We are absolutely delighted to welcome 21-year-old Australian James Vlaeminck to BVCC as our first team overseas player for the 2022 season.

James is a top-order batter who also bowls off-spin and will be a great addition to the club both on and off the field.

First XI Captain Charlie Garratt says;

"We are absolutely buzzing that James is joining us. He's a top lad and was one of the rising stars at "The Suns" (Strathdale) when I was over there in 2015 and I'm excited to see how he goes this season.  As a positive batsman, he will really strengthen our top order and it's great to have another spin option. 

I've followed his progress since my time over there and it's great to see him not only break into the Strathdale 1st team, but become one of their top performers. 

It's brilliant to continue the link with Strathdale and the BDCA league with both Cameron Taylor and Mitchell Winter-Irvine enjoying really good seasons for us in recent years.

James adds;

"My home club is Strathdale Maristians where I have played in the 1XI for the last 6 seasons. Had the pleasure of winning our under 16 Grand final under the coaching of Bourton Vale’s own Charlie Garratt and hope to pick up where we left off this season.

Off field, I am golf obsessed, and will be looking for a round with anyone and everyone. Can’t wait to get over and meet everyone, and have a winning season!"

We wish James all the luck!

​Once again this was an historic meeting for our Clubs.

It was the first ever multi media event for our Club. A combination of Zoom, TV and live presentations was an interesting challenge. Thanks to Lucy Gillespie and Rob Langley for the techno stuff that facilitated a successful meeting. Thanks also to everybody who joined the meeting either on Zoom or personally.

Furthermore this was the last AGM for two separate Clubs.Following a unanimous vote we shall in future run the two clubs as one. I explained, in preparation for the vote, that we shall continue to operate from two grounds without changing the ownership structure of either of them. Consequently we shall also run two Community Amateur Sports Clubs in the background so that the Rules of the Trust Agreements are respected and honoured but in all other respects we are now one club.

The election of officers was also unanimous with the only new Executive Committee posts being Tom Arkell as Head of Communications , Mark Arthurs as Slaughter Representative and Charlie Garratt as First Eleven Captain. The last two being new positions on the Exec Committee.

Paul Heming stood down from the Executive Committee after a very valuable contribution especially in initiating the clubs’ merger for which I thanked him in the meeting.

In addition to Charlie Garratt being voted in as First Eleven Captain,Jack Galpin became Vice Captain, Rob Langley became Second Eleven Captain and Rich Jones became Third Eleven Captain. We wish them all well for 2022 and beyond.

Exciting other developments which were announced include the project for the new three lane all weather nets system at Bourton. This project is underway but at the time of writing is delayed due to supply chain issues for our supplier. We still hope to complete by the start of the season. Thanks to Rob Langley for all the work in arranging this project. Additionally we shall welcome our new Player/ Coach Jordan Price and also two overseas Players this season. One each for the First and Second Eleven teams.

So a lot to look forward to in 2022 building on the great work last year from all members of the Exec Committee and the various Sub Committees last season. Their commitment and expertise has created these opportunities for us to develop the Club without the need to increase the Club Subscriptions or Match Fees this year.

Commercially we shall look even better in 2022 based on the excellent work from Tom Arkell who has generated in the region of 15 sponsors in various guises and very much deserves his appointment as Head of Communications on the Exec Committee.

A moment of sadness in the meeting when we mourned the recent loss of Dave Wright. A great member of our club , a regular umpire with a huge smile who will be much missed.

In my report I then noted that Club seems to be buzzing much earlier this year than ever before. The Academy for our elite young players set up by Mark Whitney ,the Women and Girls Nets set up by Lottie Oliver and the Senior Nets with great numbers of attendees all point to a big year for us all in 2022.

The square and perimeter of the ground at Bourton is also looking very well for this time of the year.Thanks to the Ground Teams for both Bourton and Slaughter grounds.

At Bourton, Mark Whitney did a great job in clipping the hedge and Mike Muller has arranged a lot of general improvement for which I thanked them both.

Thanks to all of you who give up your time and commitment to the Club.

Best wishes for 2022.

Kev Langley

Chairman

Bourton Vale Cricket Club.