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Newsletter 2009

Posted on 11 Apr 2009 by San Gore

NEWSLETTER APRIL 2009

Welcome to the start of the new cricket season. 

As there are over 45 playing members in the Club this year, not all appearing regularly, and several non-playing and overseas associates the website (www.kensingtoncricketclub.com) is the principal means of keeping everyone informed of club activities, for members notifying availabilities for matches and team secretary/match managers to select and communicate teams. The website is currently undergoing a major enhancement and the new-look site will be up and running in the next few days. Members should visit and record their availabilities on the website. All contributions to the website are encouraged, especially photographs which you will be able to upload yourself. 

In the meantime, this Newsletter is to keep you up to speed and includes:

• The Organisers ' who's who and what they are charged to do
  
• A Second Sponsor
  
• New Faces
  
• End-of-Nets Dinner ' not happening, but VP Dinner is
  
• Annual Subscriptions and potential rewards for early payment
  
• 2009 Fixtures
  
• Tour to Menorca, Spain
  

THE ORGANISERS
There is always a lot of work done behind the scenes to make this Club the success it is today. More members are involved in the day-to-day management of the Club and this helps to share the pain. The Committee, of course, oversees all activities and takes ultimate responsibility. The job functions for 2009 have been allocated as follows:

* Committee members

A SECOND SPONSOR
The Committee is delighted to announce that an agreement has been reached with Diageo to sponsor the Club through their Johnnie Walker Black Label brand. Further details will follow. Well done Neeraj and Sunil for all your efforts in securing this sponsorship for 2009. We are hoping that Cobra Beer will continue their support and supply us with their beer throughout the season. 

NEW FACES
The nets have, sadly, not been well attended this winter although the 'hard core' members have made full use of them. We would have liked to have seen many more prospective members and the nets are ideal for recruitment. New faces keen to participate this summer: 

• Josh Annear, Aussie mate of Brendan. Bowls at a mean pace.
  
• Tim Bowles (the Judge), also plays for Merrow, but attracted by our style (!). A devious spin bowler.
  
• Sowmi Krishnamurthy, introduced by Sunil via Ravi Rajagopal of Diageo.
  
• Sunil Sharma, introduced by Saurav. All-rounder, played a match for us last year.
  

END OF NETS DINNER / VICE-PRESIDENTS' DINNER / GOLF
Sunday 19 April is our last net at Lord's. However, as several of the members will be away playing the first game we will not be holding our traditional end of nets dinner this year. 

The Vice-Presidents' Dinner is being held on Thursday 7 May. 

We are planning two golf dates ' the Kensington 'Open' in late July, and the Kensington 'Closed' in late September.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND POTENTIAL REWARDS FOR EARLY PAYMENT
The 2009 Annual Subscription for Playing Members is £130 and is due on 1 May. This includes a £65 non-refundable amount for the Annual Dinner to be held at the end of the season. However, this is transferable to another if you cannot attend. A reduced subscription of £50 is available for Student and 'Country' Members (includes £35 for the Dinner). San Gore, who is in charge of collecting all dues from members, will be sending out shortly a summary of dues, covering subs, nets and other outstandings. Please help by paying promptly. Cheques payable to Kensington Cricket Club please, or a direct transfer to the Club's bank account. Remember, fully paid-up members get preference in team selection.

The Club continues the incentive scheme for early payment of subscriptions. It will purchase a £1 National Lottery ticket for 24 weeks (Wednesdays and Saturdays) starting on 6 May. Should we get five numbers or more correct, 50% of the winnings will be divided equally between playing members who are fully paid-up at the time of the draw. So if you are not in and we win - you get naught! Although the chances of winning are pretty remote, are you willing to take the risk of missing out when others are enjoying themselves? 

2009 FIXTURES 
New Fixture Secretary, Chris Ledger, has organised an action-packed summer of cricket. The 2009 Year Book is being printing and should be available very soon. In the meantime the fixtures list is enclosed (also will be on the website). Should you wish to play in a match please set your availability on the website (3 options ' Available, Not Available and Call if short), and remember to re-check it no later than the Monday evening before the weekend. This is the primary means of indicating your availabilit, and if you have difficulty remembering your password contact our webmaster, Ravi Ramamrutham. However, as an alternative to the website, you can communicate your availability earlier by email to Team Secretary, San Gore.

The first match (of the home season) is earlier than usual, on Sunday 19 April 'against Sawbridgeworth, a strong fixture. On the following weekend we play Royal Ascot (Saturday 25th) and Maidenhead & Bray (Sunday 26th) both of Medium strength. As the website is not yet in operation, please let San know your availability for these three matches by 13 April.

The fixture list has been trimmed to 45 matches (excludes the tour ' see below). There are two matches a weekend through most of the season (7 Sundays when we will have two matches on the day), and five mid-week fixtures. There are 8 all-day games. So we expect that everyone will have ample opportunities to participate fully. We also have organised our usual, highly competitive Youths vs Veterans contest on 19 September; eligible players for this game are those who have played at least 5 matches in the season (as agreed at the last AGM).

TOUR TO MENORCA, SPAIN
We kicked off the season with our traditional weekend tour to sunny Spain, this time back to Menorca. We played two matches ' 4 and 5 April ' and won them comfortably with everyone contributing. 

The players were: Chris Ledger (tour leader), Michael Blumberg, Corbett Chellew, Todd Cornehls, Rohan Ghosh, San Gore, Jamie Keleher, Matt Marshall, Jason Moores, Benjamin Moores and Steve Thomas.

The team was ably supported by Yasmine Barlieb, Carolin Mertz, Catherine Lambert and Jake and Harry.