Hi everyone,
I hope this latest update finds you all safe and well and enjoying some of the new found freedoms we have all been craving over the last few months - not least the ability to watch our wonderful game of cricket! As always there has been lots going on at your Club and hopefully this brief update will give you all a good sense of our continued progress.
From a playing perspective across all sections of the club the month of May has been a mixed one not at all helped by the cold and wet weather for much of it making games challenging given the conditions or not being played at all. In addition with the football season having been extended combined with County Pathways and School cricket our senior teams have done brilliantly to field 3 teams for the games that were on. My thanks goes to the respective captains Sam Rowswell, George Johnson and George Preston for their efforts on this so far and their leadership to date. I am pleased to say that the new signings I mentioned in my April update have settled in well both on and off the field and I remain confident that our young and talented teams will continue to learn as the weeks go by and build their success as the season develops.
Your committee continues to work hard to add an Overseas player to the mix and having identified a quality prospect are working with the Home Office to make this happen. This is not an easy task given the Covid position impacting international travel for one but hopefully he will be able to join us at some point In June.
Similar to the senior teams our Youth age groups have also continued to hone their skills at Friday night Youth training sessions with the attendances growing each week. It was great to see so many children of all ages keep coming back each week to Willis Lane learning our beautiful game supported by our team of coaches lead by Andy Draper (ECB Level 3 coach). The Youth section again this season boast teams at U10, U12, U14 and U16 levels as the Club continues to look to the future and all have started the seasons league and cup games well. This progress from Youth to Senior cricket has been epitomised this month by Alfie Ogbourne who I am proud to say was selected by the County to play 2nd XI cricket and my what a fantastic debut he made too. Positively Alfie also brought this form back to the 1st XI - well done Alfie.
It has also been great over the last couple of Wednesdays to see the Women’s team lead by Melanie White honing their skills too in what week to week appears to be a growing group. As I referenced last month Mel and team will initially be playing friendlies to build interest and their skills with a view to possibly playing more competitively next season. Training is on Wednesdays at 6-30 to 7-30pm and all those 12 years and over are welcome.
For any further details Melanie can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or follow North Perrott Bumbles on Facebook.
As usual we wouldn’t be able to play and enjoy cricket at Willis Lane without Tom and the magic he works to ensure our playing surface is at it’s best which to be honest due to the weather has been even more challenging for him. Similarly Mike, Mark, Duncan, Dan, Phil M, Barry, Steve M, John H and Rick are likewise keeping the wider grounds up together too. Our thanks go out to all of them for their support with out which we wouldn’t have cricket!
Similarly away from Willis Lane the committee continue to meet each month ‘virtually’ to ensure the safe and secure running of the Club. To keep you all as informed as possible here is an update on a couple of discussion points this month that I’d like to share:-
1) Membership Subscriptions - thank you to those that have already paid their 2021 membership. It has been a challenging 15 months for the club financially and although some restrictions have been lifted it will continue to be so until after the 21st June. Although we remain in a solid financial position these are much needed funds required to support our ongoing costs which as I have previously outlined run at circa. £600pm. Therefore please can you ensure that any outstanding subscriptions are paid as soon as possible.
2) Ground Maintenance - there continue to be many small jobs around the ground which need doing on a regular basis to keep our facilities looking at their best (e.g. grass strimming) so if you can spare a couple of hours to help please contact either Mark Downing or Mike Back as we’d be grateful of the support. For those of you on SPOND Mark and Mike regularly post dates and times of working party activities - all socially distanced of course for now.
3) Club Store and Car Park - for those of you who have visited Willis Lane in the last couple of weeks you will have noticed both the improvements to our car parking and the new club store which has been erected behind the Pavilion. Both very needed additions to continue to build the infrastructure of your Club. The club store has not least enabled us to declutter the Pavilion allowing us to easily access tables and chairs for functions as and when they are required. It has also as a result enabled us to meet our Fire Regulations more easily. Whilst the additional car parking area is now in use its our plan to finish the area over the close season so again if you’d like to get Involved please let us know as we’d welcome the extra hands.
4) Easy Fundraising - please support NPCC on #easyfundraising. You can raise FREE donations when you shop online with over 5100 retailers. It’s simple and only takes 2 minutes to sign up! Plus once you have raised your first £5 this will be matched. You can sign up now at:-
Anyway, I hope you’ve found the update useful and let’s continue to look forward to even more warmer weather and relaxing weekends watching Perrott play cricket.
Thanks and stay safe.
Jules
Jullian Marshall-James
NPCC - Chairman
30th May 2021
Latest Covid and Club Update
Hi Everybody.
The weather has done us no favours this season so far, but hopefully it will get better as we move through May.
The Terms & Conditions of the pandemic will be moving to stage three this week which will give us much more flexibility with what we can do in our private lives and of course the game of cricket.
I urge you all to take time in being very aware of how we can operate as we are far from over the problem and it is still at least a month before total relaxation of the rules may come about.
I am as keen as the rest of you to get back to some normality, but we are not there yet. We must remember that the Government in approving the next step and points out that we must be responsible and adhere to the guidance or we could be back to restrictions.
Our club like all others has the ECB rules and guidelines to keep to. I ask you all in your different disciplines to look at the regulations and talk to your fellow players, coaches, bar staff or other members to keep to them, it is very important. If you are in doubt the regs are available on SPOND.
Last season we had a scare when one of our members went down with covid. The Track & Trace was called to action and I understand we were able to comply. This is still required with access to the bar so please make sure we remain compliant, we are all responsible, do not leave it to the bars staff to remind you.
Access to the bar is not ‘free for all yet’ it is still table service either inside or outside.
Regards Mike
Mike Back
President