If you haven’t yet registered for CricketForce you can do so via. the play-cricket.com website.  There are options there for Clubs that have already taken up their site on play-cricket.com and for those who need to do so.

Attached is a great example of a case study from Tavistock CC sent to ECB by the club.  Many clubs looking at small projects for 2009 might find this document of use.  You might even like to complete one for your club - if you do, send it on to your Community Cricket Manager who will see that it gets posted on this site and on the ECB’s website. 
 
We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that smaller projects are equally important to the future well being of every club. NatWest CricketForce (NWCF) is the ideal way of realising those small projects through to completion.
 
NWCF registrations are now ‘live’ for 2009 so please register early. We also have news of the ‘Go Green’ club fund which has so far committed £52,000 of its budget.

If your club is looking at ‘Green’ projects in the next few months - it doesn’t have to be part of the season’s activities - you might be able to apply for funding to help with the cost.

The process for applying is straightforward and KCB is promised a quick turn round for applications - but make sure you follow the guidance!   You can find the guidance notes at this link and the application form itself here.

NatWest CricketForce 2009 registrations have now opened and clubs can sign up at

Registrations can only be completed if a person is registered with Play-Cricket and is a member/administrator of their cricket club’s site. For any questions about this issue the Play-Cricket helpdesk is available – playcricket@ecb.co.uk.

The dates for NatWest CricketForce 2009 are the 3rd, 4th and 5th April but we would like to stress that clubs do not have to have their event on that specific weekend; you can have it whenever it best suits them.

Registrations have started much earlier this year to encourage Clubs to sign up earlier and start planning and preparing earlier.

The first 1,000 clubs to register will receive 30 free t-shirts – clubs which register after the 1000th will not.

For any questions or advice about NatWest CricketForce please contact your Community Cricket Manager, Clair Gould for the mid and east of the county or Andy Griffiths in the west and metropolitan areas.  You can if you prefer use  the Cricket Force help desk.

If you have any questions about this year’s event, or how your Club might be involved in 2009, contact your Community Cricket Manager.

The latest newsletter contains information on the following:

• Evaluations
• Go Green Club Fund
• Official Supporters
• NatWest CricketForce 2009
• 2008 NatWest OSCAs
• NatWest CricketForce website

An urgent reminder:  Evaluation deadline is 16th May 2008 – please go
to the ECB website and follow the link to complete yours.

Bobbing Court combined the re-launch of the club with CricketForce so these photos show both some work (painting and weeding) going on at their Rook Lane ground and the unveiling of the new club badge by the Deputy Mayor of Swale, Cllr Alan Willacombe.  Cllr Willacombe also bowled a few deliveries at one of the junior members

The other project the club worked on on Saturday was the reclaimation of a concrete base to be used in conjunction with a Flixpitch for a net at Rook Lane.

They used the KCB GA tractor mounted Graden to get tonnes of thatch out and even got Andy Nutting to pick up a rake - didn’t know he could push a rake as well as a pen!!!!

Friday, April 4th 2008
“3 days of brilliant sunshine is what Old Wilsonians’ were hoping for during Cricketforce weekend – well we got one day! Friday morning dawned with a clear blue sky and the promise of a fantastic warm day / weekend ahead.

The small working party arrived with the day’s main task of camouflaging the huge container in the car park. The men raced through this task finishing by lunchtime.

Poor Jane (Kempthorn) was left inside with the horrible task of cleaning tiles around the ladies toilets, but wow she did a great job and now they’re sparkling. She’d make a great scrubber for the right price!

After lunch it was time to tackle those little jobs – clearing the scorebox garden and as usual Steph Hartley had her gardening hat on, assembling the new chairs for the scorebox, and preparing the club for the next day’s main workforce.”

Saturday, April 5th 2008
“Saturday was not quite so warm, the weather going down hill gradually.

The cricket nets and the roll on covers were erected by a joint working party from the cricket and football clubs, much to the delight of the cricket colts. Summer is on its way when they can start to bowl those balls.

Meanwhile, others were painting slats and the broken slats near the pavilion clock were replaced – a slight shame since they marked some fantastic 6’s
by our cricketers.

I arrived shortly after lunch, having been at indoor nets all morning – no I’m not taking up cricket and I won’t be dressing up in whites and pads! To my horror, I was dragged into the men’s toilets by an excitable Ian Forbes who proudly showed me his gleaming new urinal. I tried to appear equally thrilled by the new arrival but politely made my excuses and left before he showed me how it worked.

Outside the footballers were scraping the wall – well a couple of them were. I’m really not sure what Kirk and Pikey were up to or even the rest of the team but it obviously was highly interesting and spectators were gathering to encourage and view their handiwork.

Inside the bar area was being measured up for new carpets which are being donated by Terry Scott, a colt’s cricket parent, so no spilling your beer in the future guys.

Paul Cudmore was clearing out the back store room to the bar which was due to have new vinyl tiles laid.

Pauline Bier meanwhile was slaving over a hot stove preparing a gourmet lunch for all the helpers. Slightly different to her usual 1st class cricket teas but equally as tasty.

Paul and Helen Ellison (aka Floral and Hardy), our Colts Cricket Club sponsors, were doing a spot of gardening, ably assisted by Andy Steel and the club is now the proud owner of approx. a dozen pavilion boxes full of brightly coloured flowers and shrubs.

4.15pm arrived and people were now gathered in the club house with a choice of 4 new TV screens to view the Grand National (huge thanks to Boom Boom for his hard work and time installing these). The sweepstake was won by Ben Cook and 2nd place went deservedly to Steph Hartley. By now I was almost as excited as Ian Forbes had been with his new urinal, since son Doug (not mine – Ian’s) had managed to link up “my” laptop and I can now have a rolling slide show of all my club photos and music showing on all 4 screens at once!

By this time the footballers were starting to ramble back into the club from their respective games and it was time to start clearing up for the day. It had been a good day and now it was time to relax over a drink or two or three or four …”

Sunday, April 6th 2008
“The Maxwell’s sprang out of bed Sunday morning in the knowledge that Paul Jenkins would be knocking on their front door at 9am to ensure that Max didn’t have a lie in! The curtains were drawn and we were greeted by the sight of thick snow everywhere.

The snow of course meant that the youngsters who turned up to help spent 2 hours running round the ground having a snowball fight and building a rather strange creature – the new club mascot.

Graham Watts and I were now snug in the new scorebox having a lesson on how to use the new electronic scoreboard. I think I’ll stick to pen and paper.

What fun you’re going to have Pikey. I wish you lots of luck!

(I feel you may need a few practice matches if Graham’s session was anything to go by).

J & J services spent hours cleaning the windows to the club. Jane sure is a girl of many talents.

Alex Forbes and Rob Bryan did a splendid job on cleaning out / repairing guttering in the freezing cold.

Max was getting annoyed at the number of times people stood on his painted steps.

And don’t mention the dishwasher!

Barnes was leading his “team “ of Malcolm Boxall, Malcolm Smart, Brian Morley in the showers so you guys have a lovely colour scheme of green, blue, grey and tile red (yuk) to lather up in. Remember no boots in there or you’ll be in BIG trouble.

Denise and I set to work in the kitchen scrubbing clean the greased walls and cupboards until Jenks appeared and informed us that we were to down tools for another day.

IP by this stage was happily behind the bar!

All in all, despite the weather a huge amount of work had been accomplished. So many other jobs had been done – too numerous too mention. I believe we had approx 80 helpers at the club during the weekend.”

HUGE THANKS must go to PAUL JENKINS who as usual works far and beyond the call of duty and to IAN FORBES who not only managed the admin side of Cricketforce but cooked a fantastic Sunday lunch for us before going off to eat his lunch in a local restaurant (hmm).

There are of course so many people I could have mentioned in the report if only I had the space but I thank all of you below and apologise if I’ve left anyone off the list (if I have please advise me since we do have to do an evaluation form for the ECB including numbers helping).

Helpers:

Arthur Ashdown, Bakare Ayo, Kirk Benjamin, Nick Bier, Pauline Bier, Malcolm Boxall, Tony Brighton, Rob Bryan, Jamie Butler, Barnes Clanachan, Ben Cook, Max Coutts, Chris Cowell, Jamie & Val Cox, Joe & Tom Cox, Paul Cudmore, Steve Donnelly, Bec Dove, Eddie Dove, Gladys Edmonds, Nick Ellicott, Helen & Paul Ellison, Claire Farrow, Alex Forbes, Doug Forbes, Eleanor Forbes, Gwen Forbes, Ian Forbes, Andy Fox, Jasper Gundry-White, Bill Hartley, Steph Hartley, Dan Hickey, Paul Jenkins, Stephanie Jenkins, Del Jones, Nigel Jordan, Laki Kasturiratne, Chetan Kemat, Annie Kempthorn, Jane Kempthorn, Mike Kendrick, Colin Lake, John Martin, Caroline Maxwell, Kenny Maxwell, Paul Maxwell, Henry McGeever, Hugh McGeever, Steve Millward, Michael Mitchell, Ben Mole, Nick Mole, Brian Morley, Sean Murphy, Grahame Nelson, Jon Quinton, Jamie Parkinson, Robert & Rory Phillips, Mike Pike, Denise Pilgrim, Ian Pilgrim, Mike Pilgrim, Joe Pullen, Chris Scott, Harry Skola, Doug Smart, Andy Spedding, Neville Spencer, Andy Steel, Aaron Steel, Chelsie Steel, Tom Sullivan, Peter Taylor, Peter Wakeford, Rod Warboys, Glen wheeler, Nancy Whittaker, Roger Williams, Jay Yewale.

Well done Association members and great to see us working as one team again – here’s to next year when it would be wonderful to top the 100 mark for helpers.

p.s There are still jobs to be done and Jenks who can’t sit still has already roped in Max & IP to help him later this week with sanding the clubhouse floor. I’m sure any more hands would be welcome – let me know if you are available!”

Caroline Maxwell 6.04.08

A truly wonderful effort by all concerned at Old Wilsonians and an event that clearly illustrates the massive benefits of CricketForce, both tangible and intangible.  The pride everyone has in their Club is clearly evident.  And that’s priceless.

Macknade CC members were praised by ECB Club Programmes Manager David  Leighton on Sunday having heard of their efforts during NatWest CricketForce 2008.

David said “Brilliant! Well done Macknade”

Macknade’s CricketForce co-ordinator Trevor Martin said “To receive such a  message from the ECB prior to starting work Sunday on what I know is a hectic weekend for David, lifted the spirits of those members braving the snow to  keep improving  the facilities at Macknade CC. Already the club are looking forward to the event in 2009.  Anyone want to donate some corrugated roofing materials or lengths of two by four?”

Macknade CC continued with the NatWest CricketForce 2008 work despite heavy sleet and snow all day on Sunday 6th April 2008.

The day started with an evaluation given the weather conditions as to what was likely to be achievable as a lot of work outside had been scheduled.

NatWest CricketForce co-ordinator  Trevor  Martin said “Not for the first time  in the four years Macknade have taken part adaptation was the key to our plans.  Any jobs left over will be completed over the  next couple of weekends.”

So touching up exterior paint work was limited: instead we braved the  blizzards, cut the undergrowth outside the boundary and removed a redundant chimney.

Other team members took on the indoor jobs of painting the kitchen, ladies toilets and touching up the paintwork in the clubhouse. Installing speakers for the TV also kept the team busy.  Everyone pitched in to remove the rubble from the old chimney.

More photos from Macknade taken Sunday 6th April 2008

Clockwise from top left:
Social Secretary Mark Cook busy clearing undergrowth!
Hannah Oxbury touching up the clubhouse paintwork
Good job the sightscreens were sorted Saturday!
Even in the snow, rubble from the chimney gets cleared!

Photos  of the installation of the new electronic scoreboard at Whitstable Cricket Club, part of the work carried out at the ground as part of the CricketForce2008 weekend.

Focus Club and Clubmark Club, Whitstable Cricket Club have been busy with NatWest CricketForce activities all winter long!  This Cricketforce weekend  volunteers focused on further jobs in preparation for the 2008 season!
 
Whitstable’s  1st, 2nd, 3rd XI’s, Under 15’s, Under 13’s and Under 11’s, committee members, parents and coaches, were all at the club on Saturday to assist with the connecting up of last season’s new Electronic Scoreboard.    The scoreboard was put indoors over the winter, and last year ran off a car battery - a project for this winter was to conect the scoreboard up to the mains, hopefully making it more efficient!
 
Earlier last month, the groundsman’s shed wall, where the scoreboard is hung, was painted white in preparation for its installation. Another job in preparation for the scoreboard was done by several volunteers, who dug a trench, about half a metre deep and some 70 metres long around the boundary, from the clubhouse to the groundsman’s shed.  Armoured cabling was laid within the trench which was then filled in and reseeded with grass seed.  On Saturday 5th April the scoreboard was fixed to the wall, and the electricity supply connected up.

Not only is the electronic scoreboard now connected to mains and ready for the season, but the groundsman, Eddie Churchley, now has electricity in his shed which means his good work can continue deep into the night!
 
The workers were rewarded with bacon rolls, tea and coffee to keep them going, in the cold, but at least dry weather.
 
One of the all-weather nets that were installed ready for last season through ECB funding and which was put to bed at the end of the season, was prepared and fixed back down ready for use.  It’s hoped the second one will be completed on Sunday 6th, all set for outdoor training which for the adults starts Monday 7th April - weather permitting!!  Sightscreens are also due to be hung and if there’s time before the season, it’s hoped the kitchen ceiling can be sugar soaped and cleaned, ready for the busy activities of the season.
 
During this winter, not just this weekend, Cricketforce has been a regular activitiy at Whitstable CC, with a huge amount of facelifting and general jobs done at the club.  Volunteers, in a dryish patch of weather earlier in the winter, white washed exterior walls, and went around the ground to tidy up.  Umpires changing rooms have been installed using the balance of the ECB funding.
 
Disability toilets and disability access to the ground have been installed over the winter.  This has enabled the club to be able to start an indoor ‘Table Top Cricket Club’ which takes place on Tuesdays from 4 to 5.30pm.
 
Earlier, volunteers managed to collect a table tennis table which had been kindly donated by Upchurch CC, as they no longer required it.  The table has been tidied up and put in the Clubhouse to use for the Table Top Club.
 
During the close season, Whitstable Cricket Club was awarded a “Chance to shine” project, which started in February in local schools, and this has supported this new Table Top Cricket Club.  Many club members and volunteer coaches have been going along and joining in with new players who have come through links being made with pupils from schools in the local area, with learning disabilities.

The club is proving to be popular and hugely enjoyable with a great atmosphere  during the sessions.  It is hoped to be able to continue with the Club and make it part of Whitstable CC’s main events during the summer, perhaps using ‘Table Top Cricket’ for all age groups, whenever the weather is bad.  In that way, a good understanding of the game is gained by all.
 
Many jobs still to go - they never end - but the CricketForce volunteers have done a sterling job to get the club prepared for the season - let’s hope the weather allows a start on time!