massive £20/13% increase in Spencer Cricket fees for 2022 Post Reply

[skersley]

Hi All,

I’m one of the co-chairs of the junior section at Spencer CC so thought I’d just make some corrections here.

Firstly, with over 1,500 members we know we can’t please all the people all the time. Certainly, if you are not happy at Spencer I can recommend our near neighbours Sinjuns, Battersea Ironsides or the newer Roehampton / Fulham CC partnership.

We are not private school only. We actually hold a guaranteed percentage of place for state school members meaning than in some age groups we have private school children on a waiting list whereas state school kids get in right away.

I’ve also been involved with Broomwood FC and they are a great football club that do things the right way as I know is also true of Battersea Ironsides Rugby. Cricket though is an expensive game to put on and whereas we share with these clubs a lot of less-than-ideal Council facilities, we also operate our own and in recent years we’ve invested over £150,000 in facilities such as artificial nets, all weather pitches etc. as well as maintain grass cricket squares, all of which explains the financial difference between ourselves and these other sports.

Much like BFC and BI, we are volunteer run, something we make clear to every member as we need help to organise and run the club and the 300+ names on our DBS register shows how many local residents are an active and valuable part of this, including of necessity, those who take the time to qualify as coaches. Unfortunately, due to Covid, it’s been impossible to achieve this for the past two winters as courses have not run, so this year we’ve had to increase subs to pay for additional professional coaches to fill the gap whilst volunteers can qualify. Qualified volunteers get a free place for their child and the course is also paid for, so all welcome.

Finally, yes, we solicit donations as part of our membership, and we could have done a better job this year explaining why. This money goes towards supporting our community work including the Wandsworth Schools Tournaments and Leagues we host offering cricket to nearly 2,000 local state school children each year. It also helps support our position as a Surrey County disability hub – we host their disability teams each year – especially proud we played our part in Surrey winning the national championship in 2021.

But as this thread shows, you can’t please all the people all the time – although some of the misinformation contained here is a little weird. Anyway, for those that remain unhappy, I can certainly assure you that the grass is always greener up at Trinity Fields where Sinjuns play – their irrigation system is miles better than ours.

Steve Kersley

[readysteadycook]

Steve, thanks for interacting.

How many trained coaches will be at each age groups sessions in 2022 ? Each age group has I guess 100 children. From what we saw last year, there was very little good training, just lots of untrained dads having a go! My husband doesn't understand cricket so it makes it harder to get children interested. How exactly will that change this year ?

Its all very well having nice facilities, but if you charge big subscriptions you have to surely provide good coaching or its pointless?

I have heard from other parents that the children's cricket subsidises the rest of the club and thats why its so expensive - how is that fair ? For children that don't need the nets, why not just hire Trinity fields and do it much cheaper, like Battersea ironsides do ? 

Having 3 children, you are asking for £465 for 13 weeks cricket, Why not have a siblings discount ? Do you think thats fair, especially if some weeks are rained off - why not extend the short season until the end of August with smaller sessions whilst people are away on holidays ? The weather is perfect then after all and the children are just getting into the game.  
 

[PinkLemonade]

In the nicest possible way.  But just trying to understand what you would achieve by airing your grievances on a public forum like this ?  Would you not have been better to approach Spencer directly and ask all these questions ?  We have been members of the cricket club for 10 years and sure it hasn't always been perfect but i have always found them very responsive when I approached them with questions? And more importantly my kids have always loved the club !   It sounds like you are really unhappy with last season so I am not sure the club can give you any other answer that would make you happy so as per Steve's message below why not move to another club ?  Having volunteer at another local club (not cricket) we had so many complaints about kids not playing when the pitches were too wet -  it is the nature of unfortunately running a club in London with not enough facilities.  You are reliant on the UK weather and council signing off the pitches - and it can be also really frustrating for the club to have to cancel fixtures.
I think the important thing to remember when posting is that a lot of these clubs are run by volunteers who are doing this as well as their full time jobs and that generally do it for the love of the sport.  Having been one of these volunteers I can tell you - we get very few thanks !
Thank you Steve for your very good response and also thank you for the work you do for Spencer !

[Lulubear]

I have always felt Spencer offered good value for money and good facilities.  They also kept cricket going during the heavily restricted summer of 2020 and went above and beyond continuing the sessions all through the summer holiday to make up for the late start owing to a lockdown.  They have the grounds and facilities to maintain as well as the coaches to pay.  I believe the voluntary contribution is usually for improvements to facilities they hope to make (e.g. trying to build/extend their own indoor nets facility).  The indoor winter nets are held at other premises so they presumably have to pay for the use of the facilities and as they have limited spaces it seems reasonable to charge those who attend rather than spreading that cost among all members when many won't be able to attend.

That said, informing everyone of other cricket clubs that are perceived as better value will keep Spencer on their toes.  They usually have a long waiting list for the juniors section anyway so it will help those waiting to find another cricket club.

[skersley]

To be clear, we are a member’s club. Your subscription gets you access. What we deliver is down to those who get involved, although for reasons already explained, that has been difficult immediately post Covid. If you can’t coach, there are plenty of other roles you can play – admin, scoring, umpiring, team management, sponsorship, fundraising, welfare, fixtures, communications etc. to help balance the load.

No, junior cricket does not subsidise the ‘rest of the club’ – and even if it did, it’s a member’s club and if that’s what’s decided, that is what happens. We do subsidise some priorities – notably for the past decade women’s cricket – we now have one of the best women’s teams in the south which we want our girls to aspire to play in.

And no, we can’t just hire Trinity Fields. Given it’s been Sinjuns home for decades, they might get a more than a little miffed if we tried to hi-jack it!

Genuinely, if Spencer’s not for you, please do try somewhere else. Dan & his team at Sinjuns developing junior cricket there are inspiring and I’ve often had valuable and appreciated words of wisdom from Eric at BICC. We learn a lot from each other as well as offer slightly different things.

Any other questions, my contact details are on our website.

Steve

[alphadad56]

There's massive increases in most things this year, it's in line with the soaring cost of living or running a business.  You can pay the fees or not, it is quite a reasonable charge.

[alphadad56]

There's massive increases in most things this year, it's in line with the soaring cost of living or running a business.  You can pay the fees or not, it is quite a reasonable charge.

[dan1roberts]

I am actually involved with SinjunGrammarians CC up the road, firstly Spencer is a fantastic cricket club with whom we have good relations, the costs are reflective of them running such a large operation rather than any profiteering, also note that they do offer bursaries (as we all do).

That having been said, Spencer isn't for everyone and so its a good idea to consider that there is a valid alternative up the road.

For more info google Sinjun Grammarians Cricket