Leicestershire Monthly Report - November 2020
Wed 2 Dec 2020
Welcome to edition number five of my updates on our great Club.
As always, the intention of these monthly updates is to give you an insight or flavour as to what has been going on at your Cricket Club, in particular the five different ‘pillars’ that makeup Leicestershire CCC – Cricket, Community, Cash, Commercial and Company.
However this month I have to start on a very sad note.
During November we received the sad news that one of our own, Phil Wright had very sadly passed away. The Club was devasted to hear the news. Big Phil, as he was affectionately known, was not only a real gentleman but also a true servant of the Club. Where Leicestershire was concerned nothing was ever too much trouble.
We have received numerous messages from all over the world offering their condolences. Phil had touched the hearts of so many people that met him or visited Grace Road. He will be sadly missed by all that knew him and our condolences go to his family.
Whilst Phil will be missed, we will make sure he is not forgotten. John Stew our catering manager has come up with an excellent idea to commemorate Phil and his contribution to the Club and we are now investigating plans to have a bell placed permanently on the Pavilion. We feel that this is something Phil will be fondly remembered for, for ringing when he was here at our games.
RIP Phil.
Now that the season has drawn to a close a lot of our focus has turned to the Commercial operation of the Club. Consequently, I will begin the update with some details on this part of the business.
The Commercial part of the Club is critical and the support of sponsors and partners are equally vital. Without them, the Club would simply not be able to prosper. Over the past month, hopefully, you will have noticed that Uptonsteel has decided to renew their Front of Shirt sponsorship with the Club. We are honoured to have them as the name on our shirts again. Equally, it's great to welcome back Thorpes Joinery, who have renewed their partnership with us and their branding will be featured on the collars of the kit.
Attracting new firms to our family is vital as we want to grow as a business. In the early part of discussions with companies in our community, despite the current pandemic, we are seeing new businesses join us, so keep an eye out on our channels for announcements over the coming days and weeks.
Our commercial team are working hard at the moment and are keen to talk to sponsors old and new and I am certain that over the coming weeks we will see plenty of ‘commercial announcements’.
Last month we also launched our new Boundary Club. In simple, this is a new club in which businesses can start their journey with us and take a board at the ground. It’s our target for April 2021 to sell out all of the space at Grace Road, so if any businesses who are reading this update and are considering getting involved, then contact us sooner rather than later to avoid the disappointment of missing out.
Hopefully, you have also seen the launch of our new membership campaign – ‘A New Breed of Fox’. At the time of writing, we had just launched the scheme, so it’s very early for me to report on. However, I would say in the first few days we had seen a number of people renew and take up the offer to introduce a friend. Next month I aim to bring you some updates on how we are getting on.
Please continue to monitor all of our social media channels for the latest news. I would also state that it is our intention to try and bring you as much information as we can through our channels, much more than ever before.
Onto the Community Pillar of our Club. During lockdown part 2 it has been very difficult for our Community team to work with our Clubs or schools but, they have endeavoured to do so as much as possible. We are hopeful much of this excellent groundwork will put us in good stead for when the cricket season starts again.
On a further front, our Community team have also been working hard on our Inclusion and Diversity strategy. Last month we held a number of Zoom meetings that discussed how we can attract every audience to Grace Road. Over the coming months, I am certain we will begin to see some on the new initiatives we have planned come to fruition.
Also if you have passed the ground recently, you will have noticed our celebration of the cultural diversity of Leicestershire. We are incredibly proud to have different flags of the different countries that make up the cultures of Leicestershire on display. As a Club we want everyone to be proud of our diversity and ensure that we welcome all groups to the Club. There is still lots of work to be done in the Inclusion and Diversity area but we will continue to build on the great work already undertaken.
Last month saw the launch of the Foundation's first initiative, the #CenturyADay challenge. To give a recap, this was a challenge to our supporters to run, walk or cycle at least 1 mile per day every day during November. At the time of writing, we had 51 people signed up to the initiative, myself included. We have had some issues with setting up a Just Giving page, but expect that to be live very soon. Again to recap, this is part of our Foundation that supports, children’s charities, Alex’s Wish and Healing Little Hearts – two brilliant causes. If you are not familiar with our rebranded Foundation, please take five minutes to read up on it.
November is traditionally a quiet month for Cricket...but...not for us. During this month we continued to be busy in not only securing the re-signings of players but also attract new players to the Running Foxes.
I am delighted to say that one of our upcoming superstars Ben Mike has re-signed along with experienced campaigner Chris Wright and Academy Graduate Alex Evans. I am also delighted that the bowling unit at the Club has been boosted by the new arrival of Ed Barnes, who joins us from Yorkshire CCC. Ed makes up the hat-trick of new signings for the Club and is another one of those hot prospects in the game, along with Rishi Patel and Scott Steel.
There is still plenty of news to come over the winter months, so keep an eye on the official website and social media channels.
During the close season, it represents a good opportunity for us to look at how we operate as a business and, of course, try to improve. At this point, I will give you an update on the Company pillar.
Like most businesses it has been very difficult to operate as close to normal as possible, but here at the Club, we have endeavoured to do so. Our Company Chair, Jonathan Duckworth has over the past month undertaken an audit of our operations and identified some areas where we can focus our attention to improve. As part of the improvement, we are also now close to recruiting a new Administration and Governance manager.
Equally, I continue to look at the offices and how we can try to improve our ways of working. As such there will be a move around of departments in the next couple of weeks. Our Commercial team will be moving to the downstairs part of The Meet and the Community Team will be moving, temporarily, to the Indoor School area, until we can improve the ground facilities.
In instigating these moves, it now means that I am bringing the Academy Staff and Cricket staff together in one building – the Pavilion.
We as a club are very keen to ensure the Academy and First Team work closely together, and we create a 'Leicestershire Way' from the very start of a young cricketers journey to the point they make their first-team debut. Bringing these departments together under one roof gives us a real ‘heart’ as to where the cricket sits at the ground, previously it seemed to be a bit disparate.
It is a bold move for us but I look forward to seeing how these moves pan out and equally challenge us to improve our operation.
Finally, the lifeblood of any business…Cash.
The finances of the Club remain very tight and we operate under the M.O. that ‘every pound spent must give us a return on investment’. We as a club don’t have big budgets so we must continue to spend the funds that we have wisely. Our finances will improve as we develop and attract new members, sponsors and partners, but in order for us to achieve this, we need your help.
I guess that is a good way to finish my update for this month, whilst we are doing everything in our powers to continue to build and get stronger, we do need your help. Your help is appreciated in getting the message out there to as many people or businesses as you can – so please spread the message far and wide.
This is the beginning of exciting times for the Running Foxes and this is ‘A New Breed of Fox’… so please come and join us and be part of what promises to be an exciting journey.
Kindest regards,
Sean
