Chairman's address to the Annual General Meeting

Hampshire Cricket Members' Club AGM April 14th 2004

Last year I outlined the role of The Members' Committee, where a key element was to listen to your wishes and represent them to Rose Bowl Plc. You've been saying that it is about time that parts of the Rose Bowl be named after Hampshire stalwart players.

Three Parts of the facilities will now be named and the Heritage Group under David Allen plus the Hampshire Cricket Society have all endorsed this move. I'm delighted to announce that the Members' Bar will now be named the Derek Shackleton Members' Bar and the naming ceremony will be carried out by "Shack" himself immediately after the AGM.

Arthur Holt is held high in members' affection, so the 2nd XL pavilion will be named the Arthur Holt Pavilion. This ceremony will probably be at a home match for the 2nd XL on May 11th.

The Rose Bowl has decided that the Long Room will be named the Robin Smith Suite. This naming ceremony will be on April 28th, the 1st day of the Leicester match.

Tonight's other functions will be the pre-season Members' forum with an opportunity to question the panel of Tim Tremlett, Paul Terry, Nick Pike and Shane Warne with Kevan James chairing. Radio Solent will again be carrying the forum live.

This will be followed by a Members' and Players' reception.

A notice board will be installed in the Derek Shackleton Members' Bar to assist with communication and to update members with matters of interest.

An Honours Board will be installed upstairs in the atrium noting Hampshire cricketers who have represented the county at 1st class level from 1895. They will be in debut order.

For the 2004 season the Committee room will now be in the Hambledon Suite off the Derek Shackleton Members' Bar. There will be no excuse for you not popping in to keep the committee appraised of your views of what's working well and what needs improvement.

We understand that there might be greater interest in coach trips being arranged to away matches. Please contact David Robinson if you're interested. 4 matches seem to lend themselves. It will all depend on the numbers interested.

The Committee will be conducting tours around the Rose Bowl facilities on 4 home match days at the beginning of the season. Primarily for new members but existing members are welcome.

The Delivery Newsletter meets a very high standard and thanks go to Andrew Renshaw for his editorship.

The Monthly Rose Bowl Round Up is even more popular going from the number of editions printed last year.

The scorecard was altered slightly last year. If you would like to see any changes please let us know. It is alterable.

It was healthy that we had a ballot this year for Committee positions. Do consider whether you would like to be proposed. Make a diary note for Dec 31st, which is the closing date.

We are considering the Testimonial/Benefit situation for the 2005 season. It is the Members' Committee duty to recommend the recipient/s to the Rose Bowl. Let us know your views soonest.

Finally I'm pleased to report that the 3 Local Associations (North & Borders, Portsmouth and South East and Bournemouth and New Forest) are all in a healthy situation. The Delivery Newsletter has outlined the various functions held. I would like to congratulate Portsmouth and South East who previously had problems in attracting interest in its functions but now it has a waiting lists!

My final message as usual is "What more can your Members' Committee do for you?"

ROGER TREHERNE
Chairman - Hampshire Cricket Members' Committee