Dear Kongonis and friends

It is my honour and pleasure to present the Chairman’s report for 2009.

I think it is fair to say that, as a Committee, where we ended the year was somewhat unexpected and not where any of us would have predicted.  It became apparent during the year as we discussed the various aspects of the Club, and particularly the facilities, that there are several areas which require serious and urgent attention.  Indeed, a comprehensive refurbishment of the club has probably not been done in the fifty-plus years of the pavilion’s existence.  

This culminated in the Committee’s developing a five-year plan for the refurbishment of the cricket ground and attendant facilities to bring them up to international standard.  Further, we aim to have regular international matches played at the Club.   I should very briefly touch on those areas of the Club which we intend to address.

Sightscreen – The new sightscreen is almost complete.  It is a much sturdier and, it is hoped, a longer lasting structure than the previous one.  We are grateful to the UK Committee and Members for their contribution of 60 % of the cost of construction of the sightscreen.

Covers – We urgently need new covers, as will be apparent to anyone who played in the Chairman’s v. Patron’s match today.  Our experience is that bad covers don’t last and good covers are expensive and must be handled with care.  I am pleased to say that today Adrian Radcliffe presented a cheque of KS.25,000/- from Nomads CC to start our Covers Fund, and we are very grateful to them for that.  Once we have agreed on the most appropriate covers, we shall launch an appeal to Members to raise the remaining funds for the covers.

Nets – The practice facilities require serious attention.  We are finalizing a refurbishment plan which will include turf and all-weather strips and a new sightscreen.   The estimated cost for this is KSh. 1- 1.5M.

The Pavilion – There are several aspects of the pavilion which need to be addressed.  To be of international standard, the dressing rooms need to be larger.  The library and old secretary’s room is very seldom used and the bar needs a complete overhaul.  We have initial plans to renovate the library and bar area.  We have discussed with Nairobi Club the extension to the visitor’s dressing room, with the possibility of a second seminar/conference room above the extension.  As this is a potential revenue-raising addition for Nairobi Club, we believe the prospects are good that they will contribute substantially to the cost of the extension.

The Pitch and Outfield – The ‘big ticket’ item is the ground itself.  As we are all aware, the major problem is the black cotton soil which shrinks when dry and swells when wet.  The black cotton extends down to a depth of 5 – 6 feet.  We are looking at various combinations of removing the black cotton soil and back filling with red soil, and including underground sprinklers and proper drainage systems.  The important key to all this is to have a sustainable water supply, either through an additional borehole or collecting rain water.  The cost for doing this could be as much as KSh.12 – 15M/-, but it would make an enormous difference to the playing of cricket at the Club, and is absolutely necessary for international fixtures. 

Development program – There will be a change of emphasis in the development squad with an aim to develop real talent as efficiently as possible.  We want to use our resources to identify and promote quality, rather than quantity, in the squad.  

In all of this, there are several challenges which we face and I wish to highlight two of them.

Finances – This is the obvious and major one, as there is no reason why we could not begin all of these activities immediately if we had the funds to hand.    We have enjoyed fantastic support from the UK Committee and Members, but we neither expect nor wish the UK side to be the major source of our funds.  Their resources are finite, and they cannot commit to supporting the development activities and scholarship program beyond the next two years.  Although the UK members will be revisiting their funding situation during this year, it is up to us, the local Members, to drive our own fundraising efforts.  So, the local members can expect to hear a lot more from the fundraising sub-Committee this year.  These are exciting times for the Club and I would urge everyone to be a full part of them.

Cricket in Kenya – The second challenge is that we are doing this at a time when the game of cricket in the country is struggling, when viewed through the prism of the fortunes of the national team and the standard, enthusiasm and level of attendance at league matches.  This is not a deterrent to us but serves to emphasize the importance of what we are doing.

We cannot of course do this in isolation and there are three key partners for us. 

First are the UK Committee and Members and few would doubt the important role that they have played and continue to play.   As I have mentioned, the UK have indicated that they will continue to support the development activities for another two years.  We have to enhance our own fund-raising activities to continue this work.

Our second partner is the Nairobi Club.  The Kongoni’s Committee is very aware that the idea of a major refurbishment only makes sense if we have security of tenure.  We have a good relationship with Nairobi Club, but there are a few areas which require clarification, agreement and mutual understanding, such as the number and extent of functions at the pavilion and on the cricket ground.  Discussions are underway regarding a new agreement, which we hope will be finalized shortly.

Thirdly there is Cricket Kenya.   It was a source of great disappointment to us all that the ICC relocated the Under 19 World Cup from Kenya to New Zealand.  This was to have provided us with an opportunity to work with CK and share the costs of improving the ground.  I still believe that this opportunity exists, as CK are committed to having several grounds of international standard in Kenya.

In closing, there are two issues I must mention.

On behalf of us all, I wish the UK Members every success in their upcoming 75^th Tour celebrations.  Several of the Kenyan Kongonis are travelling to the UK and I am sure it is going to be a grand occasion.

I also want to extend a deep appreciation to the Committee for the work they have undertaken this year.  Each of them deserves our thanks.  In particular I wish to mention two Committee members who are stepping down for a respite.  Matt Rudd has served recently as Club Captain and as Hon. Sec., and has done a great job in organizing both the League fixtures and the non-League matches.  It is no easy task to get teams out every weekend.  And of course we shall all miss his wonderfully crafted match reports.   Also, Naval Sood is standing aside.  It cannot be said enough how much we much we are indebted to Naval for the considerable time and effort he has devoted to monitoring and producing the accounts.  As Mr. Shaw put it, we dare anyone to find even as much as a comma out of place in the financial reports.   So, to Matt and Naval, thank you very much indeed.

Gentlemen, thank you for your attention.