dynamic stretching routines to try:

16

Here’s a quick Q&A with Brinley, the owner of The Mug Shop: Q. Can you give us a step by step guide as to how we get our football or cricket club logo & name on to a batch of mugs? A: Firstly compile good quality digital copy/s of the image/s you want to use on your mug design. If you are familiar with Photoshop visit the "Design your own mug" section of the Mug-shop.co.uk website and download the relevant PSD template and create your design. Alternatively, if you need assistance creating your design then email your images to design@mug-shop.co.uk along with a design brief of your requirements and they will create it for you. Once your design has been created you can go online and upload your design when placing your order using the "Design your own mug" section of the website, remembering to enter the 10% discount code GRASS during the checkout process. Q. If we have a sponsor can we add their logo on to our mugs? A: Yes! Designs can incorporate any image combinations so for example you could have your logo on one side and a sponsors on the other. Q. How long does the process take from start to finish? A: If you already have a completed design the turnaround is usually 5 days. Q. How long have you been making mugs? A: Since 2002 Q. How is the best way to get in touch? A: Email is our preferred method of communication using the address: design@mug-shop.co.uk

MAKE MONEY FOR YOUR CLUB BY SELLING

CLUB MUGS TO PLAYERS, FANS AND

MEMBERS

18

Mindset Matters with

Bernard Baines

The 10% myth... I’ll bet you’ve heard it said that we only use 10% of our brain and that we have available to us 90% of untapped potential if only we could learn how to access it. It’s a nice thought but it’s simply not true. It’s one of a number of myths about the brain debunked by a recent Radio 4 documentary that brought together leading neuro-scientists from around the world.

Scans now confirm that all areas of the brain work as and when required in concert with other areas of the brain to perform tasks. Simple motor functions like moving your hands involve enormous amounts of brain usage.

The downside of exploding the 10% myth is that you are never going to suddenly break into some mysterious unused areas of your brain to revolutionise your life.

But there’s good news. Neuro-science also confirms that, through thinking, you can grow new connections in your brain at any time - even into old age. There may be a limit on the amount of grey matter available to you, but in terms of your capacity to re-configure and grow new connections, to create new patterns and to generate new ideas, new habits, new perspectives and new options, you remain – quite literally - limitless.

What are you doing with your brain today? ©Bernard Baines 2013

As a trainer and life coach Bernard Baines helps individuals and teams achieve what they want to achieve by developing a positive mindset.

bernard@mindsetmatters.co.uk www.mindsetmatters.co.uk

Bernard Baines looks at what can put and keep you in the right mindset to be more effective in

whatever you’re doing, whether it be at work, in the clubhouse or on the pitch. Mindset Matters...

19

It’s Just

Cricket...

Many of you will be familiar with cricket

bats that take a while to reach their peak

performance level – maybe as long as a

year or two to “break in” – and from our

experience at It’s Just Cricket Ltd, it has

proven to be a cause for frustration

amongst some customers. Why do bats

behave this way, though? If you’ve shelled

out over £300 on a brand new stick, you

could be forgiven for thinking that it

should be a “gun” straight out of the

packet. However, the reality is that all

bats perform differently, and the main

reason is not really down to the

manufacturing, but rather, the pressing.

With pressing, there are two schools of

thought: do you press softly (for

performance), or press hard (for

durability). Having knocked in (by hand)

numerous bats of each type as part of our

knocking-in service, we at It’s Just Cricket

Ltd have noticed that the hard pressed

bats are becoming prevalent amongst the

major brands’ offerings, like Gray-Nicolls,

Kookaburra and Gunn & Moore, whilst the

softly pressed bats are more common

amongst the smaller, niche brands such as

Salix, Millichamp & Hall and Hell4Leather.

Which is better though?

Paul Cole, owner of It’s Just Cricket starts his new monthly column about personal cricket equipment with a

handy chat about the different types of bat pressing. Feel free to rip this out and display on your club

noticeboard for all of your players to see.

Well, purely from my own experience of

knocking in these bats, I prefer the lower

pitched sound and response of a softly

pressed bat, and I’m certainly not

surprised that these are generally

considered to be the better performing

bats, especially in their early life. The

ones that take longer to break in are the

harder pressed bats, but despite the extra

patience needed, there is one major

benefit of such a bat: as they are pressed

hard, they are pressed for durability, so

they’re likely to last longer. Softly

pressed bats, on the other hand, are

pressed for performance, so although

they perform better earlier in their life,

they don’t tend to last as long.

So, before you come to fork out for your

new weapon of choice, ask yourself the

question: “am I more interested in

durability or instant performance?” and

then buy accordingly. Just another very

important consideration when buying a

new cricket bat, and often overlooked…

It’s Just Cricket is based in London but sells

online across the UK & the world at

www.itsjustcricket.co.uk - call Paul on 020

7701 7726 with any equipment related

questions you have.

Hard vs. Soft: Pressed for performance or durability?

www.itsjustcricket.co.uk

What’s on the

board... Scoreboards are one of the biggest

investments a club will make. I know from

experience just how much of a minefield

the whole industry is; while at my

previous cricket club I was responsible

for sourcing a new digital scoreboard. It’s

always been a goal of mine since we

started this magazine for you that we find

a suitably trustworthy partner that can

offer scoreboards alongside a great

service. While we have negotiated a great

offer for you price-wise I don’t think the

price is really the biggest factor when it

comes to a club buying a scoreboard. I

learned during my time that it’s the

service, compatibility and ease of use that

I believe have equal standing alongside

price. That said, me being me when I

bought my previous club’s board I just

went with the cheapest price but I don’t

think that was really the wrong thing to do

at the time. I had never bought a

scoreboard before and thought they were

pretty much all the same. The lack of

resource out there is plain for all to see, or

more accurately not see. When you are

buying a scoreboard the person who is

making the decision is pretty much on

their own and doesn’t really have much

access to reviews, other clubs’

experiences and any real idea on the

level of service a prospective supplier

may provide him/her. So, you can kind of

see now why I was so keen to get a

scoreboard partner on board for you...

This month we have an extended feature on our newest member offer partner ESU Scoreboards who, funnily

enough, make scoreboards for cricket, rugby and football clubs as well as other sports.

And that partner I am happy to say isn’t

the firm that did my install, funnily enough

I didn’t even approach them. This is the

firm I should have bought our scoreboard

from - ESU Scoreboards in Braintree,

Essex. After meeting Julian from ESU I

really got the feeling he and the company

share the Grassroot Media values of

helping clubs and then it was just the

small matter of negotiating a discount that

we can offer you guys. I think the discount

is good at 10% especially seeing as their

prices are pretty competitive already but

most of all I think you’ve got a partner who

will deliver what they say when they

promise it, something I never got from the

company I used.

So let’s take a look at their history... In the

late 1960’s cricket scores were displayed

by means of simple mechanical

arrangements or just numbered tiles hung

21

on a board. Andrew Seeley, Cricket

Master at Wymondham College, Norfolk

asked one of his students what he wanted

to do for an A-level project and he replied

that he wanted to design an electronic

cricket scoreboard. I think someone was

on to something here eh? Andrew

arranged a visit to Trent Bridge which was

the first ground in the country to have an

electronic scoreboard and with advice

from a local firm his student designed and

built two units fitted with pygmy bulbs.

Another 12 units were made following the

same design by boys in the radio club.

Other students and teachers helped with

the construction of the structure which

was to house the units, and was some 9

meters wide by 4.5 meters high:

The impressive structure soon attracted

interest from local clubs, resulting in the

first installation at Swardestone CC. This

led to enquiries from other counties and

installations in Worcestershire and South

Wales. John Edwards was the electrical

expert and together with Andrew‘s

passion for cricket and his contacts as ex-

chairman of Norfolk County Cricket Club

the business flourished with up to 200

pygmy lamp scoreboards being installed

in clubs across the country and Electronic

Scoreboard Units was born.

In 1989 ESU installed their first scoreboard

using electro-mechanical digits at

Shepherd’s Bush CC. Over 150

subsequent installations were made using

these digits, some of which are still in use

today.

Technology has moved on again and the

majority of new scoreboards are fitted

with LED digits which as they have no

moving parts have a much longer life

Andrew retired from the business

although still takes an interest in projects.

He continues to watch cricket at his local

club Great Melton CC, where he is

president, and last year ESU replaced his

original scoreboard with a 21st century

LED system. Then again I guess he wasn’t

going to go to another firm for the job!

You can see who’s had an ESU install on

their website and this map:

22

And one of those past customers was

Belhus Cricket Club, one of the first

cricket clubs to become part of the

Grassroot Media network, here’s one of

their boards:

Club Captain Richard Day says: “In

dealing with ESU I found them to be far

more helpful than another big company in

the early stages of planning our

scoreboard design. In deciding to then

purchase through ESU everything went

well thereafter. The service provided by

Julian Spinks at installation was excellent

and his response to the one problem we

had during our 4 years of ownership was

resolved within a day. We were that

impressed with ESU that we didn't hesitate

to buy one of their pre built smaller

scoreboards when one was required for

our second ground. The mobile scoring

control has been very robust and is very

easy to master.”

And another is Brentwood Cricket Club.

Paul Webb, Chairman at Brentwood said

“I am really pleased with everything that

ESU have done for us. They were really

helpful from start to finish (and continue to

be so when we ask for extra equipment)

and they were flexible in terms of

payment options. I highly recommend

them.”

Rob Wilkinson, Director of Cricket at

Hailsham Cricket Club said “The guys at

ESU Scoreboards are absolutely superb,

especially Julian. Their support before

and after completion is exceptional, they

have made the whole process easy.”

Here’s the Hailsham box:

For clubs that haven’t got an existing

scorebox nor wish to build one ESU are

able to offer a range of complete boxed

scoreboards which can be hung on a wall

or mounted on posts:

23

These are the boxed models member clubs can get the 10% discount on:

LED BOXED SCOREBOARDS

GRASSROOT MEDIA MEMBER CLUB OFFERS

With the exception of the smaller board (which can be upgraded) these are supplied

with the ESU radio remote console. User friendly, compact, lightweight with

rechargeable batteries and a range of up to 250m it can be used from almost anywhere

on the ground. The scoreboards can be controlled from Total Cricket Scorer with the

optional TCS facilities kit.

To qualify for these offers you only have to be a Grassroot Media Member Club, which if

you’re reading this, you are! And you can pick the boards up yourselves to save on the

delivery charges

Call Julian at ESU on 01376 322 030 to get the ball rolling and quote the code “GRM1” to

get your 10% discount.

Next month we’ll give you more details on the custom scoreboards and we’re also

planning to cover ESU’s upcoming refit of the scoreboard at Durham County Cricket

Ground to give you an idea of what goes in to a first class scoreboard.

Model: ESU9CL12

Price: £2450

OFFER: £2205

Delivery: £100

Supplied with minigrip control,

upgrade to LCD control for £300

Prices exc. VAT

Model: ESU15CL12

Price: £3650

OFFER: £3285

Delivery: £125

Supplied with LCD control

Prices exc. VAT

Model: ESU22CL12

Price: £4950

OFFER: £4455

Delivery: £195

Supplied with LCD control

Prices exc. VAT

Dimensions: 1500mm x 1500mm x 110mm

Dimensions: 2500mm x 1100mm x 110mm

Dimensions: 2200mm x 1500mm x 110mm

www.electronicscoreboardunits.com

26

Club news -

Liam’s off to Rwanda

Hello all!

My name is Liam Burnell and Mat has

kindly given me some space for a few

words in this months magazine. I've

been a member of Steeple Langford

Cricket Club in Wiltshire for the past 8

years, and would love to hold your

attention for just a couple of minutes

whilst you read this!

In September I will be heading out,

with 8 other volunteers, to Rwanda for

2 weeks with a national charity called

Cricket Without Boundaries

(www.cricketwithoutboundaries.com),

whom some of you may have heard of.

Their main objectives are to raise

awareness of HIV whilst working with

the ICC and relevant cricket boards to

enable cricket development through

coaching, and also coach

development. Whilst out there

coaching the game of cricket, we will

use the ABCs throughout our coaching

to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS to

make as big an impact as possible!

In order to make a lasting impact, we

have all been asked to raise £750 for

the charity, all of which will go

towards the equipment we take out to

Rwanda, and subsequently leave

there, and this is where I need your

help! I am currently looking for

possible fundraising ideas that I could

pursue to meet this target, and am

also looking for any kind donations,

however small, in order to creep

closer towards my target! Any

donation, be it 50p or £5, can be made

on JustGiving at the following address:

http://www.justgiving.com/LiamBurn

ell-CWB

Alternatively, you could purchase a

wristband from me for the great price

of £2. I'm happy to post these out to

people, but it'd be great if you could

also cover the price of a postage

stamp as I'm on a students budget!

Every penny will go towards the

charity, and will help to make a lasting

impact on the communities of Rwanda

and any help is greatly appreciated,

however small. If you want to find out

more or have any ideas, please

contact me either by email

(liamburnell12@hotmail.com) or drop

me a text (07447927430) and I'll get

back to you as soon as possible!

Help us to Bowl AIDS out of Rwanda!

27

Twitter

Directory

Bronze CC: @BronzeCC

Clifton CC: @cliftoncricket

Clifton CC ground: @cliftonccdevt

Crawley Down Gatwick Football Club:

@OfficialCDGFC

Epping CC: @EppingCC

Gateshead Fell CC: @gatesheadfellcc

Hailsham Cricket Club: @hailshamcc1871

Marsden CC: @cuckooscricket

Old Parkonians Association: @oldparks

Old Parkonians FC: @oldparksfc

Parkfield Amateur AFC: @parkfieldafc

South Loughton CC: @southloughtoncc

Southgate Compton CC: @sccricketclub

Stapleton CC: @stapletoncc

Steeple Langford CC: @steeplelangford

Sussex County FA: @sussexcountyfa

Tynedale CC:@tynedalecc

Westinghouse CC: @westinghousecc

Whickham CC: @whickhamcc

Winterbourne CC: @winterbournecc

Worlington CC: @worlingtoncc

List your club’s Twitter account in here so everyone else can get following you. Only those clubs that are members of the network like yours are allowed on this list. To get listed just drop Mat a note at mcourt@grassrootmedia.com or on Twitter @grassrootmedia Grassroot Media recommends: @fvhtweets @michaelsengrave @sussexcountyfa @meadonscricket @4grants @chance2shine

28

Club

Classifieds Network member club Apperley CC are

looking to sell three 11 blade Ransome

triplex mower units in excellent

condition. Looking for offers around

£600 mark. Contact Brian Leeke, Club

Chairman on 01684 292092.

Woodpeckers CC have these

covers for sale, three solid &

complete covers (with the

coverings, not pictured here).

£2,500 ono.

For more information please

contact Andy Watts on 07890

843667.

Spare Brother inkjet cartridges available

We’ve got loads of Brother inkjet cartridges available in the

office. We replaced our printer and the old cartridges don’t fit

the new machine. They are for an MFC-J6510DW but will fit a

few other Brother machines. Drop Mat Court a note on

mcourt@grassrootmedia.com if you want them.

29

Cricket

Club Corner Tell us a bit about your club... what do you do, where are you, which leagues, how many members etc...

We are Macknade CC - The Alternative MCC. Based in Faversham Kent. We Play our Home games at The Selling Road MCG in Faversham, just off the A2. Macknade CC is a Community Amateur Sports Club, we have never paid anyone to play for the club. We currently have 180 members from age 5 to 90. 60 Adults, 120 under 18s. We currently have 2 teams on a Saturday both playing in the Kent League, and 2 Sunday teams, 1 playing in the East Kent League and 1 friendly XI. We currently run teams in local development leagues in the following age groups; under 7s, under 9s, under 11s, under 13's and under 15's. Macknade CC was originally

Ben J Martin of Macknade Cricket Club in Faversham, Kent

formed as a farm workers social Club by the Neame Family (owners of Shepherd Neame Brewery) in October

1935. Prior to the Second World War, the club played its cricket just off Salters Lane in Faversham (on the

land now occupied by Faversham Town Football club) and football on what is now the cricket ground.

Tell us something interesting about your club...

We were and ECB NatWest CricketForce Showcase club in 2007, and with the help of a local building firm

have spent the last several years improving our facilities. Right now We're trying to set up a local cup

competition for 2014. We have 4 other teams in the Town & surrounding district, as well as several pub teams,

all of whom we want to engage with to try and develop a fun cup competition that shows off exactly what

cricket in Faversham is about.

Who does what at the club to do with revenue generation/sponsorship?

The Club Membership voted the Treasurer, Andrew Perkin to fulfil the role of Marketing Manager at the last

AGM, as a result he is the primary contact for all sponsorship, however revenue generation is shared out

between several members, with a social secretary and bar manager also brining in much needed revenue.

Have you got any advice for other clubs in our network looking to be more successful when it comes to

generating funds?

One of the most important things for clubs to remember is that sometimes spending money helps you gain

more money, by spending a small amount on posters, and speaking to local schools and gyms and asking

them if they will display the posters, you can develop interest in the local community, gaining members and

supporters.

What do you find is the best approach to getting advertisers and sponsors in and around the club?

If you want sponsors, don't just write to them. Start by speaking to them, invite them to a club open day, show

them the facilities you have, what you do, if you have a club house with bar & kitchen, perhaps suggest that

they could use it for their christmas party, then ask them for sponsorship, remembering that sometimes its

better to accept good or services instead of cash. We've had over £100,000 worth of work done by asking for

help with materials and specialist labour instead of cash!

Which brand would be your perfect sponsor and why?

If I asked the Chairman who our perfect brand sponsor would be, he'd probably say "whoever offers the

biggest cheque." but to be honest I'd say with the size of our colts section a soft drinks firm, like either

Lucozade Sport, Coca-Cola or Red Bull would be a pretty good fit, but I think any sponsor would be

welcomed, we've previously been sponsored by Pukka Pies and Stag Chilli.

Have you got a Twitter page our other clubs can make contact with you on?

You'll Find Macknade on both Facebook (Macknade CC) and Twitter (@MacknadeCC).

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33

Guide to... Celebrating

an anniversary!

In last month’s issue, Marsden CC asked for ideas about how to mark an anniversary – in their case, 150 years. We at South Loughton CC in Essex are celebrating our 75th anniversary this year, and hope our ideas will be of use to others.

1. Set up a sub-committee. Ideally with people who aren’t overloaded with other tasks. Let them develop ideas to be presented to the club management committee.

2. One big event or lots of small ones? Having one event to focus on is easier in terms of planning and logistics, especially as there are regular club activities to keep going as well. In our case, we are holding an anniversary dinner in October. We have secured our most famous former player, Barry Hearn, as guest speaker, and are holding the event at Leyton Orient Football Club, of which Barry is chairman. It is a large venue with good facilities and is somewhere new for most guests, making ticket sales easier.

3. Cricket Week. We last held a Cricket Week in the 1990s, so this is the perfect time to resuscitate it. Two games are against representative XIs from the leagues we play in; one is against our ‘partner club’, Mathews CC, with whom we run a team that offers a first step into senior cricket for our older juniors; and a fourth is against a Barry Hearn XI at the ground in his garden – we’re taking a minibus of spectators to that one! The fifth day is devoted to disability cricket – we are a pioneer in this area and are staging a competition for local special schools – and the juniors. Our friends at Wanstead CC are joining us to play the world’s first ever (?) 26-a-side match: successive fast-moving, small-sided games between under-9, 11, 13 and 15 teams from each club, with cumulative scoring to arrive at an eventual winner. There will be a barbecue at most games, which is always a good earner.

4. Write a club history. The story of South Loughton was first documented in 1988, for our 50th, and this formed the basis of 2013’s revised and expanded edition. If you can’t find someone to produce a chronological account, how about several people making thematic contributions? Older, retired members will have tales to tell, and a delve through the archives of the local newspaper will undoubtedly turn up material. The aim is not necessarily to produce a detailed account of matches and statistics (unless you have these available) but to capture the spirit of the club as it has evolved over the years. We found a friendly printer who produced 200 copies of a 140-page perfect-bound book for £3 each. We sell them at the club and a local bookshop for £5 each, and on Amazon for £7.99 (a great way to sell easily to former members who may have moved away, and not difficult to set up). If you want to see – or even buy – our history, search for South Loughton Cricket Club under Books.

5. Souvenirs. Mugs and calendars can now be produced easily and cheaply, and are a good fund-raiser. Just do some research online, there are plenty of options.

6. And finally, don’t be over-ambitious unless you have the personnel and time to aim for the stars. Better to do a few things well and leave everyone with good memories.

Contributors: Andrew Shields from South Loughton Cricket Club (www.southloughton.org.uk)

talks about what goes in to marking an important club anniversary...

34

Competition

winners!!! CRICKET SHIRTS

Last month we were looking for models for our

new range of cricket teamwear and we had 10

successful applicants - you’ll be able to see who

they are next month when we have them featured

in here so you can see just how good our shirts

are!

CRICKET PLAYER SURVEY

We ran a competition for our cricket clubs where

the only thing they needed to do was get their

players to fill out a survey on how people interact

with our changing rooms posters. Each

respondent was put in a hat and the winner

was... Matt Ewer who asked for his £50 to go to

his cricket club Rugby Cricket Club.

We might be doing another one soon on your

experiences with sponsorship but I’m not sure if

it will carry a prize or not.

Football Trophies from £2.60 each

Cricket Trophies from £2.87 each

Trophy Cups from £4.04 each

Glass Awards from £3.19 each

Crystal Awards from £6.74 each

Medals from £0.71 each

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