All cricket club management should have an idea of how much it actually costs to play. For example; league fees, groundsman costs, machine servicing, service connections, insurance, etc. Once you have this figure you can set your annual membership and match fees to the required level based on the previous seasons numbers. The cost to play and throughput are directly related to cost of membership, so if throughput rises and your cost to play remains the same, then fees can be reduced or frozen. For larger clubs this calculation will have added complexities such as professional fees, full time groundstaff, bar profits, etc, but most larger clubs will have other revenue streams in place to cover these areas.
At Yarm Cricket Club we hope to increase throughput in a number of ways over the next few years. The first way is to increase levels membership; so we hope to further increase our number of junior teams and have recently introduced a senior Friendly XI. Many Clubs suffer from juniors losing interest after a few years, so in the future it would be a positive step to introduce 2nd teams at junior level beginning with the Under 11's. This would give the club sufficient numbers to feed future 13's, 15's and 17's teams.
Another good way to increase throughput is to arrange coaching events, these can be run by external coaching groups such as Pro Coach and also by your own coaching staff. We currently have 7 ECB qualified coaches at the Club, who look after the junior teams and we will be looking to add to this number in coming years. The coaching staff play a major role in providing for the future, without their commitment and dedication most club's would cease to exist. Our coaches do a sterling job and we cannot thnak them enough for their continued efforts.
Diversification; what other areas can we look to explore? There's the potential to start a womens and girls section, increase the number of corporate events, allow community groups to use the facilities (WI, Bridge Clubs, etc) and what other sports can we offer (rounders, ultimate frisbee, archery, stool ball, boules, etc)?
There's many more ways to improve throughput and all avenues should be investigated thoroughly. All Clubs are different and it's all about finding the right mix for your specific club.
On with the project update; the work continued on a number of fronts last week and great progress was made by our excellent contractors Kirk Developments. There's a lot to get through, but I'll keep it as short as I can. First job of the week was to get the away dressing room floor poured and this was completed on Monday.
The writing below was uncovered when the timber encasing the steel RSJ was removed, it's not easy to make out but it says Yarm Doughty. We just need to find out which Doughty it was, but we think the steel was possibly a later addition and was ordered by former 1st XI Captain Dave Doughty.
Below are the two new steel box sections in place, these replace the two rotting timber posts there previously.
The plumber started on site last week, commencing with the first fix and running a number of pipes for the heating system.
All internal studwork was completed in the new extension and plasterboarding will take place once the roof is watertight.
Work to the extension roof continued and it was due to be felted over the weekend.
A couple of other notable developments are, the pavilion clock has arrived from Good Directions Ltd and the t-shirts have turned up for Natwest Cricket Force.
So that's it for last weeks progress. This week work will continue on the roof and with first fix plumbing and electrics.
Our Just Giving site is still available for donations and we're grateful to everyone who has donated so far. If you, a family member or a business would like to help and in turn have your name added to our honours board; then simply donate in excess of £50, leave a comment and we'll do the rest. As a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) we can also collect Gift Aid on most donations, this equates to an extra 25% on top of the original donation.
To donate just follow this link: http://www.justgiving.com/yarmcricketclub
Thanks again for taking time out to read the blog, back next week with more progress and an update on how community involvement in the project is growing.
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