As we look ahead to the coming season, the Committee has continued to review the club’s strategic development plan - a plan built around four key themes that reflect who we are and what we want to achieve together:

• our PEOPLE – building an engaged, welcoming community for players, volunteers and supporters
• our FACILITIES – maintaining high‑quality, fit‑for‑purpose spaces for cricket and social activity
• our PATHWAYS – supporting every cricketer to develop in line with their ambitions and interests
• our GOVERNANCE – ensuring a culture of collaboration, learning and continuous improvement

These themes have helped guide our work in recent years, and each is supported by a set of workstreams and actions that give us a realistic, achievable plan for progress. Our intention remains working with the wider membership to turn these priorities into meaningful outcomes for the club.

Strengthening Our Governance and Funding Approach

As part of an ongoing review of club activities, the Management Committee explored whether to introduce a fifth strategic priority focused solely on our FUNDING. This reflected a genuine need to strengthen how we plan, coordinate and deliver fundraising across the club, ensuring we can support both our day‑to‑day operations and our long‑term ambitions.

While the idea offered clear benefits - including more focused planning and the potential for a dedicated Fundraising Group - it also carried notable risks. Creating a new priority would require additional volunteer capacity, careful coordination with existing groups, and a commitment to resourcing and supporting another strand of work. There was also a risk of duplication, as many aspects of fundraising already sit naturally within our existing governance and planning structures.

After considering these factors, the committee felt that a more pragmatic and sustainable approach would be to strengthen our existing our GOVERNANCE priority rather than introduce a standalone fifth theme. By broadening the scope of this priority, we can ensure that governance, planning and fundraising are aligned, coordinated and supported within one well‑established group.

Under this approach, the updated priority becomes:

• our SUSTAINABILITY - ensure sound governance, purposeful planning and sustainable fundraising that support the effective functioning of the club.

This combined model allows us to elevate the importance of fundraising while keeping it integrated with the wider work that underpins the club’s long‑term stability and success.

What happens next

As always, we want these priorities to be shaped with our members, not simply for them. If you are interested in supporting any of the strategic themes - whether through volunteering, sharing ideas, or getting involved in specific projects - we would be delighted to hear from you.

By working together, we can continue to build a club that is welcoming, ambitious and sustainable for years to come.