Your Committee has met on ten occasions during 2003 and this report summarises the main activities of the year.

The results from the three Saturday XIs have been mixed. Although the 1st XI came bottom of the Thames Valley League 1st Division due to a number of complex factors it is not yet clear at the time of writing which league we will be in next year. Both the 2nd XI and 3rd XI, under the leadership of Duncan Ward and Huw Thomas, have both been promoted to the 4th and 6th Divisions of the Thames Valley League respectively. The 2nds came second after leading their Division for most of the year and the 3rds came top and were undefeated. Our Sunday cricket has improved under the leadership of Evan Hamilton-Pike who took over early in the season from Will Walsh who moved to Guildford. The bowling and batting awards were won by Mustapha Rajabali with 63 wickets in the 2nd XI league campaign and David Mackintosh with 661 runs in the 3rd XI - the only disappointment is that both are well over 50!

Colts' cricket has continued its strong run with membership steady at about 80 boys and girls, with further improvements to the coaching, considerably more matches (40 which is about 50% up on last year) and considerable success on the field with over 80% of the games won, including the U-14s winning the Marlow Park Trophy and the final of last year's carried over U-13 County League Cup. We hosted a number of Beacon School matches on the Jackson Field. Thanks are due to John Ramsden and all his coaches and helpers for their excellent organisation and assistance and to the many parents who supported the teams.

There have been two significant investments during the season: firstly the new artificial surface on the Jackson Field and the refurbished nets funded by the Brian Watt Fund and The Lord's Taverners and opened by Derek Underwood in front of a large and enthusiastic audience; and secondly the new scorebox in memory of Brian Watt, constructed by Ian Smith under the expert architectural eye of Jeremy Fisher, and opened by Brian's aunt and uncle on 20th July as a prelude to the Presidents' Match.

The Club's finances have benefited from a wide variety of club and hosted events including the Annual Dinner, the Summer Ball, the Quiz Night, End of Season Supper, players' BBQ, the very successful pub/company matches on Wednesday/Thursday evenings in August, corporate use of the ground by The Frost Partnership and three very successful wedding receptions. Thank to you everyone who helped in the organisation of these events.

We have recorded a good operating profit for the year of some £5k before depreciation and many thanks are due to Ken Ward for maintaining tight control on the expenditure. Investment priorities for consideration next year will include an overseas player with coaching skills, ground equipment e.g. a heavy roller and essential pavilion maintenance. The Stepping Stones Nursery School which uses the pavilion continues to grow its pupil numbers and the Club is very fortunate to have such good and obliging tenants.

We are fortunate to have a good balance of energetic youth and experience on the Committee and many "behind the scenes" workers who have all contributed well to the club in various ways during the year. I should particularly like to thank David Wingfield, Peter Goodwin, the "dunworkin" club, all the bar helpers, Margaret and Melanie for their excellent lunches and teas and Jim the groundsman. Sadly Mike Furse will be stepping down as secretary this year and I should like to record our thanks for all his hard work and commitment to the Club - which he plans to continue via the "dunworkin" club. The two Shardolean newsletters excellently produced by Asa Bridle and Matt Ash have hopefully helped to keep everyone informed of Club events and progress.

The 150th Anniversary is now less than three years away and preliminary planning has been initiated. Please let me know if you have any ideas for celebrating this milestone that you would like to be considered and indeed any offers of help with one or more of the special events being planned.

May I finally draw your attention to the Annual Dinner in the Market Hall on Friday 30th January 2004 at which our speakers will be John Ballance, senior Irish businessman and raconteur and Jack Hyde-Blake, Chairman of the XL Club. A reservation form is enclosed within these AGM papers - please book and pay early.

The 2003 season will be regarded as a failure when the final league table is viewed. Amersham finished at the foot of the table with only 2 wins and three draws during the season. Three matches were abandoned and two matches were not played to Hounslow dropping out of the league before the start of the season.

Personally I would like to view this season as a very important one for Amersham cricket club. Due to the league structure Amersham will retain their place in division one of the Morrant Thames Valley league. Next season the second and third teams will both be playing in a higher standard of cricket. Additionally the main performers in the team are now our younger players who previously have been selected to gain experience. This year we saw Chris Owen, Nick Moore, Rob Viney and Alex Hands put in significant performances that changed the course of matches. And towards the end of the season a strong team spirit began to emerge in contrast to earlier displays where it appeared we were fighting ourselves and not the opposition. If this can be continued next season we should cause our opposition significant problems.

Our major weakness this year was our inability to contain opposition batsmen at any stage of the innings. Typically a run rate of 5 or 6 an over during the first 15 overs would increase regardless of the fields set. Therefore we were chasing huge totals with little chance of success or allowing the opposition to knock off runs without the pressure of falling wickets.

Our batting was sligtly more solid this year. Chris Owen and Jonnie Atkins have returned a large amount of runs and Rob Viney and Evan Hamilton-Pike have contributed at times. If each batsman thinks about their role and the requirements of the situation we do have a line up which can win a lot of matches. This could be soon in the demolition of a total of over three hundred against league leaders Harefield with Jonnie Andrews scoring a magnificent 129.

And finally a thougt which has troubled me all year- we think we are better than we are. I feel if we had consistently had the mentality that we the worst team in the league and we wanted to prove that we were not, our season would have turned out different. If we work harder next year, show determination at all stages and have a bit of luck it could be the 1st XI celebrating at the end of next year.

When I heard that I was taking over as captain of the Sunday 1st XI, I was looking forward to being in charge for the rest of the season. However, we started poorly by losing or drawing the first few games. Despite the poor start to the season, I was very happy to see so many of our colts making themselves available on Sunday.

With a mixture of youth and experience, we were to improve as the season went on - the experience coming mainly from John Seymour. For the last game of the season at Hanwell he needed only two wickets to claim the club record for most wickets, but it was not to be. Bad luck John - looks like you will be back next year!

As for the youth in the side, I was very happy with their progress throughout the season, with notable performances from Hugo Matcham, Lindsey Matcham, Ollie Haddock, Jack Killgannen, Jamie Toates, Rob Viney, and Phil Walsh. The only disappointment of the season was the lack of availability by the Saturday 1st and 2nd XI players which needs to improve next year.

For my first season in charge I was very happy with our attitude and the way we played. I would like to thank Chris Owen for his time, support, and help throughout the season, and also Peter Adkins for umpiring most if the matches by himself. I have definitely taken more positives than negatives from the season, and hope that we can take that into 2004.

I am delighted to enclose your fixture card for the new season which contains details of all the Senior and Colts' fixtures and the social programme for this year. We are constantly striving to add new members and I would encourage you to try to introduce a new member to the club this year, using either the playing or non-playing membership form enclosed. Also it would be much appreciated if you can return your cheque for membership as soon as possible to assist the Club's early season cash flow which will keep our Treasurer Ken Ward very happy!

The pre-season event this year is in the form of a Club Match which will take place on Saturday 26th April with a buffet supper after the match for players, spectators and supporters. Everybody is invited to attend and please let one of the captains know if you would like to play (Seniors and Colts welcome) and Matt Ash of numbers for the supper - details enclosed.

We are extending our successful Kiwi connection with Charlie Benito joining us. He was a colleague of Sam Martin's and Sam Davis' at Christ's College OB, Christchurch which can also boast Sir Richard Hadlee, Shane Bond and Geoff Allott as old boys. We are always striving to get all of our players to wear Amersham CC kit and to assist you in this please find enclosed details of the available kit and prices.

Our main social event is the Summer Ball on Friday 27th June in conjunction with the Parents' Society from the Stepping Stones Nursery. This will be an evening of good food, good wine, good company and with a live band. Tickets are £40 per head but only £360 for a table of 10. Please make your reservation on the enclosed form early as numbers are limited.

Derek "Deadly" Underwood of Kent and England fame will be opening the new artificial surface and refurbished net area on Monday 12th May at 6.30 and all invited to attend, Seniors, Colts, supporters and parents alike. The Colts registration evening is on Thursday 24th April from 6.00pm - 8.30pm with coaching starting on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th for the U-11s and U-12s+ respectively.

I am very pleased to acknowledge support from all of our sponsors highlighted in the fixture card and, in particular, to highlight Swan FM, the local radio station, and The Real Sports Shop in Amersham. A 10% discount is available to members for goods purchased at The Real Sports Shop (TRSS) on production of your fixture card/discount card and also a £5 TRSS voucher is on offer via John Ramsden for Colts who introduce a friend to the Club.

Mike Furse has enclosed details of the 200 Club and the Dunworkin Club and we are always pleased to have new members in both of these categories. Mike is also coordinating our "Cricketing Library" and details are also included in his attachment.

I look forward to seeing you at Shardeloes this summer and to your support for a successful season for the Seniors and Colts and for the social events.

With kind regards, David Mackintosh, Chairman. PS Unfortunately Hounslow CC have folded recently and so there will be changes to the 1st XI and 3rd XI schedules on the relevant dates as it was too late to amend the fixture card.