Friends of Boconnoc

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Below is the letter of invite to our friends of Boconnoc scheme. If you would like to become a friend of Boconnoc, the campaign is open to all. If you would like further information, please feel free to contact us directly.

In January this year, the Club entered its 180th year. Boconnoc has the distinction of being the oldest cricket club in Cornwall still situated in its original grounds. (Our website has a brief history of the club: https://boconnoccricketclub.co.uk. But today, I'm not writing to you about our long and distinguished history; I am writing to you about our future.

These are challenging times for small sports clubs, many of which are forced to close each year as their membership declines. Fortunately, Boconnoc is not in this position; quite the opposite, in fact. Back in 2018, we recognised that we had to take urgent steps to bring young players into the Club. So, we introduced youth cricket teams for the under 11, 13, and 15 age groups. This has developed so well that, at our Open Day last year, we had over 40 children take part in our Allstars and Dynamo groups (ages 5 - 11). Of course, not all of these children will progress into the adult section of the Club, but some of them have already taken part in, and made significant contributions to, the Boconnoc 2nd XI's League games.

Recent years have also seen a tremendous increase of interest in the women's game.

We are moving forward rapidly in this area also. In 2022, we formed a women's softball team, who won their division in the following year, going to the finals day for the very first time. This year, we are planning to field an under-13 girls-only softball team together with an under-11 mixed hardball team. We can proudly boast that we now have more girls and women taking part in our cricketing activities than some of the county's Premier Clubs.

These developments, which are vital to the Club's future, bring with them inevitable

costs. Some of these costs (refurbishing the pavilion, the electronic scoreboard, upgrading the nets) we have met out of the income from our day-to-day activities. But some of these costs have to be paid up front. In order to meet the statutory welfare requirements of our extended membership (especially those of children), we need to upgrade our toilet facilities, bringing them into the pavilion space. Many people have already helped with these costs, particularly through the crowdfunding initiative. But we need to redouble our efforts in the coming year in order to complete these works. So, this year we are hoping to introduce a scheme - Friends of Boconnoc Cricket Club - to help us do this, and I am writing to you to ask if you might consider joining this scheme for the coming year.

The aim of the Friends scheme is, of course, primarily to benefit the Club. But we

hope that it will also be a way of involving a wider group of people both in the future development of the Club as well as in its day-to-day activities. All Friends will receive an

annual newsletter, and will be invited to the Summer Open Day, and their names will be listed on the club fixture card. In order to become a Friend we would ask you to make a donation, using the enclosed SAE or direct to our bank (Sort Code 30-95-08 Account Number

00061865).

Thank you very much for giving your attention to this letter, and I do hope that you

will be able to take part in this important initiative for the future development of the Club.

Yours sincerely

Jon Sleep

Chairman, Boconnoc Cricket Club

Friends of Boconnoc CC Co-ordinator:

Mrs Kathryn Johns