Dear Club Member,

You may or may not be aware that our Chairman, Gerald Brown, was diagnosed with cancer after the 2017 season ended in September.

I have always regarded Gerald as the Diplomatic Corps of Thornton Cleveleys Cricket Club and typically of Gerald he took the diagnosis of this terrible illness in his usual “glass half full” fashion. I am not sure I would have reacted in the same way. He is a man who does not like a fuss so it was very much business as usual during the initial stages of his treatment.

Since December he has endured two of four chemotherapy therapy treatment regimes which would hopefully improve his condition to enable surgery to be carried out.

It has come to my attention recently that some of our members are not aware of the extent of his illness. On Sunday I received a text message from Gerald updating me on his condition and I asked if I could pass this onto those members who had been asking after his health.

The message was as follows.

“Scan results not really as expected ie tumour has not stopped growing, and DVT has appeared locally as well…so, it means a change in treatment to IV every two weeks and self injected blood thinning solution every morning”

He then goes onto chat about football scores and other subjects which once again is typical of the man.

I have no comprehension of what Gerald, Lynne and the girls must be going through right now but clearly it is not good. I am sure you are all very concerned for Gerald and would ask that we all take sometime to give him all our best wishes for the difficult months ahead.

Once I became aware of his illness I willingly took on the position of Acting Chairman of the club with a view to handing back the reins once Gerald felt able to resume his rightful position as the leader of the club.

However, what I did not realise was the amount of work that Gerald carried out behind the scenes. It has become clear to me now that we have perhaps taken this work for granted although in mitigation the other members of the committee had their own tasks to carry out and conducted them very efficiently.

I am now asking every member to step forward and get involved in helping to keep this club running as best we can over the following season. The list of jobs that need doing both pre season and throughout the season do seem to be endless and cannot be done with the small pool of volunteers that make themselves available. I am fully aware that many people have full time jobs and time has to be given to families and so forth. But we are not asking for hours every week only a few hours here and there. Our most pressing issues are the provision of teas for games, Sunday morning catering, bar staffing during both junior and senior games and general grounds maintenance. All of these tasks would be so much easier if there was a bigger pool of people who would be prepared to volunteer for just a few hours per month. We are not asking for hours every day but just a little of your time on a regular basis. Some of these jobs could be done whilst you are watching junior or senior cricket games.

The current committee have been serving for many years now and sooner or later we will consider that we have done enough and will want to relinquish our positions. At that point I believe that the very existence of the club will come into question unless some “new blood” steps forward. That sounds melodramatic but I do think that the situation will become that serious if the unwillingness to help carries on.

Therefore, can I plead with every member of this club to attend where possible the various meetings that will be held over the coming weeks and to give whatever help they can. Have a chat over a pint or a glass of wine with all sections of the club and see if it is possible to give a helping hand over a weekend or during mid week matches. It may look daunting at first but it is surprising how easy it really is once you know what it entails. The more people get involved the easier it is.

Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long email and I am sure you will all join me in wishing Gerald the best of luck for the future.

Don Brown.
Acting Chairman.