Previous Newsletters: 2010(2), 2010 (1), 2009 (1)

NEWSLETTER. DECEMBER 2011.

I hope that all members had an enjoyable season, which must seem so far away now, and the weather, although rather cold at times, was in the main dry.
The Annual General Meeting went well and may I thank all those who attended for their support of the committee all of whom were returned to office.

ANNUAL DINNER.
Our annual dinner was this year held at Ombersley Golf Club. From the comments received everyone enjoyed the evening. We made this a very informal occasion. Our President welcomed the members and guests, Bill Smith said grace and again our President made the presentation of the Ryan Bowler award to Howard Burley in recognition of his services to the Association and to mark his 50th year of umpiring. This prompted the usual remark that “he still hasn’t got it right”. It was unfortunate that the date clashed with the Worcester County League dinner and was the evening before the “Fossels” dinner. Whilst it is the intention to hold the 2012 dinner at the same time of year every effort will be made to avoid such clashes.

APPOINTMENTS.
You will soon be receiving your availability request and this will cover the whole of the 2012 season although the appointments will be issued in two parts. The first list of appointments will cover from the start of the season to about end of June the second list will cover the remainder of the season. This is mainly due to the lack of information regarding the district matches particularly as to venues. We will therefore, by making two appointments lists, be able to fit members to their closest venues thereby reducing the travelling. It will also give members the chance to change their availability, due to holidays etc, reducing the amount of re-allocation.
We have already received notice of the requirements for the “Malvern Festival” which almost dominate the month of August so much so that we are already asking other counties if they may be in a position to help if required.

TRAINING.
Our training season will soon be upon us with courses at Worcester and Kidderminster commencing in January. Our Education Officer has produced the following article outlining the training programme. Please note that the Scorers course and the refresher courses are being sponsored by the Worcester County League and will therefore be free of any charges.

TRAINING UPDATE

1. THE NEW LEVEL ONE ADVANCED COURSE
ECB ACO has recently changed the form of the LEVEL ONE ADVANCED course. In the past the L1A was an in-depth course based entirely on the Laws. But things have changed and The L1A is no longer finalised by an examination instead a Personal Discussion is used.
As you are aware, the Level One course covers only those Laws pertaining to the Saturday afternoon League match. Having passed the L1 course, ECB ACO then expect the student to stand as an Umpire for at least a season before taking the L1A course which deals only with those Laws not covered by the L1 course. However, WCU&SA have decided ALL the Laws will be covered to confirm that the student is fully prepared and to give him additional confidence
The main thrust of the L1A course relies almost entirely on the candidate producing documentary evidence that he must obtain whilst standing as an Umpire and seeks to establish that he is making progress towards becoming an efficient umpire. These documents should be inserted in a Development Logbook
This Personal Development Logbook provides the self-evaluation and assessment elements that will be compiled from experience and supported development during the season following attainment of qualification of L1. I have set out below the type of documentation required which must completed and then submitted to the County Performance Officer (CPO) in the Development Logbook.
Having obtained this evidence the CPO will then arrange to have a “Professional Discussion” with the candidate to establish that he knows the Laws and the discussion will included as an assessment of the students performance as an Umpire.
Form to be competed:
P09 This is a CV completed by the student to give his personal details
P12 The Characteristics of an Effective Umpire – What the student feels is important
P42 Information sheet for the student
P43 A Match record details of a minimum of 10 matches in the season
P45 Match Planner – to be completed for each match recorded on P43
P46 Performance Feedback Internal – to be completed by the student or an Assessor
P47 Performance Feedback External - to be completed by the Captain/Manager or Coach of the teams concerned at P45 above
P48 Performance Feedback Scorer – to be completed by a Scorer who scored in one of the matches above.
There is also a WORKBOOK containing 20 questions which the Candidate has to complete in detail.

2. WCU&SA REFRESHER COURSE 2012
We are planning to hold the course at both Old Elizabethans CC and Kidderminster CC. We will be at Old E’s on Sunday 11th March and at Kidderminster CC the following Sunday 18th March. Both events will commence at 1000 and last some 2½ hours. The course will cover mainly “Field-craft” but will also look closely at the LBW Law. The good news is that the Worcestershire County league has again kindly agreed to sponsor the event and so there will be no charge to members.

3. ECB ACO LEVEL ONE COURSES 2012
At the time of going to press, Level 1 courses have been arranged at Worcester CC on Tuesdays starting on 10th January and commencing at 1930. Courses will also be held at Kidderminster CC also on Tuesday starting on 31st January 2012. Peter Stevens will be the Lead Tutor at Worcester and John Collins at Kidderminster. I am hoping to hold a course at Bromsgrove and Evesham if demand decrees.

Tim Granger
Education Officer
WCU&SA

GENERAL MEETINGS
I am again expressing my disappointment at the level of attendance at the General Meetings. It is your Association and your committee does work hard to provide speakers etc and is sometimes embarrassed at the low attendances. Again I would ask if there is anything more we can do to encourage members to attend. Attached to this newsletter is a list of meeting dates as a reminder.

CONGRATULATIONS.
It gives me great pleasure to tell you that our President, Peter Stevens, has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of ECB ACO.
I am also pleased to tell you that one of newest members, Dean Gervis, was awarded “Umpire of the year” by the Worcester County League.

SUBSCRIPTIONS.
As most of you know the annual subscriptions are due by the 30th September each year. We receive subscriptions by various means and at various times and some members we have to remind. Such reminders cost the Association a fair amount of money and is really an unnecessary expense. This year we are holding open the subscriptions until 31st December and any members who have not renewed their membership at that date will be removed from the full membership list.

May I, in conclusion, thank you for your continued support and wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

John Collins.
Chairman.
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CHAIRMAN’S NEWSLETTER. DECEMBER 2010

Welcome to this my third newsletter as your Chairman. May I thank all of you who attended the Annual General Meeting for your support. At our first committee meeting some changes were made to the various sub committees and a full list of committee members and the various sub committees is attached for your information together with a list of meeting dates and a copy of the Constitution of the Association.
You will be pleased to know that Derek Smith was elected as our Secretary at the Annual General Meeting and I am sure you will join with me in wishing Derek every success in this post.

COMMITTEE MATTERS.
As a result of comments made at the Annual General Meeting that the proposed date for the Annual Dinner, 29th April 2011, was a little late and could clash with early season matches, a new date has been agreed with WCCC. The dinner will now be on Friday 25th March 2011. Details of the menu and cost are enclosed. Please make every effort to support the Association on this occasion.
It is the intention of ECB ACO to request County Associations to carry out the “grading” of their umpire members. This will be based on where members umpire taking into account captains marks and any other information that may be available. This will be carried out during December and all members notified in January 2011.
Following several complaints received regarding the attitudes of some of our members when umpiring, particularly age group cricket, the committee felt it necessary to adopt a form of disciplinary procedure. The procedure, agreed by the committee, is attached for your information.

APPOINTMENTS.
Firstly I would like to thank the Appointments Officer for his work during last season. Over 700 appointments were made. Now that we have a Secretary it was felt, and Chris Bryant agreed, that a deputy Appointments Officer was no longer needed. All matters regarding appointments will be dealt with by the appointed sub committee and should be addressed in the first instance to Chris Bryant. In the event of Chris not being available then any other member of the sub committee. The full list of appointments will be published and in order to avoid the ever increasing costs of producing hard copies the list will be published on the Association’s web site. For those members who do not have the necessary facilities a hard copy will be made available on request.

TRAINING.

UMPIRE’S REFRESHER COURSE PLUS THE NEW LAW.

WCU&SA will be holding Umpire’s Refresher Courses in the New Year at both Kidderminster CC and Old Elizabethans CC.
The course at Kidderminster will be held on the two Sundays 20th and 27th March 2011 starting at 0930 to 1230.
At Old Elizabethans the course will be a single day four hour Course on Sunday 13th March 2011 starting at 0930
In addition to the need for refreshment, It is essential that all Umpires are aware of the CHANGES in the LAWS and League Officials will be expecting Umpires to have attended a Course on the Changes before the commencement of the 2011 season.
If you have not already booked your place you can find out more information from

Bill Brooks (Kidderminster CC) on 01562 68561 or suebill18@yahoo.com or
Tim Granger (Old Elizabethans CC) at 01386 552613 or timgranger17@homecall.co.uk
Please CONFIRM your attendance

Level one courses are being held at Kidderminster, Worcester and Bromsgrove commencing January 2011. Please contact Tim Granger for further information.

AN EVENING WITH CHARLOTTE EDWARDS. MBE.
It was with great pleasure that we welcomed Charlotte to our meeting on October 21st. The evening was attended by some sixty members and guests who listened intently to Charlotte’s experiences as captain of the England’s Ladies team and later had the opportunity to ask questions. It was the first time that the Association, on general meeting evenings, had opened its doors to non members and we were pleasantly surprised by the attendance. Something we may try again in the future. The evening was organised by our Programme Officer, Howard Burley, who is also our Vice Chairman. Our thanks go to him for a special evening.

The photograph shows our Vice Chairman presenting Charlotte with a bouquet of flowers with our President, Peter Stevens, keeping a watchful eye.

ASSOCIATION WEB SITE.
The Association’s web site has now been on operation for almost a year and all current information is shown on the site. It is our intention to publish the Newsletters, Appointments and meeting dates on the web site. In addition the newsletters will be sent by email. If you do not have the necessary facilities please inform our Secretary who will arrange for hard copies to be sent.
The web site address is worcumpires.org.uk

FUTURE EVENTS.
The next general meeting is on the 17th February 2011 which will be our General Knowledge Quiz organised by Andy Hicks.
On the 17th March 2011 we are proposing to hold a team quiz. We are hoping to have a team from Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire as well as a club captains team. The teams will consist of four members and the questions will be on the Laws of cricket and general cricket matters. Please do your best to attend.
The 21st April is our Presentation Evening when certificates will be presented to the successful candidates. Light refreshments will be provided.

CONGRATULATIONS.
I am sure you will join me in congratulating Dennis Pyke and David Gower on their appointments to the Minor Counties Panel. We wish them every success.

Finally it only remains for me to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! New Year.

John Collins.
Chairman.
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This is my second newsletter since becoming elected as Chairman and I must admit it is quite difficult to find enough to say to make it worthwhile. Please contact me if there is anything you would like to have put in the newsletters.

You will see from ‘Committee Matters’ that we are well on the way to having our own website and the address will be notified to you in due course.

The main attraction since the Annual General Meeting has been the Dinner. This was a success and I think that everyone who attended enjoyed the occasion.

The training season is well underway and will be followed by a refresher course at Kidderminster in April for anyone who is interested.

Our appointments officer and sub committee will soon be busy allocating appointments so get your availability list back as soon as possible after you receive them.

I would like to wish everyone a happy and ‘sunny’ season.

COMMITTEE MATTERS.

The committee have met three times since the AGM.

At the November meeting Derek Smith offered to set up our own website. This was agreed.

At the meeting on the 21st January 2010 our secretary, Brian Hall, announced his resignation. Due to his other commitments he found that he could not devote sufficient time to the Association. The chairman, John Collins, agreed to carry out the duties of the secretary until the next AGM. It was felt that this would give us sufficient time to find a suitable replacement to nominate at the AGM. SO IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT ME AND WE CAN DISCUSS THE MATTER.

Due to Brian’s resignation the appointments subcommittee was a member short and Chris Bryant proposed Bill Brooks and Peter Stevens proposed Tim Grainger. By a show of hands Bill Brookes was duly appointed to that sub committee.

For your information Howard Burly has now been added to the list of signatories for CRB applications. When your CRB is renewed please send the new number to the Hon. Secretary.

ANNUAL DINNER

The 32nd Annual Dinner was attended by 55 members and guests at the County Ground, Worcester. There was some doubt to the viability of this event as bookings were very slow to appear. However all was well.

This was the 31st Dinner that Wally Clark has organised and has called time on his innings. In acknowledgement of his services to the Association the Chairman presented Wally with two engraved Goblets.

The committee acknowledges that times have changed and will be discussing the format of future dinners at some length. Any recommended changes will be put before the AGM in September.

CONTACTS

John Collins Phone. 01384 270197
Email. jc.collins@talktalk.net
Bill Brooks Phone. 01562 68561
Email. suebill18@yahoo.com

PLEA FROM OUR TREASURER.

Our treasurer has expressed some concern at the number of unpaid subscriptions. It is stated quite clearly in the Constitution that subscriptions are due by the 30th September each year. Please ensure that if you pay by Direct Debit / Standing Order the amount payable is correct and the date for payment is the 30th September. Full active membership is £10 per annum and Non-active (Social) membership is £5 per annum. For those who pay by cheque please ensure that this is done by 30th September. In order to save writing more reminder letters the committee have agreed a final date for payment of outstanding subscriptions. Members who do not pay by the 28th February 2010 will be placed on a ‘lapsed members’ list and will not therefore be entitled to any communications or appointments by the Association. This will not happen next year when the cut-off date for subscriptions will be 30th September.

TRAINING NEWS.

Two Level One courses are underway at Worcester and Kidderminster with a combined attendance of 34 candidates.
A refresher course will be held at Kidderminster Cricket Club on Tuesdays the 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th April commencing at 7:30pm. Cost is £10

ECB ACO MATTERS

As you will be aware from my previous newsletter our list of umpires, classified in accordance with the requirements of ECB according to which league and the matches that you regularly umpire, was sent to ECB in October 2009. I am advised that gradings will be available some time in February. I am led to believe that you will be advised directly by ECB.

The annual subscription is to remain unchanged at £20 (if you pay by direct debit) for this year.

Depending on the response by members there may be some changes to the ECB ACO clothing range.

ITEMS FOR SALE.

Umpires Blouson size XL fleece lined by ‘CICADA’ New. Apply Bill Brookes for further details and price.

Two pairs of ‘Farah’ trousers both new 44in waist, one pair black, one pair navy. Apply John Collins

MCC law books £3 each. Association ties £12, coat badges £7, Blazer badges £15. Apply Bill Brookes.

APPOINTMENTS.

The availability list will soon be with you.

This years list will be dates only which should make the appointments a lot easier. It has been emphasised by the committee that every effort must be made to ensure that appointments are fair and equitable and the Appointments sub-committee have been duly charged with this. The appointments will be made at one sitting of the committee and when these have been collated a further meeting will take place to review the list before publication.

TRIVIA.

The umpires in the last ever Benson & Hedges Cup Final, John Hampshire and Barry Dudleston had faced each other as players in the first final on the same Lord’s pitch 30 years before.

Indian left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkami dismissed Marvan Atapattu with his first ball in Test cricket and then bowled 419 more balls without success.

In 1955, while playing against India, Maqsood Ahmed of Pakistan became the first player to be stumped for 99 in a Test match.
John Collins
Chairman.
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