This should spell the end of site changes...

I have finally found a menu that i am happy with. This should be usable regardless of the web browser you use so it makes things a hell of a lot less complicated for me in designing the site.

As a result the site should remain pretty much as it is for quite some time.

You will notice the match report permission request form on the site. Anyone wishing to be able to view the match reports during the summer should request permission asap because i only have space for a certain amount of people to become members of the blog. Once it is full there is no way of making more space.

The first event of the year has been organised...


As you know the fundraising committee have worked hard over the last few years and the fruits of that labour are now apparent with the new nets having been installed over the winter giving Astwood Bank some of the best facilities for training around. However, we’re not standing still, and with plans to improve the clubhouse and grounds, we have arranged a variety of functions throughout the year and I hope that you can support some of them. The first is as follows

February 20th 7.30 onwards at The White Lion, Astwood Bank

SKITTLES EVENING

£6 to include a meal of either Scampi, Chicken or Sausage

If you would like tickets please let either Andy Thomas or Brindy know with your food order. (mbrind@oxford.faurecia.com)

Families/children welcome

Data is now available...

I have posted the results of the fitness testing carried out during the first week of pre-season training.

The results can be found under the 'Statistics' tab of the drop down menu. Click on 'training' to be taken to the page.

Sorry if the home page looks a mess...

I have been working on more new things for the website. For those who were able to use the old menu style with drop down menu's, they are going to be back in action once i have fully redesigned the layout.

I hope to have the page layout finalised over the next day or so. But the new menu is taking a bit longer to write than i hoped it would.

The fundraising committee are having a meeting tonight...

The meeting is being used to plan the social and fundraising events for 2009. All of the details from the meeting will be posted on here at some point over the next couple of days.

Don't forget training tonight...

Same time, same place as ever.

There will be a darts night this year again...

we are holding a fundraising meeting on Wednesday, so i'll let you know when it is going to be after then. It will probably be at the beginning of March.

I will be able to order hoodies...

If you wish to order one, they will be exactly the same design as we have had previously. They are still £28 for adult sizes and £25 for children's sizes as they were.

I have minimum order requirements to meet with Kukri, so if there isn't enough interest in hoodies then i wont be able to order any.

First team averages are now available...

they can be found by using the 'stats' tab on the menu on the left hand side of your screen.

The dates for cricket force 2009 have been announced...

It will take place over the first weekend of April. This is the 3rd - 5th.

We will be looking to get the club ready for the start of the 2009 season. There are plenty of jobs that need doing before we start playing and we will need everyone to support the event during the course of the weekend. There are no stag weekends planned this year so the turnout should be good.

Anyone who is unsure of what cricket force is and would like to find out more click here

I've finally got round to it...

I have now finished the designs and pricing for the kit this year and can confirm that the final deadline for orders will be Saturday 14th February 2009.

I WILL NOT BE EXTENDING THE DEADLINE BEYOND THAT DATE AND WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ORDERS WITHOUT PAYMENTS UP FRONT THIS YEAR.

The designs for all items that we have had before are the same. I have added playing trousers to the order. I will get the trousers picture onto the 'playing kit' section of the site. The trousers that are currently on there are different to what i have finally decided on.

PLEASE GET YOUR ORDERS IN ASAP. CASH AND CHEQUES ARE ACCEPTED.

P.S. Ben Vanner, i still have your money from last years order.

The first selection for the clubhouse CD has been made...

with 31.3% of the vote Ace of Spades by Motorhead is the first track to be included on the CD. Roy Orbison was 2nd with 25% followed by Crowded House on 18.8%.

I have started a new poll for B. Polls will probably last for a couple of days rather than a week as i think most people who view the website will have voted in that time.

I have addded a feature in the 'features' tab on the menu so that you can view the track list of the CD. I have also created a form so that you can recommend a song for future polls so feel free to suggest songs otherwise i'll only be putting tracks on that i have on my media player.

The awards ceremony was held last night...

It would appear that nobody at the club was aware of the fact that the club was nominated for Community Sports Club of the Year last night. However, we were aware that the Girls U15 team was nominated for Junior Team of the Year. Will James, Jenni Haslam and Laura Porter were nominated for the Sports Leader of the Year Award and Clare Boycott was nominated for Junior Sports Personality of the Year Award.

We had reasonable success last night with The Cricket Club winning Club of the Year, Ladies team winning Junior Team of the Year and Will winning Sports Leader of the Year. Well done to all winners and nominee's on their achievements in 2008.

The Club of the Year award was obviously awarded for the clubs continuous development of the junior section and not for our generally disappointing performances in all competitions at senior level last season.

This is a photo of the Club's award. It may just appear to be an odd looking silver dish but it is an odd looking silver dish with the club's name on it.

A good idea has been suggested to me in order to make a CD that...

everyone can enjoy when we're in the club house next season. I will be putting some opinion polls on weekly with a range of songs for people to vote for. The winner each week will make it onto the CD.

The polls will run in alphabetical order. There may be more than one poll at a time. I hope to put the polls on the home page somewhere but if i cant find code to enable me to do that then they may be on a separate page.

Last night was our second training session of 2009...

Once again we were put through our paces by Charlotte and Richard. We spent the first hour or so doing circuit training which was fairly grueling to say the least. The second hour was spent netting. The turn out was far better this week but there are still a vast number of people not there who we would expect to see. If Johnno can drive all the way from Brighton then i'm sure getting there from Redditch cant be too difficult to organise!

The highlight this week was the appearance of some fairly interesting undergarments worn by Mr. Gordon.

Training continues tonight at Hagley High School...

Pre-season training is into its second week. There is less emphasis on fitness this week so hopefully we should see a better turn out from our less athletic contingency.

Training starts at 7pm and everyone should try to get there on time. If you are a junior unable to get a lift over to practice, then please get in contact with one of the seniors who will do their best to arrange a lift over for you.

If i have time to do it today then i will also have some of the kit order forms ready for tonights training. The deadline will be mid-february once we've had a couple of junior net sessions at Alcester.

I have noticed that the travellers are back in town

Can we please ensure that the gate is locked at all times!!!

I have changed the menu on the left hand side of the home page

Hopefully, this change should benefit those who use an Internet Explorer browser. Previously, the menu was a bit of a mess and didn't work properly on IE.

The menu is not quite as user friendly as the preious 'drop down' menu that was on the site but the new menu is sort of a compromise so that everyone can see the same thing.

As you know, last night was the first pre-season training session...

The session was led by coach Richard Hadley and former UK 800m runner Charlotte Moore. The main focus of the session was fitness testing, which is a fairly scary thought for the majority of our pie eating specialists. However, the session turned out to be reasonably enjoyable and will undoubtedly be beneficial in our push for improvement this season.

The turn out was not as good as we might have hoped for but i'm sure we will see an increase in numbers over the next few weeks. It was good to see Perky back training with us along with our newest recruit Andy from Sheffield.

You probably didn't see me with my camera last night but i did manage to get a video of Brindy during the fitness testing

As you are all aware the ground and clubhouse did not get completely finished off at the end of the season for one reason or another. I was going to arrange something in November but due to difficult circumstances at that time I was unable to do so.
What I am proposing is we all meet on Saturday the 17th January at 10am to finish off certain jobs remove white cover, tidy clubhouse erect new umpires shed etc. I would then like to have a general discussion with you all to see what projects we need to undertake for cricket force weekend, what we think is possible, what we can achieve so we can prepare in advance and get approved at Committee prior to Cricket Force Weekend.

Please let me know asap you can attend for a few hours on the 17th January.

Thanks in advance.

Brindy

It’s that time of year already and I am sure you are all as eager as ever Tuesday the 13th January we start nets from 7pm till 9pm at a brand new facility at Hagley Roman Catholic School (full address below for Directions).

At the players meeting at the end of last season several decisions were made in order to move the club forward to give training a better structure. As follows the programme will include.

(i) 6 weeks indoor nets at Hagley

(ii) Weekend Team Building TBC

(iii) Couple of weeks off

(iv) Outdoor Training in the brand new all weather nets

All this will be supported by our Club Coach Richard Hadley (AKA: Coach)

In addition to the above included in our training will be some fitness assessments and sports psychology so be prepared for all different types of training.

The only other information to add at this time is Senior training will now be welcoming the Under 14’s, 15’s and 16’s for a few reasons which are:-

The majority of them play senior cricket and need to feel a part of the Senior squad.

It gives all captains and the Coach the opportunity to work with them

This will also free up Thursday night’s in the summer at the ground for additional games and training.

Brake Lane, Hagley, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 2XL, Hagley School Address

http://www.hagleyrc.com/index.php Hagley School website


Any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

07917037288

Mark.brind@Faurecia.com Work

Markbrind@blueyonder.co.uk Home

Happy New Year!

Just a note to everyone to remind them that senior indoor nets commence on Tuesday 13th January at a school somewhere in Hagley.