Happy Diwali to all our members!

As I mentioned last week, our indoor winter training is now booked at Esher College and Tiffins Boys School starting on Sunday, 14 January. All Junior age groups will be involved.

With that in mind, now is a good time to let everyone know that we are delighted to announce that Mo Ahmad will be our Junior Head Coach for 2024. Mo has worked as a coach for us in recent years and is now making the step up to this position. He is already working with Dom Spray, Chair of Junior Cricket, and James Watson, Head of Girls Cricket, to develop an inclusive and exciting coaching program for all our Junior cricketers.

We continue to work with the Royal Parks to agree the most suitable form of temporary accommodation until the pavilion is rebuilt. Several options are still being considered. As soon as we have a decision we will let you know. We hope the demolition of what remains of the pavilion will be completed by Christmas.

With regards to the rebuild itself, we were delighted that the insurers confirmed last week that our claim has been approved. This represents a major milestone for us but does not mean our own fundraising efforts come to an end. Far from it. The insurance proceeds we hope will cover much of the cost of the new pavilion; however, the running costs of the cricket club without pavilion related income are still significant and will not be funded by membership subscriptions alone. Other items we will need to fund include the temporary accommodation costs and any improvements we want to make to the new pavilion and its related infrastructure.

Have a great week and enjoy the final knockout games of the Cricket World Cup. Can South Africa follow up their rugby success with another triumph in India?!

Sam Kemp

HWRCC Chairman

Wow and wow again! That was the general sentiment of all those who were able to join us at our 160th Anniversary Dinner on Saturday last week.

It was a fantastic occasion where we were royally entertained and celebrated all that’s good about the Wick. Thanks so much to the Dream Team of Messrs Collier, Lefeuvre, Richards and Dowling that worked so hard to organise it. Also many thanks to those that donated items for the auction and raffle.

Now that their forensic investigation is complete, we have at last been given the green light by the insurers to demolish what’s left of the pavilion and the clear the site. This will probably take a few more weeks once we have awarded the work to a contractor. One immediate benefit of this is that Harlequins Amateur rugby club will be able to resume training on the outfield of our main pitch. Until the site is cleared all training and matches have been consigned to the Kings Field.

As I mentioned in my update last week we have booked the indoor training facilities at Esher College and Tiffin Boys School for our indoor winter training program. The first sessions will run from Sunday, 14 January 2024. Details will soon follow from the Juniors leadership team.

We are looking for a new Membership Secretary for the club. After several years in the role, Phil Miles is stepping down. This is a critical role and many thanks to Phil for his diligence in that capacity.

Off season the workload is pretty light but during the season it requires a couple of hours a week. If you would like to get involved in the running of the club and are well organised and good with data please let me know. You are just the right person to take over from Phil!

Finally, this week will see many events to celebrate the build up to Diwali next Sunday, 12 November. Have fun and best wishes to all those taking part!

As I write this week’s update I’m delighted to say that we have just secured our indoor winter training venues for 2024 at Esher College and Tiffin School (dates to follow). Normally I wouldn’t be so excited about something which I consider “business as usual”, but with so much focus recently on the pavilion rebuild agenda, it’s really important to remember that our cricket is still the most important thing and it still goes on.

I’m also excited our 160th Anniversary Dinner which takes place at the Richmond Hill Hotel tomorrow.

It’s going to be a special event in many ways. Firstly, because it celebrates our long and distinguished history; secondly because it recognises all the individuals on and off the pitch that make the club such a fantastic place to play cricket, rugby and other sports; and finally because it gives us a great opportunity to continue our fundraising efforts with more than 200 members and friends of the club in attendance.

Talking of fundraising, I checked our JustGiving account and our Crowdfunder account earlier today. Regardless of the amounts we have collected in each, we have had almost 600 donations. That’s a justified reflection of the wide reach we have to so many interested parties and stakeholders in and around our community. I thank you all.

Unfortunately I have nothing to report regarding our insurance claim. We have now provided them with all the information they have requested and more. Disappointingly they have told us they are inundated with flood damage claims so we still wait to hear from them.

To all our South Africa and New Zealand rugby supporting members and friends, good luck in Paris tomorrow!

Since my last update we have been busy exploring the best options to get some form of temporary accommodation back at the Wick as soon as possible. This will be for the benefit of rugby players, footballers, cricketers and all other users alike.

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We had a productive meeting with the Royal Parks management to address this. Portakabins would be the obvious choice but problems that would arise from physically moving them through Bushy Park to site look as if they could be insurmountable. Other options are now being considered and we hope to provide a concrete answer on this in due course.

The insurance claim is still work in progress. We have now provided their forensics team and loss adjusters with all the information they have requested. We now await their final report.

Our fundraising team are still working hard and I hope you have seen the info about Move4theWick. It starts tomorrow and finishes at The Boaters Inn next Saturday, 21 October. Please do get involved with the challenge, and I hope to see as many of you as possible at The Boaters next Saturday!

Finally, we are getting excited about our (almost) sold out 160th Anniversary Dinner. It is now only 2 weeks away and we look forward to welcoming Charles “Daggers” Dagnall as our guest speaker. Thanks to the generosity of many friends of the club, we have some fantastic items for our auction and raffle. So as well as the usual fun and games, it presents another great opportunity to raise much needed funds to keep sport alive and kicking at the Wick.

#UTW

Calling all Wick members and friends…

You’ve all been so generous with your money as we look to get sport back at The Wick.

Now we are asking for your time and skills to help with our Crowdfunder application to Sport England for match funding.

If we raise £20,000 we stand to be awarded £10,000 in match funding. However, we need to offer rewards for those pledging money.

Do you have a service or a skill you can provide in exchange for a donation?

Can you offer a discount if someone pledges some cash to The Wick?

Thanks to Jon Pickles who has kindly offered to chauffeur pledgers to their wedding/party or prom in his 1955 Rolls Royce – for a hefty sum.

So, tree surgeons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, gardeners let’s be ‘avin’ you!

If you can help us by offering your time and skills just for a few hours, please contact our fundraising team by emailing iancollier34@googlemail.com

Below is a link showing the rewards offered by a previous crowdfunding page:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/guiseley-cricket-club-nets-appeal-2022

We have been working really hard since the last update and our insurance claim is progressing.

However, it’s likely to take at least six weeks to know where we stand. We will update you all as soon as we know more.

Thanks to the amazing efforts by both our rebuild and fundraising teams, we are in the process of securing temporary facilities so we can get sport back at The Wick.

We are really grateful for all the offers of help on this front.

In the coming days we have meetings set up with both The Royal Parks and Richmond Borough Council to establish permissions and access.

And we must say a huge thanks to all of those involved for their speed in getting back to us.

All the ongoing fundraising activity will be essential to make sure we can provide the right facilities in the short term to get sport back on at The Wick and for us to enjoy a full season next year.

For the longer-term pavilion replacement, our intention is to build back better and do it as quickly as possible.

We are planning to conduct a survey so we can create a database of people who have offered to help.

For the rebuild we will need input from all members, old young, men, women so we get it right. We are also looking for help from:

• Quantity Surveyors
• Landscape Architects
• Environmental Engineers
• Ecologists
• Arboricultural Consultants
• Transport Consultants
• Flood Risk Consultants
• Archaeologists

Please let us know how you can help by emailing Emma Beavan direct detailing what you can offer.

#UTW