The accounts were published and sent to members. The "highlights" were:-
In the chairman's report we read:-
"
Although Sky Sports hold the exclusive rights until 2019, income from the T20 currently comes through the gate and not from television. Rumours of an England Premier League and franchised teams continue to appear in the media, but this is something we do not support. The revenue generated from the T20 tournament is vital for the future of our business, and must not be lost to the fairytale dream of a city
franchise.
You will have read that the ECB has announced a number of changes to the structure of the domestic game for 2017. The main change in the County Championship will be Division 1 comprising of eight sides and the second Division consisting of ten, after one county
has been promoted and two relegated this year, before reverting to two-up, two-down.
It does mean one less home championship match for us. For the record we did not support this change. However, the Club supports the need to evolve cricket in this country and as it’s an ECB decision, it is our responsibility to implement the new structure as successfully as we can."
I thought that when we had the members forum we were told that the changes could not be implemented without the county's say so. So did we vote for them, or not?
FOr next season:-
Our aim for this season is the same as 2015, to gain promotion to Division I. We know that you need to be promoted with a young, talented and continually improving squad, and right now we have a group of young players who are in this category, all hungry for success. Everyone associated with the Club is hungry for success
On the development:-
Members who visited the ground this past summer will have seen the completion of the first phase of the development, with
the apartments now ready for occupancy.
With regard to the second phase, following a number of meetings with the developer, this will be placed on hold for another season. For the time being it is business as usual. This gives us time to re-design the Club’s facilities in line with the revenue generated by the sale of the apartments.
We recognise that parts of the ground are tired, and the facilities in the Pavilion are outdated, and we know that this situation
must be addressed. However, before we agree to move forward we must ensure that financially, the project adds up. We
will not place your Club at risk, we will certainly not enter into loan agreements to finance any part of the development and
then face the possibility of financial disaster later in the programme. Your Committee will ensure that the Club does not take on
any debt as a result of this work. We will provide regular updates on this topic.
On the financials, we made a profit for the first time in two years, but this is after accounting for profits on the ground development. If you ignore these we made a loss
Membership income was up to! The rise in income down to the Australia effect! and we got £300,000 from ECB handouts.
