Newsletter - Feb 2022

18th Feb 2022

Dear Members

Welcome to our first South North newsletter which will become a regular feature on the website, keeping you up to date with all that is happening at the Club.

The new season is only 9 weeks away beginning on Sat 16^th April. The men’s indoor net sessions and women’s indoor training started at the end of January. The Quiz Night on Sat 12th February was a success, a Wine Tasting is planned for Sat 12th March. Friendlies on 9^th, 10^th, 14^th, & 15^th April have been arranged, details to come.

Thank you

A huge ‘Thank you’ to staff, volunteers, players and sponsors who helped ensure cricket was safely organised, practised, played, supported, catered for, refreshed and sponsored during the difficult periods of the COVID pandemic during 2020-2021.

I’d also like to thank Michael Richardson who will officially leave his CEO post at South North on 28^th February. As you probably know Michael, Kate, Jack and Arthur will relocate to Switzerland. It’s been a challenging time to begin your first senior management role and we are grateful to Michael for his perseverance and fortitude in difficult circumstances. We thank him sincerely and offer our best wishes for his future career.

Directors, Staff and Volunteers

Michael’s workload will be handled by Directors, staff members and volunteers. The Directors and Staff’s roles and responsibilities are now on our website (links below). You can contact us via the office email address - support@southnorth.co.uk.

https://www.southnorth.co.uk/about/our-staff/

https://www.southnorth.co.uk/about/sncc-board-area/

Volunteers and Sponsors

Volunteers and sponsors play a critical role in the success of South North. Last season we fielded 17 teams, competed in 215 matches, winning 9 trophies and supported the development of hundreds of players through countless practice sessions (44 players played representative cricket). Put simply this couldn’t happen without your ongoing support, thank you. This level of activity requires a constant flow of volunteer and sponsor support, so if you would like to help in any way, please reach out to us we’d love to hear from you!

We are grateful to volunteers who already help with office tasks and other work in and around the club. There are many jobs that need to be completed before the start of the season and it’s our intention to hold a ‘Ground Force’ day in early April, to prepare the ground and surrounds for the new season. More details will follow, a family event to enjoy.

Social Event Calendar

Our Social Event calendar will be built to encourage you to come together at SN & if you would like to hire our Function Room for a celebration or party, we’d love to host you, please contact Sarah McCloud sarah.mccloud@southnorth.co.uk in our office.

Club Aims and 2022 Season

As a club our aim is to provide excellent facilities and coaching that support players to reach their potential. Our aim is to not only help players become technically excellent but also develop their life skills. We want to continue creating a safe, friendly and inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and willing to contribute. Our teams will continue to be competitive and strive to be successful both locally and nationally, as they have been in previous years.

Membership

Our membership numbers are healthy and it’s great to see the growth of our women and girls’ section, our goal is to develop this further during the coming season and years. Membership renewals have been issued, which we hope you will feel able to take up.

Clothing - you will shortly receive information about how to purchase cricket clothing.

Overseas Coaches 2022

To support our 2022 goals, I’m delighted to confirm the signing of two overseas coaches/players. Josephine Nkomo will become our first Women’s overseas signing and her role will be to coach, mentor and develop Women’s and Girls cricket at South North. She will also be an important player who strengthens our team. Josephine has represented Zimbabwe as right-handed batting/bowler all-rounder. Thanks to Pat Robson for their sponsorship, as well as their ongoing support of women’s cricket.

Our second overseas coach is Tshepang Dithole who plays first class cricket for Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa. He will spend his time coaching and developing players, as well as strengthening our senior men’s teams as a player. Tshepang is a left-handed batsman who also bowls spin. Welcome Josephine and Tshepang!

North East Cricket Academy

Our indoor centre facility is used constantly to develop player’s skills with excellent courses being provided for juniors and winter training for adults. The indoor centre was built in 2003 and because of its success, we are investigating how we can best update and refurbish the facility to ensure we continue to provide players with the best opportunity to reach their potential. We will keep you updated with how this situation develops.

Sporting Dinner – May 19^th 2022

We are delighted to have secured Charles Dagnall as compere and Kevin Keegan as our main speaker, a real coup! Tables and tickets sold out very quickly, so thanks to everyone who is supporting this event, especially Womble Bond Dickinson who are main sponsors. It should be a great evening!

We aim to hold a Rugby Dinner in September sponsored by Bazaar Group; more details will follow in due course.

Durham CCC v. Surrey CCC Thursday 4^th August – Royal London One Day Cup

South North look forward to welcoming Durham CCC and Surrey CCC teams as we host Durham’s 50 over Royal London match. This is a great day’s entertainment, so please mark it in your calendar. Tickets are available from Durham Ticket Office. In addition, we will also host three Northumberland county matches on 24^th April, 8^th May and 31^st July.

We look forward to welcoming you to South North in 2022 and hope you will enjoy the company of friends, old and new.

Yours sincerely,

Howard Sidney-Wilmot

Chairman