In my role as Acting Chairman I am pleased to provide this report on behalf of the Executive Committee for 2001. It has been a challenging year for the Club and, with the aim of addressing these and future challenges, I am prepared to be formally nominated for the office in 2002.

The year started badly. Firstly, the very wet winter weather left the ground saturated and the Jackson Field square under water for weeks - this was exacerbated by the effects of the "foot and mouth" restrictions which limited access to the ground by the groundsman in the pre-season and early season period. These two factors combined to adversely affect the club's income - a number of matches were cancelled (or played at Barn Meadow in the case of the 3rd XI) leading to a reduction in match fees and bar takings. Secondly, the organisation of Colts' cricket was also affected by the delayed access to the Jackson Field and there were no big corporate hospitality days for our previous clients due to the adverse economic situation. The resultant effect is all too obviously reflected in the annual accounts which show a loss of about £1k compared to the profits of recent years. It will require a big effort by the committee to address this situation and by every member to support our fund raising events, e.g. the '200 Club', which is still fifty short of full membership, representing a potential additional income to the Club of £1200 per annum! An Application Form is enclosed - please join!

Once the waters had subsided, we were able to enjoy some good cricket; the Saturday 1st XI, with captain Danny Bulman leading by example, established itself in the 'Feeder' division of the Home Counties Premier League. Cricket at this level is a young man's game seeded with a few experienced players and some good individual performances, especially from the younger players, bodes well for the future. Congratulations to young Nick Moore who won the Club's bowling award with 67 wickets and to Danny for the batting award with 745 runs. The Saturday 2nd XI suffered from patchy availability, and now faces 4th Division cricket in 2002 but plans to come straight back up. Our players really must commit themselves to regular Saturday cricket if the Club's real strength is to be reflected in results. The 3rd XI enjoyed its season and provides an excellent development opportunity for our many young players. Duncan Ward continued to work hard to ensure that we were generally competitive with the Sunday XI but, in keeping with a general decline in Sunday cricket, we were sadly unable to field a 2nd XI. The Club needs an enthusiastic father to offer to run this side and we look forward to hearing from volunteers! This meant that on the occasional Sunday, there was no cricket at Shardeloes! In 2002, the aim is to try to play as many Sunday 1st XI matches as possible at Shardeloes and to fix games for the 2nd XI when there are sufficient players available to field a full team.

John Ramsden, the acting Colts' Chairman, and his band of enthusiastic helpers have worked hard to maintain the standards of coaching and training available to our Colts. However, in order to seek to develop further our activities in this key section of the club, a special sub-committee is meeting during the winter to lay down a development plan for next and subsequent years.

A major improvement to the ground infrastructure was the laying of a proper driveway, thanks to the generous response of our members to the 'Drive Appeal'. Parents of the children at 'Stepping Stones' nursery school in association with Jonny Andrews and Ken Ward organized the superb 'Summer Ball' which resulted in a very substantial contribution towards the cost of the drive. The school itself is now firmly established, and the pavilion continues to benefit from the 'TLC' lavished on it by Thelma and her staff.

Jim Sanderson managed to produce some good playing surfaces despite the early season adverse conditions and hopes next season to be blessed with the help of better weather to achieve again the very high standards that he sets. The cost of maintaining the ground and the essential equipment is a constant concern and we are fortunate to have several members who work throughout the year on repairs and maintenance around the ground in an effort to keep the overheads to a minimum.

Our guest speaker at the Annual Dinner was Sir Tim Rice, and a sellout crowd enjoyed a memorable evening; we hope to see Tim's 'Heartaches C.C.' at Shardeloes some time soon. Details of the 2002 Dinner are enclosed, and we are very pleased that Barrie Stuart-King, Chairman of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers, and the newly-appointed Chief Executive of the Club Cricket Conference, has agreed to be our main speaker.

The sudden and unexpected death in August of Brian Watt was a great loss to the Club. He was a popular playing member, and a tireless worker in many areas of Club affairs. His funeral was attended by over one hundred friends, Club members, and colleagues from the oil industry, who showed their appreciation and respect by generously donating so far over £10,000 to the Brian Watt Memorial Fund. The committee is considering various suggestions for a suitable major project in his memory with a new brick-built electronic scoreboard being the favoured option at present, funding and planning permission allowing. A very small part of the fund has been put towards the costs of replacing the picket fence and our "winter gang" are busy cutting and painting the wood.

On your behalf I should like to thank all the committee members for their support during the season but, in particular, I should like to thank Brian Atkins our President for his personal support and for diligently attending most of the meetings during the year, Mike Furse who is stepping down from the secretary position this year after seven hard working years in the role and John Ramsden who acted in the capacity of Acting Colts' Chairman. Our thanks are also due to Peter Adkins who is retiring from the committee this year. Peter has done much sterling work for the club over many years on and off the field and is still working hard behind the scenes.

2002 will see a number of new hard-working younger members with fresh ideas on the committee, which will be seeking to revitalise a number of key areas in the club, including membership numbers, availability, the Colts section, fund-raising, sponsorship and publicity. Your support will be vital.