Screen Shot 2018-07-19 at 10.07.38.png
 
 
BHCC Chairmans News and Views October / November 2018

BHCC Chairmans News and Views October / November 2018

29 Oct 2018

Although this might appear to be a quiet time of the year in reality quite a number of things have been going on. More than 60 years after the two organisations split up I am pleased to announce that the Tennis Club has been reintegrated into the Cricket Club. We will retain the two courts nearest to Countess Drive and we are experimenting with grassing the other two courts. At some point we will seek to develop the Pavilion but as with most things a decent size lottery win is required.

On the ground considerable work has been carried out to restore the square and the outfield and as ever I am grateful to Geoff Chambers and Ian Munro for their efforts to bed down the field for winter. Fenwick Marley also put some hours in up the ladders and the place is back on track after an exceptionally busy summer. We have a price for refurbishing the Artificial Net Surfaces and will be seeking external funds to carry out that work as a matter of priority. If anyone has a spare £30,000 burning a hole in their pocket that would help the situation?

Socially the Quiz season is underway (with a new team of Tennis Members) and a number of functions are in the pipeline in the run up to Christmas and the New Year. Roll up roll up!

Twitter followers will have noted that we have made two significant signings for 2019 – Callum Harding and Luke Doneathy are excellent cricketers who will add a competitive edge to what will be a young First Eleven in 2019. Director of Cricket Kyle Coetzer has been busy making plans for the New Year and members can be confident that progress will continue to be made. The North East Premier League is a hard school and the `horse trading` that goes on does not always sit well with one or two but we are well placed to maintain our status as a leading cricket club in the North East.

Two of our young players- Luke Mussett and Max Williamson- are now playing in Australia and it will be fascinating to see how they develop over the winter. Two others - Ben Mussett and Joe Fletcher (both of whom scored over a 1000 runs) are nominated for Player of the Year awards at the NEPL  Annual Dinner. Ben smashed the Second Team League record and must be a `shoo in` for the award? Finally Joe Anderson and Rory Hanley received special awards for their efforts in the Northumberland U 17 team that enjoyed an excellent season. Add in William Archbold and Mohsin Mukhtar who also excelled both in that team and in our ranks and the future looks rosy.

In concluding this missive I must congratulate our esteemed President Norman Green and his twin Ken on celebrating their 90th Birthday. Nobody could be more supportive of our endeavours than President Green.

I must also congratulate Philip Nicholson on reaching number 2 in the all time appearance record for BHCC First X1 – next summer we will truly have something to celebrate all things being well.

Finally, my apologies to all the BHCC Members for missing my first Annual Dinner since joining the Club in 1983. Singing in the Royal Albert Hall probably represents a reasonable excuse but I hope I will be forgiven in due course. My thanks to Hugh Dyson and Phil Haves for holding the fort in my absence.

Simon Lunn

Chairman     Please contact -email simon.lunn@live.co.uk  mobile 07791 683827.

News

Cricket Groundforce volunteers needed - Saturday 23rd March from 9:30am

19th Mar 2024

Benwell Hill Annual General Meeting 2024 - Meeting headlines

2nd Mar 2024

Chairmans News : February 2024

18th Feb 2024

New Ground Sponsorship deal

11th Feb 2024

View all news »

We are proudly sponsored by...