Middlesex CCC
Something Old, Something New - New Committee & Radlett
Our Brand New Committee
By Beefy Roberts
October 16 2009
Many thanks to Beefy Roberts for this excellent account of the Middlesex CCC formal meeting. Beefy's superb account of the discussion forum will be edited and posted over the weekend. People who were unable to attend will more or less feel that they were there, apart from the travel, the clammy room and the discomfort of sitting for over 2 hours. Beefy, you are truly MTWD.
After meeting up with Paul at Harrow on hill station,we both made our way to Finchley Road to meet up with Kimmy.We walk to the ground from SJW chatting about the SGM,wondering how many ' new ' faces will be voted on.
After being welcomed by the girls (who worked hard all evening,well done) Kimmy had her black coffee,I had water!
We then find out that 5 out of the 6 being voted onto the committee are ' old faces ' and you could hear rumblings around the room about this.
Making our way to seats,the tele at back of room is showing some football although to be honest nobody took any notice of it,were busy talking about the SGM,Radlett,forum.
Vinny,Ian,and Tom Johnson (Radlett chairman) take the stage and silence takes over,Ian starts the meeting by thanking the previous committee for their hard work in the last years,and tells that before the result how new elections would work,being the 2 members with most votes stay until 2013,second most votes until 2012,third most until 2011.He then tells us the (good?) news:
1 Chris Lowe
2 Paul Downton
3 Don Bennett
4 Alan Moss
5 David Kendix
6 Chris Goldie.
After that he declared the SGM was closed and finished.
Next,its the big announcement regarding Radlett,the early drawing/plans were on display in the coffee/bar area before the meeting and lots of interested eyes were looking.
For this it was same people on the stage,with Gus Fraser joining them.
Vinny took the mic for the presentation saying they couldn't do an overhead projection as some people would be able to see it at back of the room.
Vinny's first comment was the club have No Intention whatever of leaving Lords,staying forever at the world class ground.He was saying Middx play 75% of games at Lords,and the players live out of the boot of a car having no individual lockers,nets not always being available and Gus shares Vinnys office to do his own work.We need a central place for our professional cricketers to enjoy training and need to provide own outdoor facilities.He carried on by saying the club needs own office spaces,gym,physio rooms and Radlett would be ideal for all of this,and being out of county isn't important for the club buiding itself up.Again,he mentions we have no intention of leaving Lords.
Vinny hands over to Mr Johnson Radlett chairman for a comment.
Mr Johnson says its perfect timing for Radlett,having celebrated its 125th year and with the pavilion being 72 yrs old,its time to rebuild and go forward,money was mention,but not costs but the split between both clubs.(myself,i would refrain from mentioning)Mr Johnson carried on by saying the seconds have been playing there for a few years and umpires that have been there have said the pitch is very highly rated,and the club have been working on plans to rebuild the pavilion for some time.He mentioned also,that Radlett is 2 miles outside Middlesex itself.He finally said the training pitch(es) would be there,along with the second eleven having a home ground,with Maybe a 1st eleven fixture in the future but didn't go further into the firsts playing there.
Mr Johnson handed the stage back to Vinny.
Vinny mentions this was all approved by both the executive committee(at the time) and the Radlett committee.Vinny hands the stage to Gus.
Gus said he,and the players are looking forward to this project,as they all live a nomadic existence at the moment,at times he cant even find an outdoor net to use,and has to phone around other clubs/grounds to see if a net is available to use by the players( myself this sounds crazy for a professional club).The club looked at other grounds,and Radlett stood out.
Time is now 18.30 and the door is opened quietly at back of the room,a few eyes turn as concentration is broken,and a head looks round the door,its our Kev,realising he has found the right place he finds a seat and quickly gets comfortable,the meeting can resume.
Back to Gus,
he mentions that to have everything under one roof is a great aim for the club and players.It gives the players and staff a place to work from,not from boot of a car and with own lockers a bit of individuality.Some of the players have seen the plans are hugely impressed with the idea.
There was no mention of the shop being moved,and no question asked about it either.
That was the end of Radlett presentation.
Myself after hearing all the plans/ideas think its a superb idea and wish both clubs all the best in this and hope it does get all the planning applications won.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:11:02:08:33:30 by Ged.
Radlett a huge step forward for the club.
I can confirm though that until the intervention of a pint of Fosters (or four) in the Star our reporter was on water .
