Hello and happy new year, I hope you’ve been enjoying the cricket in South Africa as much as I have!
I just want to say a quick thank you to Damo and Ian who have done an excellent job over the past few years being joint captains of the Sunday side. They have left it in a better shape than they found it which not many people can say!
You may of recently heard the terrible news about our former pres Dave Goldsmith passing. Dave was one of the first people I met as I walked into my first Park Hill net at the age of 15 having never picked up a ball or bat. I persuaded Nick to take me along after watching Mark Butcher and Anthony Mcgrath bowl out a pretty poor Zimbabwe side (Sorry Daf). After my first ball nearly hit my foot and second ball in the roof of the net which became a trademark of mine I think most players had seen enough! Dave however saw that I was keen and was happy to give me advice either in the nets or in the pub afterwards.
If it wasn’t for Dave there would be no Park Hill. Any player at the club at the moment can trace their lineage back to Dave! My deepest sympathies goes out to all his family.
The year I first started was Park Hill’s 75th anniversary so now we must be 92 or 93 years old! As we look to our new season we are please to announce that nets are starting again on the 2nd Feb! The clever ones will notice that is a Sunday!! We thought to try something different this year to see if it fits better so let’s see what happens. Still an hour long between 2pm – 3pm.
Now as you know, this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to Sunday captaincy! The reason I decided to come back was mainly to ensure I got my hungover arse out of bed on a Sunday but also because I wanted to give my best effort to see if I can help the club out.
At the AGM there were a few people worried about the future for Park Hill. I think we can still have a prosperous one but we need everyone to chip in where possible! What I like to think we have above other teams in the area are 1) We are the cheapest around which helps and 2) We are a small group of mates who still offer friendly competitive cricket to anyone who asks.
As a small group though we can always use volunteers to help out! I understand everyone is busy but it would be good if everyone did a small job even if it was just the once. Some examples are how you can help?
- Bring a friend to nets, A club like ours main source of getting and keeping new players is through someone we know
- Help out with social media. Offer to write a tweet, Take an insta, Update fb etc. Even just making sure you like or retweet our comments to spread the word would be great
- Take some photos for the website
- Organise a social event
Sure there are others but should do for now!
Just to end on a positive note, remember we have a club shop where you can spend all your Christmas money to be the envy of all your friends
The club shop can be found here.
Think that’s it for now. I look forward to seeing everyone at nets. I’ll be the one trying to get the ball out the roof of the second net!
#UpTheHill
Dan
Park Hill Cricket Club 