An update from our CEO
Hi all,
As you’ll be able to tell either through engaging in our activity this month yourselves or by reading our May newsletter, there has been a lot going on in the past four weeks with so many exciting developments to talk about.
I write this on the train back from Manchester, fresh off attending the last of our Regional Table Cricket Finals that decide which schools qualify for our prestigious National Finals Day at Lord’s. I was with our new Chair Lucy Pearson and Trustee Paul Walker at Old Trafford, and it was great to see the players in action, enjoying the competition as well as learning and developing. It was a brilliant opportunity to speak to their teachers and support staff who told us so much about how participating in the competition impacts their lives in so many ways.
It’s been a great pleasure attending some of the nine regional finals over the past month. It’s so important to get out and about to experience these events and hear first-hand from the people who know our participants so well. Big thanks and well done to our programmes team, particularly Liz Kuda, for organising what is now such a well-oiled machine, all leading to our flagship National Finals Day.
Also, a special mention to our Development Officers and their coaches for all their hard work in getting the players involved and competing, and to our table cricket photographer Jack Bird. Jack is a former table cricket participant and now working as a freelance photographer in the game, including for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Jack has a wonderful story about his personal journey and what the game has done for him. Thanks Jack, for sharing your story and helping us bring the competition to life through your brilliant photos.
I look forward to seeing all our regional winners, their teachers, participants families and our charity supporters for a very special National Table Cricket Finals Day at Lord’s on 25 June.
The previous week we hosted our 2025 AGM at Lord’s where we discussed and voted on a number of things concerned with the future and continued development of the charity. Thank you to all our members who attended and engaged in the meeting, and to everyone who joined us for the social afterwards. The feeling in the room was a very positive one, which is reflective of how we as a staff team feel about the current direction of travel the charity is taking. I’d like to particularly thank Membership Manager Rachel Roy, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that the AGM ran as smoothly as possible and all the relevant pieces of various governance and membership puzzles were put in place and communicated with our members well in advance of the meeting. Thank you Rachel!
I want to add my own huge personal thanks to our outgoing Chair Tim Luckhurst. Along with then Vice-Chair Sandra Verkuyten, Tim was the person who placed the charity’s trust in me to lead this organisation nearly four years ago. During that time, I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside and being led by Tim. He has always been approachable, open minded and passionately engaged in all that we do. He has encouraged and challenged me and the team to ensure the organisation grows, improves and develops all of the time. He has given an incredible amount of time and energy to the charity, and he will be sorely missed by all, especially me. Not only has Tim been a great ‘boss’ to me but he’s also become a dear friend. Thank you Tim, for trusting me and giving me the privileged role that I have, it’s been a fantastic four years working together. I look forward to having you involved in many other ways at the Tavs with different hats on for many years to come.
Another constant in our long-term success has been our partners, Berkeley Group. On 14 May, we were invited to their Topping Out ceremony of The Halo - their new collection of nearly 200 homes within the iconic Oval Gasholder offering front-row views into one of the country’s top international cricket venues.
As part of the ceremony, participants from the Surrey Super 1s were able to play in potentially the highest ever cricket pitch in London and embed signed cricket balls into the rooftop concrete - a lasting legacy of the day and a nod to the Berkeley Foundation’s £750,000 commitment to our Super 1s programme.
Thank you to everyone involved at Berkeley Group for including us and the programme they’ve been crucial to the growth of, in such an important moment in what is a huge project for them.
One of the Surrey Super 1s participants who attended the Topping Out ceremony was Charlie, who the next day became our first ever participant to take part in My Maiden Speech. This is an initiative led by The Speakers Trust, a charity who share office space with us in our new Fivefields home, who invite one young person from 10 different charities each year to speak about a key issue that concerns politicians and communities including: education, environment, housing crisis, mental health and getting active, amongst others.
The young people take part in one full-day workshop to teach them how to write and deliver speeches on their chosen subject with the help of professional speech writers and provide them with all the tools to continue progress in the following weeks.
After receiving additional feedback and help with developing their speech, the speakers are equipped with the tools to proceed to the final stage of the project, where they are invited to speak in front of a selected audience at the House of Lords. The event is attended by MPs, community leaders, young people and business leaders.
Those who were lucky enough to attend the event at the House of Lords on 15 May were blown away by the way Charlie spoke, and I’d like to congratulate Charlie and his family on behalf of the charity on the incredible development he has made, both since joining Super 1s and subsequently our group of Youth Ambassadors. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for more updates on this in the coming weeks.
On the most recent Bank Holiday weekend, another heroic team of runners took to the streets of Edinburgh to raise invaluable funds for our cricket programmes. A big thank you to Adam Collins and The Final Word podcast community for their continued support of the charity. So many of their running team have engaged in our programme activity and events since they started running for us a few years ago, with others now joining committees, as members and engaging with the charity in various different ways. The partnership is a great example of what can be achieved by two well connected communities that share similar values coming together.
You can still support our Edinburgh running team (which also includes a number of current and former members of Taverners staff) by visiting their fundraising page here.
We have worked closely with many individuals and partner organisations over the years, and there are so many things we would not have been able to achieve without their tireless work and support. Which brings me to some sad news to share for those who weren’t already aware that Tony Bourne, formerly of Birchwood Ford, sadly passed away recently. Tony delivered new accessible minibuses to schools across the country on behalf of Ford for many years and would always be part of the presentation of new minibuses to staff and pupils at each school. He took great pride in being part of something that helped have such an impact, and never was that more evident than when he was involved in the handover of the charity’s 1,000th minibus to Edith Borthwick School in 2015. He was a member of the West Kent Committee and a regular attendee at many Taverners fundraisers during the time he was involved with the charity. We send our best wishes and condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.
Regards,
Mark