An update from our CEO

Hi all,

I’m writing this month’s message following the most incredible day today at Lord's for our flagship 75^th anniversary celebration event with a very special guest, Sir Stephen Fry.

The whole event started with a letter from our Royal Patron, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, wishing Sir Stephen and everyone a great afternoon. There was a brilliant poem to set the tone for the day from the delightful former Tavs President, Sir Richard Stilgoe. Then we were thoroughly entertained as we heard amazing tributes and very kind words from leading sports presenter and broadcaster Clare Balding as well as Stephen’s great friend, Blackadder and QI producer John Lloyd. These were followed by a hilarious and insightful cricket themed panel chat hosted by our fabulous President David Gower with our own Mike Gatting, actor and comedian Alan Davies and our great friend Graeme Swann, all of whom joined Stephen in sharing stories whilst talking about their love of the great game.

Another of Stephen’s great friends, comedy genius Jimmy Carr paid a personal tribute to our special guest in his own unique comedic way, by both poking fun at and talking so brilliantly about his long friendship with Stephen. Finally, the whole day was rounded off perfectly with a fabulous address from Stephen himself, who spoke fantastically about our vital work in cricket, his passion for our work and the impact of charities on mental and physical wellbeing.

It was also wonderful to have three of our Youth Ambassadors, Sara, Sophie and James speak on stage so articulately about the impact our life-changing cricket programmes have had on them and their families. I would like to pay a particular thanks to them for adding to what has been described to me by many people as the greatest Taverners event they have ever been too. That includes some members who have been coming to Tavs events for decades.

Thank you so much to all of our friends, members and supporters of the Tavs who made this sold-out event a huge, huge success. It was a privilege to be involved. I am so proud of the team led by our Events Manager Janine who was supported by many colleagues and the 75^th anniversary committee, chaired by proud Taverner David Robinson. Thank you and well done to you all.

As many of us were in the Lord’s Nursery Pavilion on 28 July, many staff members and Development Officers were busy organising and delivering our first two residentials of the summer. Super 1s participants enjoyed all the activities on offer at Avon Tyrell in the New Forest, while making new friends and experiencing spending time away from home in a setting they may not have found themselves in before. While the first boys (aged 10-14) Wicketz Festival took place at Ampleforth College in York, where participants enjoyed plenty of competition and cricket skills work in addition to invaluable life skills workshops on the subjects of wellbeing, communication and resilience. All of this being part of our mission to empower young people to gain and develop the knowledge and skills required to fulfil their potential. I hope they all thoroughly enjoyed it and a huge thanks to our programmes team colleagues and partners for their role in putting these life-changing opportunities together for our participants.

Some important news for you on our membership - on 14 July, the changes to our bye-laws approved at our most recent AGM officially came into effect.

For current members, this means:

• The period allowed for payment of annual membership fees before a membership is considered to be lapsed, has been shortened from six months to two months. This change ensures our records are kept up-to-date and supports the charities operational planning. Membership resumes on payment of fees.
• Current members agree to abide by our code of conduct.

For new members: 

• They will no longer be required to pay a one-off £50 joining fee, removing a barrier to access.
• New members will no longer need to seek a proposer to support their membership application, nor will their application need to be approved by a committee. This will streamline the application process and make it easier for new members to join us.
• New members will receive regular updates from us about upcoming events and charity information unless they specifically opt out of receiving our communications.
• New members will agree to abide by our code of conduct.

Once again, I’d like to thank all members who took the time to engage with our proposals and participate in our most recent AGM – your support and commitment are vital to the charity becoming a more inclusive, welcoming organisation and helps us continue making a difference in the lives of the young we people we support across the UK. 

There are still many more 75^th anniversary year events that you can support in the coming months. Our Taverners Taskmaster event with the brilliant Alex Horne and the return to Camiral for a weekend of golf at the 2031 Ryder Cup venue, being two of the standouts. Make sure you keep an eye on all the latest event updates by regularly checking the event listings on our website.

I hope you’re all having a great summer, and I look forward to seeing you at some Taverners activity soon.

Best wishes,
Mark.