ABERGAVENNY CC's new chairman Stephen Denning has told the Chronicle he is keen to help the historic Avenue Road club thrive in what is a challenging time for cricket at club level.

Denning became chairman in December of last year and he is unusual in the fact that he is probably the only member of the club and committee who has never played cricket! 

However, as he is quick to point out, "My family owes Abergavenny CC a great debt. My two sons, spent hours, days and weeks of their life there when young. My younger son Jonathan (23) has traveled the world through the sport, having spent time in the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East playing with school, Wales, University and County teams.

"This all started at Avenue Road and I would like to see many other local youngsters given the same opportunities in the future."

Founded in 1834, Abergavenny CC has long been an integral part of the town's fabric, and has always prided itself upon giving young people a valuable opportunity to train and play to the highest levels of their abilities, whilst instilling the values of responsibility, teamwork and respect for the game and other people.

Denning told the Chronicle, "Even though we have a thriving youth and junior section there are issues with obtaining qualified coaches or even enthusiastic helpers, because people lead such busy lives these days.

"We depend upon just a few experienced hands to coach and run junior teams and inevitably they need help at various times as they, themselves have other commitments and a family life. The same problem of availability applies here as some are shift workers and a couple of our coaches live away in the week as they are employed elsewhere.

"We cannot emphasise enough how valuable even a small amount of help is on, say a weekday evening or Sunday morning as we are running teams at under the ages of 9, 11, 13 and 15."

Abergavenny CC is renowned internationally as one of the most beautiful and picturesque grounds to play cricket on. Cricketing celebrities, players and supporters around the world who have played on or visited the ground and tasted the famous teas and hospitality have long sung Avenue Road's praises.

Denning explained, "In order to fund the upkeep of the ground, the cricket activities and pay for professional coaching for our junior and promising players, the club has to operate as a business to raise money.

"We want to increase the profile and awareness of the club and encourage people along for a drink or to watch a match in the Summer, or to one of the several function that we stage throughout the year. We are having a live folk night on February 28 for instance and would welcome members and non members alike to come along for a pleasant evening with some light refreshments and bar."

Denning added, "Subscriptions to the club for players and social members are very modest and do not remotely support the club or the costs involved. We rely heavily on bar sales during the Summer and the generosity of our business sponsors and 200 Club members to pay for the ever increasing overheads involved."

So if you have the necessary sporting skills or are just an enthusiastic helper, the club can use your input for coaching at all levels. Likewise, any assistance in the catering, bar of fundraising fields would be greatly appreciated. As would business skills such as accounting, IT, administration, health and safety etc.

As Denning explained, "Even if you want to spend a few hours in the fresh air maintaining our grounds you'd be greatly appreciated, and for anyone who has done it before or likes statistics and figures, we are urgently in need of scorers.

"The club is a vibrant place and our few officers, helpers and many players and juniors are enthusiastic and committed. Please come along or contact me or any committee member if you would like to offer some help, no matter how limited."

For further details you can call Stephen Denning on 07831 331930.