Following on from the club’s e-mail earlier this week, we just wanted to re-iterate that as things stand the DCC outdoor training facilities will remain closed with measures being taken to secure these. The main field is being kept open for use by the members and the public.

As stated, the safety and wellbeing of everyone is paramount and was the number one consideration in coming to this decision and will continue to be so. We have a responsibility as a local club not just to the health and safety or our members but also to the local community in Pixham and the wider Dorking area.

The committee continues to review this regularly as we get more information and guidance from the ECB and the Surrey Cricket Foundation.

This week came with the exciting announcement of a new sponsor for the club. We are delighted to announce that EfficiencyIT have come onboard as sponsors of the DCC Youth section. They will be supporting the grassroots development of boys and girls all the way from colts to youth team players with the aim of producing the next crop of 1st team DCC players. By concentrating on the youth section, EfficiencyIT and DCC will ensure that all the boys and girls will benefit from better training facilities at Pixham Lane with the improvement of the net facilties, access to new equipment in the form of age group kitbags and, most importantly, a higher level of coaching by introducing more ECB Foundation 1 and 2 coaches to the DCC team.

EfficiencyIT Director and former DCC Club captain, Graham Dymond, had the idea to support the youth section as a product of it himself and with a son going through the current setup. ‘By enhancing the facilities and supporting the new management team at DCC with additional funds for training and coaching we can really make a difference. I spent many, many happy days and probably too many evenings at the Lane and want to help DCC provide that community grassroots cricketing environment to Dorking again’.

That takes us nicely on to a few words from the 2020 Surrey Trust League Captain who is himself a product of the DCC youth section, Freddie Fownes-Walpole:

Hi everyone. Instead of being in the middle of sitting my A-levels I am currently loving life with my x-box and my bike!! I’ve been playing at the club since I was 9 and it has always been an ambition of mine to one day captain a senior side, having captained my age group for a while. A lot of you will already know me from Friday nights at Pixham and the Ashcombe – I started off helping out as a volunteer at the club to try to view cricket from a non-playing perspective and got the coaching bug and this winter did my Foundation 1 coaching badge – which I will officially get in July when I turn 18!!

I am looking forward to bringing together playing and coaching as the captain of the Surrey Trust team as this league is structured around the idea of bringing the younger players into the senior set up with 5 of the players having to be U18. On a personal level this will enable me to further develop my skills on the field as a captain.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all on a cricket pitch or down at the club after this mess is sorted – this is non-negotiable!!

Sunday evenings continue with Rob Chave’s Lockdown Pub Quiz brought to you by DCC and Progression Group. Last Sunday saw the de la Hoyde Family and the Mighty Cookies finish as joint winners with a marvellous 62 out of 79! This continues to a fantastic opportunity to catch up with so many of you from all sections of the Dorking CC Family. The details are as follows:

Topic: DCC Pub Quiz
Time: May 24, 2020 6:30 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting at
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6963580803?pwd=dy9Qd0YrY2puMWJHVUlGUmtycWs1QT09
Meeting ID: 696 358 0803
Password: dcc1771

Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you there on Sunday.

Toby Blood’s Stonegate Homes Lockdown Challenge continues with Week 9. Week 8 once again saw Maeva top the table in the Top Hand Challenge – well done Maeva. This week it’s all about distraction. Check out the picture summary of the Challenge.

For those of you who are members of Dorking CC’s 100 Club, we are pleased to announce that the annual draw for 3 prizes of £200, £175 and £125 has now been made. This draw would normally have been held on the occasion of the beginning of the season social in April, but for obvious reasons this did not happen!!

The draw was made using a random number generator with the numbers drawn in order, being 31-14-13. The owners of these numbers are:

31 Ted Ockenden – who wins £200
14 Lisa Fownes-Walpole – who wins £175
13 Sheila Knott – who wins £125
Congratulations!

The Committee is looking to revamp the 100 Club – watch this space.

You will have seen the details of the online Stage 1 course for umpires which has been made available by the ECB free of charge during the current pandemic.

According to the latest tweet from the Surrey Cricket Foundation over 700 people have now registered for this! Dorking made it on to the League Table earlier this week with 5 people signed up but according to the latest table we have been knocked off the top 20. We would encourage as many people as possible to sign up for this – let’s try to get back on to the League table. As a reminder it’s open to anyone aged 13 and over. The details can be found at http://www.surreycricketfoundation.org/news/surrey-umpires-challenge-30147/

#StaySafe#StayWell

Kind regards

Lisa and Chris