Gents,

Here we go again, another season dawns upon us, and in our never ending struggle to escape from the clutches of the fairer sex we head once more out onto the fields of hopes and dreams, but more often screams.

Having been bestowed with the honour of being your Chairman for the forthcoming season, I thought that I would give you a brief update on what has been going on during the close season.

We have now reached a contractual agreement with Broadfields Country Club's ( BCC ) new leaseholders. The basics of which are that we have secured a 2 year rolling contract, for the duration of their lease of 10 years. This enables us to plan for the future with a certain degree of security and treat BCC as Salvos Home.

As part of the agreement we have also secured the use of a 7-a-side Astroturf pitch, at a substantially discounted rate, between 7-9pm every Thursday evening from early September through to the end of the season.

As those of you who have attended training ( more later ) will have noticed, major works have been carried out to the pitches. The number of pitches has been reduced from 6 to 5 and the layout revised.

The pitch previously directly outside the clubhouse, has been rotated and relocated away from the clubhouse. This is to enable the new leaseholders to erect a semi permanent Marquee for functions on the front area. This newly positioned pitch will, as before, be for the BCC team.

Pitches 2,4 & 5 ( formally pitches 3,5,& 6 respectively) will be Salvos pitches for the forthcoming season. This will mean that the highest ranked Salvos home team ,will play on the "post & rail" pitch over on the right hand side from the clubhouse.

Major drainage, re-laying, re seeding, and irrigation works have been carried out to the pitches ,much of which has been carried out on a voluntary basis, and particular thanks must go to Pat Flannery For the machines, materials, and drivers he supplied free of charge.

The bar in the clubhouse has been refurbished and will become a sports bar with a large screen for matches etc. The annex area will become a games room with pool tables etc, and there are plans for a "Gourmet Pizza" style kitchen.

The changing rooms have had a lick of paint and the problems with the showers are being addressed. The problem with the showers is quite complex and is wholly due to the poor maintenance of the system by the previous owners. To rectify the problem is no small job and will entail some considerable time and expense but the works are ongoing.

And so to training,

Currently preseason is on Wednesday evenings at 6.45pm and Saturday mornings at 10.45 am. We have probably had close to 70 different faces, some new some very old, attend training over the last few weeks. With approx 25 attending each session, and each session lasting approx 2 hrs.

Training is taken by a rota of trainers taken from Eddy, Pete Snell, Robin Tidd, James Moore, Martin Coughlan, Stewart Minors and to a lesser extent myself. Anyone wishing to assist in the the training please feel free to contact me as all help is gratefully received.

Generally there are 3 trainers in attendance. The groups are split up evenly and work is done on stamina, ball skills, and combinations of both.

The sessions are well organized and are hard work but very enjoyable. We always finish with a kick about so that your new skills can be shown off to your amazed teammates!!

We will be organizing various social events over the course of the season to raise the funds needed to keep the club going. As those of you who attended the AGM will know, after all monies are received from Annuals, subs, etc it still COSTS the club approx £2.50 / player / week. This money needs to be raised by these social events and they need to be well supported. Last season both the quiz and the race night were very successful but were mainly supported by Non playing members, hopefully player’s attendance will improve this season.

We will be organizing a presentation evening shortly for last season’s honors, which will be held at Broadfields, dates time etc will be agreed in the next week or so.

Don't forget the website, newly revamped, and now under the expert control of James Kavanagh. Please contact him wit h any info etc, and many thanks to Jim for all his work

Next time you see Eddy or Pete in the bar I would suggest that you each buy them a pint. These guys have worked tirelessly all summer to get us to where we are now, with Weekly meetings regarding all aspects of the club and the tie up with Broadfields. Only now am I realizing the massive amount of unseen work they put in and we all owe them a huge amount of thanks.

Ok that's more than enough, but please contact me or any of the committee with any queries , ideas , etc all welcome, and hopefully see more of you at training this Saturday,

Jorders