Pictured: Ben Ryan, Peter Warner OAM, Gus McQueen & Shuro Shome
The Club celebrated the end of the regular season in grand style at the Club Ball at the Carlton Brewhouse on Saturday night with three areas of major celebration. The venue was extremely suitable for such an occasion and one I am sure we will use again. Our thanks to the Brewhouse staff.
Firstly, the 2nds and 4ths both reach the finals race to continue next week at the Harry Trott and Dandenong respectively. The Twos in particular, after an exciting “in the balance” victory over Melbourne climbed over a number of teams above them who were all defeated to claim their spot in the 8 whilst the 4ths with a comfortable win moved to 7th place on the ladder.
Congratulations to Daniel and Bobby and their respective teams on a great season so far and lets all journey to either venue to support our boys as they venture forward.
The next reason for celebration was the announcement that 4 of our youngsters had been selected in the Victorian Under 19 Metro team to play in the National Championships in Queensland in April. Our significant congratulations to Oliver Jenkins, Tom Nelson, Will Townsend and Spencer Wood on their selection and let’s hope that it will be a major stepping stone in their pursuit of even higher honours.
Congratulations must also be conveyed to our coaching staff – Ben Ryan, Dave Alleyne, Andrew Fekete, Paul Jackson and Shaun Prescott who have worked hard with the whole club in developing our young players.
And finally perhaps the MAJOR NEWS of the night from our Principal Corporate Partner, McQueen Financial Group.
You will possibly be aware that following the refurbishment of the centre square at McQueen Park this year we have plans to rebuild our turf practice wickets which have become unsafe over the years, sloping downhill with water issues after rain. Sometimes dangerous and not good for Batsmen or Bowlers !
The Council has costed the project out at $70 K and we have applied to the Australian Cricketers Infrastructure Fund for a Grant of $30 K, being the maximum amount they will provide. Of the shortfall Gus McQueen, Principal of the Company confirmed to the function that they will provide $25,000 towards the shortfall, leaving the Club to find the balance.
This incredible gesture on the part of McQueen took the room by surprise and we thank Angus, his colleague Shuro Shome who also attended on Saturday night and of course the McQueen Group for providing this significant assistance to this very much required rebuild.
The question then remains – what can we do as a Club for the McQueen Group who with 44 staff, offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and involved in not only Financial Planning and Mortgage Broking but General Insurance, Accounting and Tax Returns with 12 Accountants, and Superannuation as some components of their business.
Angus can be contacted on 0419 999 649 and Shuro on 0466 961 701 or through Reception on 9908 2560.
This season will go down as one of the Club’s biggest development years on record with finally settling into our newly upgraded Pavilion, completed the refurb of the centre square at McQueen Park, the installation of a state of the art gymnasium for the playing group, the purchase of Frogbox to record matches and assist our coaching group, enlisted a dedicated strength and conditioning coach in Evan James, full time Physio support from Dave Francis our sponsor from Physioworks Health Group, and the services of Dr. Andrew Jowett for medical support.
My grateful thanks to all who have assisted to grow our club both on and off field this year and let’s hope we can bring home a couple of flags to top it off.
It is a truly exciting time around the CMCC at the moment with a yearning for success and a highly driven playing group trying to stamp their names as true contenders in the competition.
Peter Warner OAM
President
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