DUTY TO OFFER A ‘QUALITY SERVICE’
Q&A with Sue Tedder
by Chris Knowles

Sue Tedder, Emley’s Child Welfare Officer, is currently in the process of submitting Clarence’s application for Clubmark; a national accreditation scheme rewarding recreational sports clubs which have a youth set-up of excellence. Recently, Sue kindly took time out for a brief Q&A session on her involvement with the club and the progress of the Clubmark application.

How did you first become involved with Emley Clarence?

‘Initially I would take my children to their junior matches and, at first, I was just another parent really. I always watched the matches and we also did refreshments so I began getting more and more involved in that way.’

And what made you decide to offer more participation?

‘Jeanette [Stratford] and I are good friends and we wanted to have a say in the running of the club – basically we thought the men didn’t always get it right and we thought we could offer something to the committee.’

You’re currently Child Welfare Officer at Emley - how did that come about?

‘I work at a school and so child protection is something which I have had experience of in the past. But it’s silly really, I have to have yet another qualification for the juniors at the cricket club and you find that whatever you do it’s a separate application each time.’

How were you introduced to the Clubmark scheme?

‘I first heard about Clubmark at my school and had some details sent through because I thought it should be something that Emley should be doing. In order for the club to become bigger and better, and attract more funding, you need to base a lot of what you are doing around young people.’

And how will that contribute to the junior set-up at the club?

‘It really does help with sponsorship and companies are more willing to help if you’re seen to be doing the right thing which is giving good quality training to young people. Parents are aware that, like a lot of things, money is important and they are willing to pay for the best for their children. It’s our duty to offer this quality service through the junior set-up or we can’t expect them to come back.’

When will the application be ready to submit?

‘I hope to have the Clubmark application ready by the end of the year. It’s a lot of work organising the paperwork and I have to fit it around everything else, of course, but we need to have a look how far off we are first.’

The four most important criteria for the Clubmark award are as follows:
• Duty of care and safeguarding children
• The cricket programme that is offered
• Sport equity and ethics policy
• Management and coaching

And how many children do you anticipate signing on this season?

‘Last year we signed on around 50 children of different age groups and we’re hoping that we can do the same this year. We’d welcome as many as possible, of course, because, eventually, a healthy junior section makes for a healthy club.’
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