Gentlemen,
Here is the first update on all things UWMCC for 2018:
CRICKET
Term 2 has started back, and thankfully for many clubman that has brought with it more focused training sessions and some more fitness work. This is not only great with the half-marathon looming in the future, but is also an ideal way to make us feel better about the 12 pints on a Wednesday.
In all seriousness, Term 2 sees the return of Complete Cricket professional coaches Nick James and Jamie Spires, plus the new addition of Grant Thornton. Grant played for Warwickshire last year and is a recent Cov Uni graduate, who can give us a good insight into BUCS cricket and help out the fast bowlers. This term there will also be Performance Sport sessions running for those chosen in the squad, and the Friendlies team continues to grow from strength to strength under Colonel Merriman, with an additional session now on a Monday. On top of this there are rumours floating around that a new club video is in the works and will hopefully be available in all major Blockbusters soon.
VARSITY
Many of the recent Old Boys will be glad to hear that Varsity this term will be held in Desso Hall, albeit at 9am on a Saturday morning. Varsity Weekend is 23rd-25th February, so any one near campus who wants to come and support us – as we step into the realms of #TeamWarwick – please do. Cricket Varsity will be 9am-11am in Desso Hall, Saturday 24th February and many clubmen will be falling out of bed to watch the team play from the balcony. For those unable to attend, we are hoping to live stream the match on Facebook, make sure you have liked our page to get a notification when it starts!
CHARITY
The charity side of the club continues to go from strength-to-strength; Tom has been able to kickstart Coaching in Schools again this term. A group of clubmen will be volunteering after-school to coach cricket every Wednesday. We hope it will not only be good experience in coaching for the guys, but also be great fun for the school kids. You never know, ,they may be inspired to join UWMCC in the future.
Many clubmen will also be taking part in the Warwick Half-Marathon on March the 4th. This is a great attempt by the guys to raise lots of money for the British Heart Foundation, and if anyone wants to join us doing it please get in touch. Personally, I will be hoping to avoid the cursed Presidential running trainers by trying not to finish last as both Kraus and Bexs have done before me.
women’s team
In other news there has also been great progress in setting up a Women’s club on campus this year. 34 Women have officially signed up as members, which is enough for the SU to consider it becoming a club, and the aim is to have them as a stand-alone club on campus by the start of Term 3, much like there was many moons ago.
BADGER’S HOUR
As well as this, Charlie Turner has been keeping the cricketing radio show tradition alive with Badger’s Hour: on from 9am-10am on a Monday Morning. If any of you want to listen please tune into 1251AM at that time or go on the Radio at Warwick website. Turner has had a whole host of guests, from Michael ‘It’s my show’ Kynaston, to Northern ‘Yes I am stereotypically boring’ Jono. Here is a link to his webpage and podcasts.
TOUR
Finally, 25 clubmen will be going to Barbados this Easter and have all been given their Tour numbers. Any Old Boys who feels they can add to this list or fill in the gaps, please let us know, as would be great to see when the first one was. Roche has been busy slugging about trying to find a tour sponsor, sort kit and order ties, but the hope is that he will at least have sorted the ties by the time the plane sets off in a little under 8 weeks.
OLD BOYS EVENTS
50th Anniversary / Alumni Weekend – Sunday 17th June 2018.
Members of the exec have been busy trying to build our Alumni network beyond the 5 years before us and have managed to reach out to a UWMCC alumni in almost all the decades since the 1960s. Stories of 2.36 second pints and the origins of ‘the gamble’ have been discovered and we hope to unearth even more legends we know must be out there. Due to the building of the network, this year, in celebration of the club’s 50th anniversary, we are holding an event to welcome alumni from all generations back to campus.
We are now turning our attention to organising the event and it would be very helpful to us if any of you would fill out the form linked in below, to help us gauge interest in the particulars of the event. Many of you may receive this by email, but we thought the more ways we put it out there the further we could spread.
The event is scheduled to take place on Sunday June 17th at the Cryfield Sports Pavilion, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL. Our intention is to hold a buffet lunch in the early afternoon, where alumni can get reacquainted with their peers and also meet their successors and predecessors. We hope the lunch will be followed by some cricket fixtures in the afternoon, either between teams of alumni and current clubmen, or a mix of both. Several alumni have also expressed an interest in returning to Leamington for “a few drinks” / circling the night before, so please indicate if you would like to on the form.
We hope you will all be able to make it, but if not there is talk that it could be an event that happens once a year or once every two years to help everyone remember their days in the UWMCC. If you know any other previous clubman who may be interested could you please forward this newsletter and the link to them so we can get as many as involved as possible.
Circling
If any Old Boys feel the urge to come back to any circles in the Copper Rooms it would be great. Gemes is the only man to have made it back so far this term so we would welcome a change. As ever if interested please get in contact with any current clubmen or myself to get tickets.
GOLF DAY
The potential Old Boys golf day has been put on hold as interest and feasibility are checked out. It is looking unlikely to happen this term sadly, but I will let you know if that changes.
That is all for now, please get in contact if you have any questions or are interested in coming to any of the events/circles.
Dan Lewis
