November Newsletter from The Saffrons

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

LAST MINUTE FIREWORK TICKETS

This year’s display is on Friday 8th November. The gates open at 6pm and the fireworks will start at 7.30pm.

We’ll have food and drink available within the grounds, plus fairground rides and attractions to keep your little ones amused. Long Man Brewery will be here, along with the Orange Beach Bar and a cocktails and mulled cider bar. The Saffrons Clubhouse bar will also be open.

Entry is by ticket only at the gates on Meads Road and Compton Place Road.

There is no parking within the grounds on the night and we ask visitors to park with consideration to our local neighbours on the night.

As a not-for-profit community-based organisation, income from our fireworks display and other events is re-invested into the Club and the grounds for the benefit of all. So we are grateful for everyone’s support in joining us each year and making it such a special event within the town.

We are also grateful to all our volunteers who help on the night and Hawes Construction Group, our display partner.

Get your tickets here!

PADEL TENNIS UPDATE

As we reach November, and the leaves are falling, we remain on schedule with the building of the Padel Centre. Trevor May Construction are working hard through the inclement weather, crossing fingers for blue skies. The groundwork is progressing very well and behind the scenes we are busy getting everything ready to open in December.

Any day now the concrete will be poured for the base of the covered courts. We hope to start the construction of the canopy, which will house the three covered courts, towards the middle of November and the Padel courts are to be installed towards the end of the month.

We recently announced our pre-opening Founder Membership offer. Which will be available to purchase from 9am on Friday, 1st November. It is a fantastic offer which will save you £50 on an annual membership, and you’ll also receive a goodie bag with lots of Padel4all merchandise and a pre-opening weekend of padel.

For those of you who maybe curious about giving Padel a go, we will be offering an "Intro to Padel" session. It is an hour-long session with a member of staff who will tell you the rules and the tactics and get you hitting balls. All for just £5!

For those people wanting to get stuck in and are counting the days until we open, we will have daily Matchplay sessions for all abilities, group or individual coaching for all levels, tournaments, events and box leagues.

We hope that with our close relationship with The Saffrons team we can create a fun and social environment around the Padel centre and the Saffrons Yard. It will be THE place to be in Eastbourne!

If you have any questions, please get in touch. I will have an information desk and be at the clubhouse on the weekend of 16th November and then each weekend until we open. I will post up on our socials and WhatsApp group the timings when I will be there, and I look forward to seeing you.

We can't wait to open our doors and to become a part of The Saffrons.

Eastbourne Hockey are already a quarter of the way through the season and we’re off to a good start. The Mens 4th team have won every game so far and are comfortably sit top of the table after scoring an incredible 52 goals so far, similarly the Ladies 2nd team are also unbeaten this season. The Mens 1st team are also looking for promotion and have had a good start but their unbeaten streak was met by a strong Folkestone team. The Ladies 1st team gained their 1st point away against top of the table Holcombe HC and continue to perform well each week. The Raptors who are the girls junior development team, have also improved each week after a tough defeat early on, they swiftly gained more experience and drew their first game followed by a win theweek after..

The Sunday junior teams have had success in their league and cup games, the under 16 boys managed to progress through to the second round of the cup after a match against Lewes than ended in an intense run of shuffles to determine a win that saw the under 16 keeper save all of Lewes attempts at goal. The under 16 girls progress through to the plate and have high hopes of a win this year after making it to the quarter finals of the under 14s last year.

New joiners have been keen to get involved by playing in the mixed back to hockey league recently formed this season, their first match was against a young strong Brighton medics team which resulted in an unfortunate loss however the camaraderie around these games is unmatched and described as a “family picnic without the burnt burgers” as the team is formed of Mothers, Sons, Fathers, Daughters, Husbands and Wives!

We are proud to be able to call ourselves a family club which means families such as the Fellows all get to enjoy hockey at Eastbourne and they continue to be one of our club and shirt sponsors as Fellows Dental Practise, as well as an all round support to the club including umpiring, coaching and support on our recent volunteering day. They play in all areas of the club from Ladies 1s and Mens 2s to the Raptors and under 14s.

Cup action began this week with the ladies 2 and 3s moving onto the plate after a defeat in Burgess hill. The mixed 1st team also face South Saxons in the first round of the Mixed cup on the 17th of November at home.

Saturday matches pick back up again on the 2nd of November.

EASTBOURNE TOWN YOUTH FOOTBALL

The football season is now in full flow and the youth section is as busy as ever. Most Sunday’s the pitches at The Saffron’s are packed with players and supporters from 10am until around 3pm. We are very fortunate to have access to probably the best grass football pitches available to any team in Sussex, often the envy of our opponents. While we have teams in age groups all the way up to Under 17’s this year (and three of those this season which is incredible) it is our younger sides from ages 7 to 14’s that you will see on a Sunday at The Saffrons, with 7’s to 9’s coming under the Old Town Boys and Girls FC banner. OTBG also run a session for players under 7 on Saturday mornings.

We are into our second season with a dual marked pitch for 9v9 and younger age group 11v11 games which has given us the ability to stage more games at The Saffrons and avoid overcrowding at our other home allocated pitches at Kings Drive between the hospital and college.

You may also see some of our teams making use of the astroturf under the lights on Wednesday and Friday nights. We offer football to players of all abilities with teams across all divisions depending on age group.

If you’re at a loose end on a Sunday morning, come rain or shine, pop by and lend us your support. We’d love to see you.

COMPTON CROQUET CLUB

Compton Croquet Club’s main summer season has now drawn to an end and our autumn/winter programme will start with a winter doubles, all day competition on Friday 1 November. Social events, including this year’s prize presentation lunch, will also take place throughout the autumn and winter months

On 5 October Compton CC took part in the South East Challenge Final play off, at home, against Sydenham. The match consisted of 4 doubles and 12 singles games. Compton were the winners by 11 games to 5. This was the end of a good season for our Golf Croquet competitors.

Some of our new members, that joined Compton CC this year, challenged the new members from 2023 to a competition consisting of both doubles and singles games. This event is new to Compton CC and it was enthusiastically played on Saturday 26 October. The 2024 new members were the winners and we will wait to see if they, in turn, challenge the 2025 membership joiners next year!

Some of the 2023 and 2024 new members that took part in the competition.

We are very proud to report that two of our members, John Crisford and Mike Cockburn, received Diplomas this year, for services to croquet, from Croquet England.

Compton Croquet Club continues to thrive hosting both national and international events as well as regular inter-club and club events The club has 80-90 members and we welcome new players on a regular basis through our introductory schemes. If you are interested, please contact our Membership Secretary at ComptonCCMembership@gmail.com

CARGO GYM

The clocks may have changed but we haven't! We are still offering fun but effective classes in the open air where you can work out with like minded people. Not a second is wasted in our 45 minute classes and there's nothing better than feeling good after a work out in the open air. Join us and see. We're offering a 7 day trial for only £7. Use this link to see what we're all about

Cargo Gym

EASTBOURNE CRICKET CLUB

After a season of struggle for the ECC First XI, we are proud to say that their play off against Crowhurst Park ended in an almost comfortable victory. This has saved the team from relegation and they continue in the 2025 season in Division 2.

At the AGM in September a new Chair was unveiled and Jon Purdey has taken over the role ahead of the new year. Jon joined both Eastbourne Town and Eastbourne Cricket Club in 1997 and has played coached and managed at all levels for both clubs. The Saffrons is in his DNA and with this in mind the club has great plans to go from strength to strength. With the Saffrons in an exciting phase of its development a number of new initiatives and refurbishments are in the pipeline for the Cricket Club as well. Now is the time to engage with this great club and build the strong foundations for continued success. The priorities for 2025 are Engagement, Performance and The Future, these pillars will make for a very exciting couple of years as we improve on and off the field. We are looking forward to forging strong and lucrative partnerships with the club and the local community in the new year.

FRIENDS OF THE SAFFRONS

A message from Andrew Price, President of Saffrons Sports Club

Many of you may have heard about the Friends of The Saffrons, which was formerly The 100 Club.

This fundraising group was the brainchild of Len Tipper, who lived in a block of flats overlooking the Saffrons. In 2001, soon after I had been elected Chairman of the Saffrons, Len had the idea that he would find 100 people to donate £100 pa to cover the Saffrons annual rent, which was to increase from £140 p.a. to £10,000 p.a. Len’s aim was achieved and it helped save the Club from closure, which was a very strong possibility due to rent arrears, unpaid trade debts and a huge dilapidation claim, mainly due to the old clubhouse being unstable and dangerous. Former players, many of whom were no longer living in Eastbourne, joined this appeal, as well as local residents who were horrified that the Saffrons might cease to exist as a sports club and part of the ground could become a housing estate.

Our rent is now nearly £30k p.a. and The Friends only have 38 members, hence the name change! Fortunately some of these members very generously give more than the minimum £100 and as the subscriptions are paid to the Saffrons Charitable Company, we are able to claim Tax Relief.

Subscriptions are paid either in a lump sum or by a monthly or quarterly standing order, and this is still a vital contribution to ensure the Saffrons remains financially viable. Playing members at the Saffrons pay subscriptions to their sports club and understandably can’t necessarily afford to also be members of The Friends.

We are therefore always looking for new members, who for various reasons want to support the Saffrons. So if you or any of your friends would to like to join, please contact us by emailing office@thesaffrons.org and we will send you all the relevant paperwork.

Membership runs for 12 months from January and I write to all members in December providing an update of what is happening at the Club and asking them to renew their membership.

We can’t offer very much back in appreciation of this support, but we give a discount at the bar, free entry to our annual fireworks display and advantageous terms if you wish to hire the clubhouse for a private function if the bar was to be used.