Presidents Message September 2011

City is again preparing for a huge season of friendship, enjoyment, fun and success both on and off the field.

We have had a fantastic turn out for our first two training runs, the numbers at training are the best we have had for a number of years, with new players to our club being warmly welcome.

The bowling machine has been the best purchase City United has made in my time at the club and shows the forward thinking of our new committee. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of City United to warmly thank again the very generous support from Michael, Adrian, and Diane Coffey from Addimi Espresso Coffee and Anthony Dutton from Dutton Electrical who sponsorship and support allowed City to purchase both the bowling machine and a generator. Without their generous support City would not be able to obtain this fantastic training equipment that will benefit all City players in many years to come.

All four captains have attended both our training sessions with all being impressed by the commitment of players at training. Dan Whale is keeping a close eye on the performances at training as there are a couple of positions still needing to be filled in 1st Grade side.

Training will continue this Sunday from 10am at the Tamworth High Cricket nets.

All players are reminded they must have filled out a rego form and paid at least $55 to cover rego payments before they can take the field for the first match of the season.

Through the tireless efforts of the fundraising commitee by City members. City has been able to reduce the season playing fees for all members. The reduced fees from last season can be noted on the rego form.

The Tamworth City Bowling Club has again come on board to be City United's major Sponsor for the 2011/12 season, all players please remember to renew your membership and all new members are encouraged to join the club at the small cost of $6 per year to show your support. Our partnership with the Tamworth City Bowling Club is growing stronger every season and is the ideal place in town for a relaxing drink and chat, with some of the friendliest members and best facilities of any club in the region. City is very fortunate to have such a venue to call “home”.

2011 Annual Presidents Report

There where many great moments that we can all reflect on with pride and satisfaction. To name a few, our Bowls night was one of the best, the way first grade conducted themselves on the field. Making Tamworth City Bowling Club our "HOME". Our first graders day/night uniforms with so many supporters there watch and cheer them on and last but not least our very successfull Presentation Night.

Our sponsors are very important to our club and the biggest of all our Major Sponsor the Tamworth City Bowling Club. A big thank you must go to Damon, his Board and the Members of the Tamworth City Bowling Club as they have all made us feel very welcome and at home at this great venue. Our other sponsors who we are very grateful for are Monogram It, Addmi Espresso, IJ & JB Kelaher - Pura Milk, Six Nines Imagery, South Eagle Boys and AM Printing Services.

Special thanks must go to Claude Orenstein for his tireless work over many years at City United. His Life Membership was very well deserved. I must also show my appreciation to my fellow commitee members, they have all worked hard to ensure City United continues to be a well run club. They are our members that work behind the scenes, without much reward but without there time and efforts City couldn't continue.

Lets all work together for an even a bigger and stonger season ahead.

Terry Skewes

The President - City United Presentation Night - 9th April 2011

What a great night! It was one of the most enjoyable Presentation nights City United has held.

There were so many highlights from the night but John Gleeson was the standout, he was truly inspirational for everyone. Paul Fisher was a great choice as our M.C. Peter Langston review of City's season was excellent. Claude Orenstein receiving his Life membership was very much deserved and Peter Mead being presented with the Basil Penrith "Clubman of the Year Award” was something special.


I would like to thank everyone involved in organizing the night. The night showed once again that City United is still strong and looking forward to the future with confidence.

Our AGM will be held Tuesday the 5th of July commencing 6.30pm at the City Bowling Club.

Praise For 1st Grade

I had the opportunity to watch 1st grade play the two Twenty20 games at TREC on Saturday. Although they didn't take the winners cheque I was very proud of their efforts. They did their club and themselves proud. The senior players like Anthony Dutton, Daniel Whale and Shane Ruttley only had words of encouraged for the younger players we had playing on the day.
What can I say about Peter Mead? It is easy to lead a team a winning team but it takes true passion and commitment to the game and the players under him. to turn up every week and lead from the front when wins aren't coming. This was on show again on Saturday. Credit must go to him for keeping this team together. Every week they turn-up as a team and give their all for Peter, for the team, for the club, for themselves.

Only the day before on the Friday morning, all the senior 1st grade players mentioned above were down at cricket house before 6am to fulfil our obligations during Country Music, manning the showers, cooking egg and bacon rolls & manning the canteen. Once the showers were closed they were there washing them out for the afternoon shift.

The 1st grade squad at the start of the season knew it was going to be tough season but they have stuck together to see it through. The spirit and mateship shown amongst them is what City is all about.

Terry Skewes

The Season Is Underway

I would like to take this opportunity to inform all City players and supporters of developments of the last few weeks.
Firstly Buddy Harriot has been offered a position with the very strong Sydney club Eastern Suburbs, as an understudy to Brad Haddin the Australian wicket keeper. Buddy achieved that while playing with City. Buddy must be congratulated on this opportunity offered to him. He will be leaving for Sydney early in November after completing his HSC. Buddy will continue to play for City until his departure and for that City is truly grateful. City wishes Buddy all the best for the future. Peter Mead will now Captain 1st grade.
The loss of a number of regular 1st graders has been well documented but the way the club has responded and become tighter because of it has be terrific. City has been working hard to fill positions in 1st grade. Anthony Dutton has assisted the club by standing down as 2nd grade captain and has made himself available for 1st grade. The club has been very fortunate to have a large number of talented and exciting cricketers joining City. To all the new members of City I warmly welcome you to the City family. Daniel Whale has answered a S.O.S from city and will take the gloves on Buddy’s departure - its great to see you back in City colours Dan.
City is moving forward and has moved on and this was on show at Monday’s and Wednesday’s training at McCarthy nets with good number and with all our four captains attending all player were out to impress.
Paul Fisher will now captain 2nd grade but will be out the first week. Cory Callcott will remain captain the 3rd grade side and Paul Lawrence will captain the mighty 4th grade side.
The season has finally got underway, yesterday.
It was a surprise but very pleasing to see Cal Penrith back on the cricket field. Cal is have a season off his beloved baseball and will be playing the season with City, with his parents Basil and Robin on the sideline in support.
The turnout back the City Bowling Club was excellent with the outdoor area being perfect for a quiet drink. Let’s make an effort to get back every week to relive the day’s events.
A very big thank you must go to Kathy and Paul Lawrence, Cory Callcott and the fund raising committee for the last six weeks they have been selling footy double tickets and have raised over $1200 for the club before the season starts. What a great effort.

Terry Skewes,
President.

From The President

The new cricket season is fast approaching. The club held another well attended monthly meeting last Tuesday. The club is very fortunate to have so many members willing to give their time for our club. The enthusiasm shown at the meetings is very encouraging for the season ahead.

The club continues to put the blocks in place for the up coming season.

It was fantastic news to hear that Simon Hood is up and about. He is back into his busy lifestyle, set at hundred miles an hour. It’s good to see that he has not been slowed down any. Another City member who is on the mend is Tommy Wilson after sustaining a badly broken ankle during the off-season. He may not be able to bowl for a while but he is going to play as a batsman. He and Damien Robinson are the two biggest hitters I have seen play for City.

The “City hour” every Friday night at the City Bowling Club is a relaxing way we can get together and socialise after a long, hard week. I would encourage all City members to come all and join the growing numbers attending.

The departure of Aaron Flaherty came to us all as a big shock and disappointment but City wishes him well with his Cricketing future. I know that we as a club will all get behind Buddy and his men for the season ahead. Buddy will take to the field with a youthful side and a team willing to play for each other and the club they represent.

A Word From Terry

I’m very excited about our future with City’s new major sponsor the Tamworth City Bowling Club. The club has an outdoor area for us to gather and reminisce about the day's events both on and off the field. On those rainy days the club will accommodate us under cover. The club has a first class restaurant, a friendly little bar area, a kid’s corner and lots more. We could not have been made more welcome by the board and the patrons of the club.

The our club recently met for our monthly meeting. The meeting was well attended and constructive discussion was had as the club took a few further steps towards the start of the season. A projected budget for the 2010/11 season was submitted by Claude and was accepted. A very modest increase in playing fees has been introduced. The projected budget keeps City financially secure.


City first training session will commence Sunday 5th September from 10am -12.30 pm at McCarthy High School nets in Tribe St. Training will be held every Sunday through the month of September.

The season is not really that far away and I hope that you are just as excited about the up coming season of cricket, friendship, and laughter as I am.

The New President Speaks ...

Welcome to another big season of cricket. Although the season doesn’t commence till October, City is up and running. Over the next few months the committee will ensure we have everything in place to make this season the best yet.

But first I must thank our President from last season and our newest Life Member, Tony Higgins. Tony has a passion for both the game and for City that is second to none. He has left his role as President with City having money in the bank, strong playing talent in first grade and a culture of making City the best cricket club in town.

I will be trying my hardest to continue the work started by Tony to ensure City is forever growing and improving.

I have a very hard working team around me on Cory, Phil, Deb, Claude and Peter. Some positions are yet to filled, check out the web site for more details.

We were all delighted to have Bobby Hession attend the AGM. Bobby has been in ill health for sometime now and was in all our thoughts. He is now on the mend and ready to pull his old trusty hat out of retirement.

The other pleasing feature of the night was the number of women who attended the meeting. In the early part of the season City will be celebrating all the hard work and support that mothers, girlfriends and wives contribute.

Further information about the up coming season will follow.

Terry Skewes.

Bad Luck Thirds

Bad luck to our thirds for their loss in the grand final on the weekend, Bective were the team to beat all year and they put on a strong display again.
The way you guys went about your business was a credit to your club and fellow team mates.

You can't win them all, but runner up is still quite impressive as no other City team made their grand final this season. Well done on a top season.

Our focus now turns to the PRESENTATION NIGHT which will be held on the 17th APRIL at our major sponsor THE SOUTH TAMWORTH BOWLING CLUB.
Please make every effort to come along for the presentation of trophys and speeches , a great feed and mixing with your mates. Bring as many family members as possible as well as friends to help add to the atmosphere of a great night.

Hope to see you all there,

Tony Higgins

Grand Final Message

Great to see the mighty 3rds in the big grand final this weekend. I speak for all members of our club when I say how proud we are of your achievements so far this season.

With no other grades in the grand finals I am sure many people will find some time to drop in on the guys and show them support at Riverside 2.

All the talking has been done , so go out there lads and give it your best.

“ FOOTPRINTS IN THE SANDS OF TIME ARE NOT MADE SITTING DOWN”

Go out and leave your footprint this weekend.

Good luck lads,


Tony Higgins,
President.

President's Message 17th March

Congratulations to the mighty 3rds on their big win on the weekend. Ben Cleghorn was outstanding with the ball with a 10 wicket haul for the match. Youngster Mark Chew was very solid behind the stumps with several catches and silky smooth glove work.
The teams showdown with Wests at riverside 2 should be a cracker. Well done lads.

Bad luck to the 2nd grade team, a solid partnership between o’Halleron and Styen nearly got the team over the line, BUT, crickets a funny game.
Well done on the sportsmanship displayed during the match, you were all a credit to our club.

Both 2nds and 3rds showed us what great junior talent we have coming through the club and handled themselves very well against much older and seasoned players, well done.

Please don’t forget the presentation night on the 17th April as we celebrate the seasons end and plan the clubs attack for next season.

GOOD LUCK TO THE MIGHTY THIRDS ON THE WEEKEND.

President's Message

Congratulations to our 2nd and 3rd grade teams for making the semi finals. Lets get as many people as possible down to support them this Saturday and Sunday as they make a push for a GRAND FINAL position.

Bad luck to 1st grade and 2nd grades on just missing out this season, but keep in mind we have uncovered more super cricket talent in our juniors and look forward to them developing even more next season.

Dont be scared to put in a little personal training in over the off season so as you can hit the ground running for the start of 10/11 season.

Great to see people are going back to the bowlo in increasing numbers to show our support for what they do for us. Top effort.

PRESENTATION NIGHT is on the way, so please check the dates on the home page and make time to attend if possible, a great night is always had by all and this night will be no different.
The special CITY UNITED one day shirts that were made up for that day/night game against Bective will be on sale or auctioned off on the night with proceeds going to either the cost of the night or to the bowling machine we wish to purchase,,, work that one out later. They are now collectors items.

All that said good luck to our guys this weekend, do us proud.

Tony Higgins,
President

Great to see solid results for all grades over the weekend, also pleasing to see some individuals gain some much needed form with the finals just around the corner.

Dont forget training on Wednesdays and Fridays each week, every little bit helps.

Best wishes to Rod Prior after his operation last week, i hope all is going well for you mate.

Short and sweet , good luck this weekend in finishing off your matches. GO HARD.

Tony Higgins,
President

Welcome back to the season after our enjoyable break for Christmas, i hope everyone had a great break.

This time of year, as every other year it is very hard to get numbers throughout the club to fill the teams across the grades, so please grit your teeth and take it on the chin if you have been selected in a grade that does not appeal to you as things will be back to normal fairly soon. Thanks for your understanding on this matter.

We as a club have commitments over country music down at the Riverside grounds to help the TDCA run the showers and man the gates for the campers. I do understand people have commitments outside of cricket, but if you do want to pitch in and give a hand that would be great, just get in contact with people on the contact page on this site. Thanks to the people who have donated their spare time already, and because of your actions the club will receive $500 from the TDCA. Great work.

GET TO TRAINING, We have great facilities to use but the numbers are not there, again people have other things on their agendas, but one session at least a week could turn a match for your team mates, don’t rely on others in your team to do all the work on weekends, pitch in , do some training and make yourself usefull.

CRICKET FEES,- fair dinkum, some people should sit down and have a chat to Claude our Treasurer and let him explain to them were our club would be if we didn’t have money, it will surprise many, but there are no cricket fairies running around with big buckets of money.
Fees have been structured to be as cheap as possible so people can afford to play. Thanks to everyone who is up to date or has got a plan in place with the club, your legends , thankyou.

A special note to anyone out there in WEB LAND that is not from Tamworth, please drop us a line and say gday and let us know a bit about cricket in you part of the world. Please remember that this is not a dating service so keep it clean. Our web master will be screening any material before he prints it. So click on the comments link and away you go.

Good luck with the cricket , and looking forward to you all coming back to our major sponsor after the games, THE SOUTH TAMWORTH BOWLING CLUB.

Tony Higgins,
President

A Season Of Surprises.

This season is throwing up a lot of surprises both good and bad. We have had some very strong wins right across the grades with some individual performances standing out from others. With the good comes the not so good, some displays from individuals and at times , the teams. We must keep in mind that this is only local grade cricket but a lot of people need to change their attitude towards training and realise that if you don’t put that little bit of extra effort in , it will reflect in your results and the skippers and selectors will have no choice other than making changes.

Great to see a lot of our juniors holding their own against more experienced players from other clubs. Our club is very rich with junior talent and it is great to see the gradual rise through the grades.

REP PLAYERS... Buddy Harriot, Aaron Flaherty, Brendon Reynolds, Hamish Batley and our state over 60 rep Ron Farrell, well done to you all in your selections in the various state and country teams this season, you are all fine ambassadors for the City United Cricket Club.

To all members who have not paid their fees, lets make a real strong effort to get them in asap, we will start hounding you guys pretty soon, so if you have any dramas just let one of the committee know and we will sort something out for you. Dinner for two at the Power House will be drawn soon for all those members who have paid up, Good Luck.

Club identity promo, you still have time to throw ideas around as to what you think our club nickname should be, some great ideas have come in with the GORILLAS been thrown around by many people so far, But there is a long way to go yet before a decision is made.

And last, to all the people who donate their time to do things around our club, no matter how big or small i would like to say THAN YOU for your time and efforts. No one gets paid for any of the work done to keep this club going so your time is priceless.

Good luck this week CITY.

Great Cricket Across All Grades

With the season well under way we have seen some great cricket across all grades. Some very strong team performances as well as individual results.
Round one was a top way to start the season with three grades chalking up wins. That gave a very strong indication that all players are committed to success on the field as well as building the club spirit off the field.
Great to see the social committee coming up with some interesting ways to get everyone together and enjoy themselves at our great club, so keep an eye out for upcoming events after games back at the SOUTH BOWLO.
City would also like to wish 2nd grade skipper Paul Fisher best of luck for his upcoming shoulder operation and no doubt we will see him around the grounds as he recovers. Also best wishes to Sean Hancock in 2nds who goes in for a thumb reconstruction ( thats right, never heard of that myself) after taking a bad knock in the first game this season.

Please try to keep on top of FEES as early as you can this season as this will prevent a mad rush at the seasons end. Lets just get them in and out of the way early, talk to your skipper or anyone if your having troubles with payments and we can always work out a solution for you.

I would also like to throw out the challenge for past and current club members to come up with an identity for our club, ie Parramatta = eels, or south Sydney = rabbits for example, so along those lines we may get our own unique identity for the club. I will organise with Lango to get something up on the website so you can leave your ideas there, remember if you do not leave your name with the message it will not be printed. When we get heaps of ideas we will organise a vote. If nothing suitable is found we can wait, this is not something we should rush. A BIG PRIZE awaits the member who comes up with the winning suggestion. My idea , no wait , i have about 10 different ideas for names so i will throw them on the website, more ideas the merrier .

Great work to all members out there for putting a great VIBE in the club that we have at present. It does not matter how small you think your role is, it is very important for the structure of a successful club. It has been noticed.

Tony Higgins.
(Follow the link to the top right to submit your ideas ... Lango)

Welcome to the 2009/2010 Cricket Season

It’s great to be back talking cricket again and not too long until the first ball is bowled to commence another fantastic summer of cricket. A big welcome to all of the new players and their families to our club and I hope you enjoy the cricket and the friendships that you will form.

An exciting year awaits us all with the executive committee having monthly meetings at our tremendous sponsor SOUTH TAMWORTH BOWLING CLUB and coming up with many positive ideas to make the season very enjoyable both on and off the field.

First grade this year will be skippered by Dan Mitchell. To see the big man so pumped up for the season is great and is clearly having an effect on all those around him.

Second grade will be led again by the ever young Paul Fisher and is shaping up as a strong side on paper and will give Paul a great team to work with to achieve that grand final goal.

Thirds this year again will be led by Glen Ryan. Glen’s teams are always in the mix and I am sure they can do bigger things this season.

The mighty fourths will be led by Grant Scarborough. Again a lot of our juniors will be starting
their senior cricket careers at our club under the guidance of Grant and we wish them all well.

One new addition to our club this year is the web site. Slowly we are getting all the information that we require on the site together so it can become a one stop shop for all City players, family and friends to keep an eye on all aspects of City United. Keep an eye out for club info, updated results for all grades, TDCA draw, player profiles, club history, competitions ... we'll have everything. Please pass the web address onto as many people as possible so our sponsors
can get as much coverage as possible.

A big push will be on this year to get all fees in as early in the season as possible. We need to do this as it all becomes very messy for Claude (Our Treasurer) if it is left to the last minute. So please if you have any concerns about your payments please make contact with any of the executive or your captain and payment plans can be arranged to suit your needs.

Well that’s about it from me at the moment, keep an eye open in the Northern Daily Leader for any early training runs and upcoming functions as well as Peter Langston’s regular printed newsletters that will be available soon.

Yours in Sport,

Tony Higgins.