Tour 2009

Tour News

It’s that time of year again where we can all start looking forward to our end of season cricket tour, where so many hopes and dreams are made.

In the past we have toured and conquered Nottingham, Norwich, Cheltenham and Brighton, and this year we will be heading north to the home of Oasis, Ricky Hatton, Frank Gallagher and the most detestable football side ever formed. Yes, we're going to Manchester (spit).

Tour will be returning to a 3-night stay, with 2 games of cricket to be played. The date will again be the August bank holiday (Sunday August 30th - Wednesday September 2nd). Manchester and the north of England will prove to be much cheaper than bright lights and general homosexuality of Brighton, where 2 nights were taken in. Especially when it comes to drinks.  

Ex-Reed CC fast bowler and all round top bloke Michael Berks, who moved 'oop north' a couple of years back, has been kind enough to arrange us a couple of fixtures. It looks as though we will be playing a fixture against Irby Cricket Club on the Sunday, who are located in the Wirral. They play in the Cheshire League, and look like a good strong club. Take a look at their website http://www.irbycricketclub.co.uk

The second game will be on the Tuesday against Berksie's new club.

I think it's a top effort from Berksie to get us a game on a Tuesday, baring in mind it requires people taking an additional day off of work. With this in mind, I think it would be great if we could show similar effort and get a real good number of tourers up to Manchester. In addition, I'm sure we all fancy facing Berksie when slightly hung over, right?

There will, of course, be plenty going on to keep you all amused and on your toes during the tour. Each day will have a dress up theme, and there will be all your old favourites: Tour Items, tour shirts, fines, drinking games and the flexing of 'Authoritah!' by the tour committee.

Bank holiday Monday will also be action packed, although exactly what we'll do is still being decided. Safe to say it will be fun.

Hotels need booking, as does coach travel etc. so I REALLY NEED COMMITMENT to the tour ASAP. This will come in the form of a deposit of £40. This will allow us to begin booking and organising.

We also have the option of travelling up and back to Manchester by coach. CJ has got a quote, and the more people we can get, the cheaper it becomes. However we really need a good number (in excess of 20) to make the coach up and back worthwhile! If not it will be shared cars again (I presume with the usual suspects driving again). I think it would be nice if we could all go up together and give some people a rest. Manchester is a good 2.45 Hours on a good run!

Everyone always loves tour. Its provided us with some of the highlights of the season, both on and off the field. I know its not cheap, but there is nearly 3 months to save, and no-one regrets it!

Lets get our names down, and give ourselves another brilliant tour to look forward to. The more of us that come, the better it will be. It is not just for Reed CC members (though it IS just for men, "NO WAGS ON TOUR" I think the song went). So if you have mates who fancy a piss up for a few days, or a casual game of cricket, get them along. Willoughby's Mate was a tour legend last year, just as Crossy has been the last few years.

I really do need numbers ASAP.

Thanks,
The Marshall, Matty.