SUPPORT VITAL FOR FR and SC
The club has several income streams, e.g. subscriptions, match fees, sponsorship, advertising, pitch lettings, bar profit, kit profit, and another one is the income generated by the Fund Raising and Social Committee. The committee aims to raise some £8,000 to £10,000 per annum and this is of vital importance in keeping down the cost of subscriptions and match fees. The support of the club’s membership is therefore essential to ensure this target is reached bearing in mind the attendance at some of the committee’s recent events has been disappointing.
The committee is therefore pinning great hopes on the success of the Silent Auction and Party to be held in the clubhouse at 7.30pm on Saturday 10 March. Details of the Lots have been emailed to members and are also available on the club’s website. Tickets for this event are just £5 (including a glass of wine and nibbles) and will be available from the clubhouse bar this coming weekend or at the door on the night. When we last held a Silent Auction in 2008 we were delighted to raise £2378. It would be good to at least match that figure this year. So please come – you will very welcome.
Another major event the committee is organising this year is the Olympic Ball on Saturday 16 June. If you would like to book a table please contact Jose Tibbenham on 07881 811259 as soon as possible. The number of tables will dictate the size of the marquee!
This edition of Musings is turning out to be dominated by fund raising so I might as well continue in that vein. We are very lucky to have the support of many local businesses as evidenced by the number of advertising boards around the water-based pitch which cost £430,000 back in 2002! If you would like a board or know of someone who might be interested please let me know. They cost £100 + VAT to make and £200 + VAT per annum to be displayed.
From time to time there is talk of upgrading the clubhouse in which event a special fund raising campaign would need to be launched as we did for the water-based pitch and the recarpeting of the sand-dressed pitch which cost £160,000 in 2006. Alongside this ‘nice to have’ will be the necessity of replacing the water-based carpet in, say, six years at (I estimate) some £200,000 to £250,000. How much did I say we hope to raise at the Silent Auction?!
It is about time I spoke about the welcome return of hockey last weekend with two of the highlights being the welcome wins for the Ladies’ 1sts. The 5-1 Sunday home win against Maidstone (for whom it was good to see Melissa Hunter playing) – after the 1-0 away win the previous day against Old Loughtonians – almost turned into an unexpected goal-fest! Emma Lee-Smith, making an understandably rare but very welcome appearance, was in fine form and after her MOTM performance for the 2nds on Saturday, following her welcome return after illness, it was good seeing Lucy Miller score with virtually her first touch of the ball. Away from home the Men’s 1sts gained two excellent draws against Oxted and Bromley & Beckenham which at least maintained the status quo in their battle to get out of the relegation zone. 5-5 with B&B was a goal-fest!
Both 1st teams have double-headers again this coming weekend with the Ladies away to Oxford Hawks on Saturday (12.00!) and away to Ipswich on Sunday (1.30) while the Men have two especially demanding home games against unbeaten league leaders Canterbury on Saturday (2.15) and second placed Old Loughtonians on Sunday (2.15). Fingers crossed for some points with the Men needing them more than the Ladies.
At Weybread on Saturday the Ladies’ 2nds returned to winning form with a comfortable 4-0 win over Broadland with goals by Krystal Bishop, skipper Frances Taylor, Lauren Barber and Saffron Wilford while on the other pitch the Men’s 4ths were taking a well earned point from their 0-0 draw with Lowestoft Railway. Next up were the Men’s 7ths missing some of their stalwarts in anticipation of the O50s EHB Masters Cup game the next day only for Reading to disappointingly call off on the Saturday morning resulting in Magpies moving through to the semis with an away game against Bowdon on Sunday 4 March. But back to the 7ths and for once their defence resembled the Maginot Line but with Jon Wells and Pete Thornett in sparkling form with a goal apiece and with others coming from ‘Magic’ Miller, Roger Kent and the last a ‘special’ from James Graham, following a run from the half way line, the team did just enough to edge out a battling Norwich City 5ths 5-4.
Some much needed rain was coming down even harder when the Men’s 3rds took an early 3-0 lead against Gorleston through Gavin Cole, Tiger Brice and Philip Cobbald. For some reason the only other goal we saw came from Gorleston! The team travel to play Ely City (1.30) this Saturday in a top of the table clash which could well decide the destination of the league title. Meanwhile the Men’s 5ths after their narrow 3-2 (Will Main and Ed Watson) defeat by UEA are at home to IES (4.00) while the Ladies’ 2nds host Yarmouth (12.15) and the Men’s 2nds, after their 3-3 draw away to St Ives, entertain Wisbech (12.15).
Good luck to all our teams in action this weekend including the Mixed against Dereham at home on Sunday (4.00). Please see the Home Page of the website for the full list of fixtures.
Congratulations to:
a) Helen and Joe Walker on the birth of Elliot James Irwin last Friday. For some reason Joe didn’t play last Saturday!
b) Our U12 Boys ‘A’ team on winning the Magpies’ Minis last Sunday. They won all their six games scoring 25 goals while conceding just one.
With kind regards
Mike Denham (Commercial Manager)
22/2/12
Callishibori, indigo and shibori workshops, products
Callishibori, indigo and shibori workshops, products
