Our efforts to support the community via our Alternative Cricket Tea foodbank collections have been much appreciated over the winter - and they will continue now the season has started, with some slight alterations.

Ray Pescud's involvement with Merstham Cricket Club in the 1960s might have been short, but it was in a time of great change for the club and the area, predating the M25 and the neighbouring golf club. It was either side of the club's centenary in 1964 and coincided with the progression of two colts teams.

In 1962-63 I was in my fifth year at Reigate Grammar School - there now as a sportsman and not an academic! Peter Tharp had just left after being head boy, captain of rugby 1st XV and captain of cricket 1st XI. Merstham was basically in three areas. There was the original village on the A23, then down School Hill under the railway bridges was South Merstham based mainly on Nutfield Road, and further east was Merstham Newtown based mainly on Bletchingley Road.

A new Vice President was elected at the AGM of Merstham Cricket Club on Sunday evening.

Chris Lowe, who served the club for several decades in various roles - as a coach of juniors, club captain and fixtures secretary - was nominated by Dick Mantell in advance of the meeting. Meanwhile, in the club's first online AGM, Chairman Richard Feist announced that his father, Bernard (himself a former chairman), would be stepping down as estates and new projects manager at the end of the year. The chairman indicated that this would be a "massive loss" to the club and urged members to be thinking of how they could step up to replace the many aspects of work that Bernard had taken on during his time volunteering for the club. Among his workload has been to look after two grounds as groundsman, as well as redeveloping the clubhouses at both grounds plus managing the club's achievement of "clubmark" status, plus mastering successfully the processes of applying for many grants which have benefited the club over the years. The club is also seeking a sponsorship manager and league representative. Richard highlighted that although many things were thrown at the club last season for Covid restriction reasons, Merstham still managed to put on a substantial number of games both at Quality Street and the Ring - and in fact many more games than other clubs managed. Looking ahead to this season, match fees and annual subscriptions will remain the same, with the exception that the "pay for an entire season in one fee" annual subscription will be suspended. This is because no teas will be served during the season and therefore the match fee per game will be £5 not £10. Richard also thanked people who had turned out for Cricket Force to help prepare the club for the season, the day before the AGM. (Initially, until Covid restrictions are fully listed, the booking of nets for practice will again be done online, with the process likely to be available within a week. These will be open only to fully paid up members, so registration is key.) The adult captains remain the same list of people who took charge of teams last season, with the exception of George Corrie stepping up to captain the Saturday third XI instead of James Lowe, who became a father just a few weeks ago. The date of the next AGM was set for January 16th, 2022, with the fervent wish that this will be held in person at the Quality Street clubhouse, rather than online.

Merstham Cricket Club are seeking to find and develop the next generation of cricketers, with a series of sessions for U6s, U7s and U8s.

Coaching for Under 6s (School Year 1), U7s and U8s starts on Friday April 23rd (subject to weather) at our Quality Street ground and runs through until Friday July 23rd. Sessions will run from 5pm until 6pm.

As we approach the season, Merstham Cricket Club is continuing its support of local foodbanks with its latest monthly collection, on Saturday April 10th, with drop off from 12-2pm.

After some great recent weather, Merstham Cricket Club have received a number of enquiries from members wanting to know if the nets are open for practice yet, or whether the ground can be used for training.

The simple answer is no: the ground is still too wet and the relevant preparation work, via a maintenance day, has not been done to accommodate even net practice. We appreciate that cricketers, like everyone else, are keen to resume life after lockdown. However, while outdoor sports can resume as of this week, we do not - annually - open the club up each year before mid-April, at the earliest. We will also need to implement a booking system for nets, as we did when cricket training was allowed to resume last year. But this will be from no earlier than week commencing April 12th - again, subject to weather. The practicalities of staging a maintenance day, within Covid rules, on Saturday April 10th are being assessed. We thank you for your patience and we look forward to welcoming you all very soon.

Notice is given that Merstham Cricket Club Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday April 11th 2021. The meeting will start at 6pm via Zoom, details of which will be issued before the meeting.

Members should advise Carol Pearce Club Secretary (ctpearce@ntlworld.com) in writing of any other business to be moved at the meeting at least 14 days before the meeting.

Could you become a young leader in cricket? Are you aged 14 to 16?

The Young Leaders in Cricket organisation is running a five module course for 2021.

Some of our junior members gave up their February half-term to help with developments at our second ground's clubhouse at The Ring.

Can you help local families in need by popping a few extra items in your shopping this week and supporting our monthly foodbank collection on Saturday 13th February?

Our January collection was our most popular yet. This seems no surprise when the Covid-19 pandemic has put extra pressure on people. Did you know there are more than 2,000 foodbanks now operating in the UK, (according to the Trussell Trust)?