ABERGAVENNY Cricket Club held its annual general meeting at the turn of the month and after standing in respectful silence in memory of Peter Thomas and other deceased members and associates, those in attendance listened to a series of reports outlining a successful season for the club on and off the field of play.

The First XI, captained by James Schofield, narrowly missed out on promotion to the South Wales Premier League, finishing second to Bridgend.

On an individual note, the outstanding player of the season was wicketkeeper-batsman Greg Fury, who won the 'Player of the League' award for the top division in the south east.

The Second XI, led by Jon Viveash, finished mid table with its usual mix of youth and experience.

Crickhowell, with whom the Abergavenny club has a very close working relationship, finished in a healthy league position, as did the Fourth XI.

The various junior and youth sides – which are benefiting from all-the-year-round coaching – are becoming increasingly healthy in numbers and success.

During the season, Dan Cooke, Alex Astley-Jones and Matthew Knight established themselves as second team regulars, while an abundance of younger lads flourished under the guidance of Mark Winstanley in the Fourth XI.

Off the field, the club's finances remain on a sound footing while improvements and renovations are constantly being made to ground and pavilion. (June 2011 incidentally marks the 100th anniversary of the erection of the centre piece of the present pavilion – sufficient reason for a birthday party in due course.)

Various speakers paid tribute to the terrific work done by the ladies' committee and the 'last of the summer wine' ground gang in ensuring the continued high standards of the club.

The following are the main officers elected for 2011:

President – Brian Shackleton

Chairman – Warren Butterworth

Secretary – Kevin Schofield

Treasurer – Richard Bradley

200 club secretary and vice-chairman – Steve Denning

Fixture secretary – Mike Bruton

Subscriptions' secretary – Ron Collett

First X1 captain – James Schofield

Second X1 captain – Jon Viveash

Crickhowell captain – Mark Coles

Fourth X1 captain – Mark Winstanley

Chairman of youth – Colin Knight

Chairman of ground – Richard Brown

Chairman of cricket – John Roberts.

Three new life members were also created at the meeting: Tessa Pike (who has stepped down after ten years as a marvellously efficient and hard working club secretary); Mike Bruton (former player and fixture secretary for the past sixteen years); and Ryland Wallace (contributor in various guises for almost 30 years).

On a final note, Michael Powell, who came up through the junior and senior ranks of the club before going on to professional cricket, has been awarded a benefit by Glamorgan in 2011. The club is enormously proud of Michael's career achievements and will be strongly supporting the various activities being arranged during the year. His benefit tie – designed in Abergavenny Cricket Club colours – is currently available for purchase from Paul Sussex.