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On behalf of the committee and everyone connected to Hutton may I wish you a very Happy New Year!
May I also take this opportunity to set out our aspirations for 2022, to bring you up to date with some developments and to seek your help.
Following our 1st XI’s promotion, the 2022 season promises to be an eventful one for us as we compete in the Premier Division for the first time. We are currently working hard to increase our playing strength and to fill gaps left by players who have secured professional terms with other clubs. Playing at the highest level will be both demanding and exciting and I’m totally confident that Alex Tredgett and his team will thrive on the challenge.
Of course, the club is more than the 1st team and I’m also confident that we will continue to do well in every competition we play in across the divisions and age ranges. At Hutton we always look to find the balance between competitive edge and enjoyment. This means we have developed a reputation as one of the friendliest and most welcoming clubs in the county. I’m sure this will continue in 2022.
Off the field, we have again invested in the quality of the playing surfaces during the off-season and will do so again in the spring. By this time we will also have appointed a new grounds team to replace Jamie Foyster who has done an excellent job for us for 10 years but now wishes to concentrate work around his home in Braintree.
In 2022 we will be able to video stream matches at the Polo Field thanks to a £3,000 grant from the ECB for equipment. This will increase our on-line profile, improve information to our members and supporters and, hopefully, allow us to increase our attractiveness to advertisers and sponsors.
It is in this area that we need the support of our members. For the last three years we have benefitted from the generous sponsorship of Blue Print Properties and Neo. However, these have now come to an end so we are working hard to secure further sponsorship and advertising revenue to underpin the club’s operation. For example, we need to buy a new roller for our Mountnessing ground – the cost will be several thousand pounds.
So if any of you run your own businesses, are senior members of companies or have contacts in the marketing and PR departments of the organisations you work for, will you please give serious consideration to entering into a sponsoring partnership with Hutton CC. In addition to the club being a valuable market in our own right, awareness of the club and its sponsors in the media will be greatly increased by our playing in the Premier Division. A comparatively small sponsorship spend will bring significant business benefits – we have a number of sponsorship and advertising packages available. Please get in touch if you wish to discuss these further.
In these dark times in terms of both the weather and news from Australia it’s hard to imagine that the new cricket season is getting closer, but indoor nets start next week and the first game of the season is only 14 weeks away. There’s much to be done to get ready.
All the best for 2022.
Yours sincerely
Jim Lynch
Chairman
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