Belhus Cricket Club News Flash

Following the success of this year's Sussex youth tour, Roedean School have confirmed that they will be able to host our party again for 2008. The dates of our tour are therefore confirmed as being from Monday 11th August until Friday 15th August 2008, both days inclusive.

It has been agreed that our 2008 tour will be extended to include the U17 age group. This means that all of the 2007 players will be invited back and closes the age gap between the youth and senior tours. As last year, the youth tour is open to all juniors who have played 40 overs per side cricket or equivalent. Last year, we had three U11 players on the tour party, being Harry Levy, Ryan Wells and Donovan Wright, who enjoyed the tour just as much as anyone else!

We have kept in touch with the teams we played in 2007. Each of our hosts received a thank you card, showing a print of Lord's by Jack Russell. While our tour itinerary will be shaped by our host club's Sussex Junior Cricket Festival fixtures, Henfield have already agreed to host us in 2008 as they do not take part in the Festival.

A pre-tour visit to Roedean School was undertaken on Thursday 8th May, to confirm all arrangements. This year our party will have exclusive use of Keswick House, a self-contained residential block, for those who went last year it is the building close to the indoor swimming pool.

Roedean notified us that, due to increased costs, mainly on fuel and food, it is necessary in pass on these costs and reluctantly advised us that the costs has increased by £5 per person per night. Therefore the overall accommodation cost per person this year is £120. As last year, junior players accompanied by a parent and not requiring transport will have all their cricket match expenses paid for them. So there will be no additional costs (except Belhus apparel). If there are a number of members on the tour who require transport, then the cost of coach or minibus hire, including fuel will be divided up between those who need it, along with a fair proportion of the costs for cricket teas, balls and presentations. The final, overall price for those unaccompanied/requiring transport has been decided as being £170, that is £120 payable to Roedean and £50 payable to Belhus Cricket Club.

We now have a cricket fixture confirmed for all five days of the tour (see below). Additionally, the senior fixture at Leeds Castle has been arranged by our Fixture Secretary, Fred Taylor, as part of the club's senior midweek fixture list.

PRE-TOUR BARBECUE
The club would like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who stepped to help out at the successful youth tour fund-raising barbecues which were held on Friday 11th July and Saturday 12th July. Totals of £70.10 and £37.00 were raised, despite the unfavourable weather.

FINAL TOUR PARTY IS 45-STRONG
Our final tour party is as follows: 16 players - George Brooks, Danny Chandler, Ricki Ellis, Tony Ellis, Michael Fogg, Gavin Jefferies, Owen Jefferies, Danny Joyce, Dale Kenyon, Harry Levy, Danny Norris, Jason Peters, Ryan Prendergast, Chris Sharp, Ryan Wells and Billy Winter. In addition, we currently have 21 adults, 5 non-playing juniors and 3 infants. A tour party of 45 in total.

The club has decided on the appointments of team captains (one per match) and the captains have attended a meeting to finalise the team selections. A copy of the team selections will be available in the clubhouse from 9th August onwards and have also been emailed to players will a known email address.

TOUR PARTY POLO SHIRTS
Jackie and Ron have kindly agreed to source polo shirts for the tour party, which will be embroidered with the Belhus CC badge and tour lettering. The cost per shirt will be about ten pounds each. We ask that all members of the tour party advise Jackie or Ron of your shirt size (ie XXL, XL, L, M, S) as soon as possible.

TOUR HANDBOOK
A tour handbook will be issued shortly before the tour, which will include the itinerary and emergency contact details. The publication will be available for collection in the clubhouse over the weekend of 9-10 August, with any players not selected for the weekend having their copy posted. With many thanks to Barry Ruck for arranging production of the tour handbook.

FIXTURES
Monday 11th August 2008: At St. Matthias Cricket Club, playing at the University of Sussex Falmer Sports Complex, Mill Street, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9PE (postcode is approximate, based on internet research). 2pm start. It is envisaged that St Matthias will field a team from the same squad that we played last year.

Tuesday 12th August 2008: At Littlehampton, Clapham and Patching Cricket Club, The Sportsfield, St. Floras Road, Littlehampton, BN17 6BD, 2pm start. Hosts will comprise a mixture of U17, U16 and U15 players.

Wednesday 13th August 2008: At Henfield Cricket Club, The Common, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9RP, 2pm start. Hosts will be junior mixed age groups. Also adult fixture at Leeds and Broomfield Cricket Club, at Leeds Castle, 2pm start.

Thursday 14th August 2008: At Sidley Cricket Club, Gullivers Sports Ground, Glovers Lane, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex TN39 5AJ. 2pm start. Hosts will be an adult midweek XI comprising 2nd & 3rd XI adults plus juniors. Possibly preceded by morning visit to Eastbourne Air Show .

Friday 15th August 2008: At Lewes Priory Cricket Club, Lewes Sports Club, Stanley Turner Recreation Ground, Kingston Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 3NB. Match Balls kindly sponsored by Newbery Bat Company. Our hosts will field a team comprising strong junior players from their U17, U15 and U14 squads.

We would like to record our sincere thanks to our hosts - without you we would have no tour! We are deeply indebted to you. Thank you once again.

ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation is confirmed as being at Keswick House, Roedean School, Roedean Lane, Brighton, East Sussex BN2 5RQ. Unfortunately, Roedean will not be able to provide accommodation for a small number of our party at the weekend before or after the tour. This is because the expected small numbers involved would not make it viable to cover employing staff during the extra few days.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Cliff Cansdale would be keen to learn of activities that could be added to the tour itinerary. Suggestions so far include a curry night at a local restaurant and a table tennis competition. Meanwhile Ron Norris has decided to put up a trophy for the Tennis competition and has also kindly offered to manage the tour barbecue evening once again. There is also the option of re-visiting the tenpin bowling centre at Brighton Marina, which was enjoyed by all in 2007.

On the first day of our tour (Monday 11th August), there is a floodlit cricket match taking place at Sussex County Cricket Club, Eaton Road, Hove, 2.30pm start. It is a one-day international, 50 overs per side, between England U19 and New Zealand U19. Admission is free.

For those interested in football, Brighton and Hove Albion will be playing their first round home Carling Cup match against Barnet at the Withdean Stadium, during the week of the tour. The exact date is Tuesday 12th August, 7.45pm kick-off.

A personal note to all tour party members from Cliff Cansdale:
It has been a real pleasure putting together the plans for the club's eleventh youth tour. I would like to thank everyone who has helped with the tour, and, at the risk of forgetting someone in which case profound apologies are given, I would specifically like to mention the parent who donated the food for the fund-raisng barbecues; To Carol and friends for the fund-raising raffle; To Ian Wright who, for the second time this season, navigated to Sussex for the pre-tour meeting at Roedean, on a day when it was purely co-incidental that Sussex CCC were playing at home; To Ian again and the small band of club colleagues who manned the fund raising barbecues, to Brian Edwards for his contacts and help in securing use of a minibus, with special thanks too to Bill Taylor, then must not forget June Villette and Barry Ruck for the production of the handbook and Denis Reed for its content and layout. To Jim Robertson, the club treasurer, for making sure the bills get paid on time and last, but by no means least, Ron and Jackie Norris for organising the tour polo shirts.

Recent Mailshot - Documentation Guide
During the period 25th-31st May, a mailshot was issued to all known prospective tour party members. Here is some guidance and explanatory notes for some of the documentation enclosed:

General Safety Notes and Risk Assessment
The General Safety Notes should be read thoroughly and should also be read in conjunction with the Risk Assessment document. These two documents set out our safety standards and all tour party members are expected to comply with the recommendations specified. Safety is of absolute paramount importance to us all.

Roedean Booking Form
One booking form will suffice. There are two signature boxes at the bottom of the form; the first one should be left blank (as this is for Roedean signature); it is the bottom signature box that should be signed by an a parent or legal guardian aged 18 or over. Keep one copy for yourself for your own records. A reminder that one copy of the form should be sent with your cheque made payable to "Roedean School Enterprises Ltd".

Incidentally, should you need to cancel a booking, Roedean will accept cancellations up to two weeks prior to the start of the tour, thereafter no refunds will be permissable. For your security, contracts for accommodation and services at Roedean School are direct between the named individuals on each booking form and Roedean School, Belhus CC are not party to any contract for accommodation or other services at Roedean.

Player Profile Template Form
This form has been reproduced from the latest publication of the England and Wales Cricket Board's "Safe Hands" child welfare policy. It might have been easier if it was called "Emergency Details" form for that is what exactly it is.
On the third page there is reference to a section 6 (which does not exist) and we believe it should read "Section 5".
This is being queried with the authors of the form.

This form is essentially for the small number of juniors that tour with us who are permitted to be unaccompanied, but for good practice we recommend a form is submitted for every junior player on the tour party.