Sefton Park Cricket Club
(Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool L17 3AD)
Annual
General Meeting, 24 February 2005
After last year’s
problems it is a great pleasure to report a much more successful year, both on
and off the field. I believe that the
Club is moving forward with optimism and that the atmosphere is more positive
than for many years.
2004 saw extraordinary
success by our various teams. The 1st
XI established themselves again in the Premier League with 7 wins and a high
position throughout most of the season, although ending with a poorer last few
games to cause us all a few tremors. Vin Mane again proved a popular overseas
professional and the Board has decided to offer him a contract again for 2005.
Our very own Paul Horton took his chance with Lancashire to impress their
supporters and I congratulate him on behalf of all of you. We are still hoping
to see Paul turn out for Sefton again in the new season. I should also mention Chris Whelan’s success
down at Middlesex. Finally our best wishes to our new Club Captain, Howard
Parker.
Meanwhile our 2nd
XI roared to their Championship and promotion back to their own Premier League
where they really belong. Our 3rd XI almost matched this by their
runners-up position in the top division – and added another Embee KO Cup win as
a bonus ! Not to be outdone both our 4th
and Sunday 3rd XIs gained promotion from their respective divisions
too. No Club is the district can match
this across the board success story.
Off the field our
finances had a dramatic recovery, as you can see from the Accounts. Our overall business turnover rose by over
10% to about £160k, mainly from 20% increased bar sales. Our Steward, Dave
Cunningham, has had a great impact on this business success. As a result our
net Club income held up well despite having the benefit of much reduced
donations this year. Last year I promised you we would exert strict control
over expenditure and you will see that this was achieved, with a reduction of
nearly 10% despite a large increase needed to fund the professionals. As a result we even posted a small overall
trading profit for the year. However I
must warn members that this has not enabled the reserves yet to be rebuilt to
the level your Board believes would be prudent – we need to make sufficient
future ‘profits’ to enable this to happen.
During the year the
Board welcomed Raz Salim who took up the reins as Treasurer and I think we are
very lucky to have him in this exacting post. I thank Jean Wharton for all her
efforts as temporary stand-in. I am
sorry that Tom Hughes has continued to suffer ill health and now has to stand
down – I send him all our best wishes and thanks for his past efforts.
As you will be aware,
I have decided to step down after 11 years as your Chairman, mainly due to
business pressures. However I also think that it is healthy to have such
changes and I wish every success to Stuart Wade, whom I know you will all
support. I want to thank all the Board
members, both present and past, for their advice and support to me, and all of
you for your ongoing trust throughout this period. I would urge members,
especially the younger ones, to join in the running of your Club, either on the
Board or just as volunteers elsewhere.
Mike Poole
24-02-2005