Woodmancote Cricket Club - 2021 Covid Recovery

Aim

Fundraising to cover the financial shortfall caused by Covid, so we bounce back in 2021 with our sporting and social role in the community.

OUR CLUB IN BRIEF:

Woodmancote Cricket Club is a village sports club based in the Cotswolds that offers cricket to a range of junior age groups from 5 to 15 in addition to both women’s and 4 senior teams in addition to being a social hub for the community.

THE IMPACT OF COVID ON WCC

The Covid crisis significantly impacted both participation in club cricket and club finances during the 2020 season and continues to be a huge factor. The crucial purpose of this crowdfunding initiative is to raise funds to ensure that we can cover lost income to ensure that we have sufficient funding to meet the ongoing running costs of the club and to continue to support the promotion of cricket to our wider local community.

As we come out of the Covid crisis in the coming months we see the club being integral in supporting the local community from a both sporting and social perspective through participation in cricket and involvement in supporting the club and its social events.

WOODMANCOTE CRICKET CLUB

Established in 1938 WCC is a village cricket club based at Woodmancote village playing fields and is completely run by volunteers. The club attracts it own sponsors, very much relies on annual membership and match day income and also on a reliable calendar of fund-raising events built up over several years which as a result of the COVID crisis has not been able to be relied up on to generate the required funds.

Typically, the club has 100 members across three senior teams playing competitive Saturday cricket, a Sunday social XI,  a Women’s team playing in the local soft ball league and Junior teams covering the ages of 9-15.

In addition, we are part of the hugely successful ECB All-Stars and Chance to Shine cricket initiatives for 5–9-year-olds in the early season and for the coming season for the first time we will have a Development Team focussing on encouraging U18 players to continue taking part in cricket though the local T20 midweek cricket league.

From a social perspective the club runs several events at the Woodmancote Village Hall facility (Quiz Night, Race Nights, Club Dinner) with the aim of raising funds and providing social opportunities to both the cricket and the wider community. These have been completely curtailed for the past year along with all of the social interaction, club promotion and potential fund-raising opportunities they offered.

2021 OBJECTIVES

The Ground – The club is already working on plans to improve the cricket square through enhanced grounds-keeping support, the utilisation of improved covers. In addition new sight-screens need to be purchased prior to the season starting.

The identification and confirmation of a 2nd ground is in process to ensure all teams can participate in competitive Saturday cricket this year.

Senior Saturday League Teams – Recruitment for 2021 is already in full swing to attract new players from the local community into the club. There are concerns that due the potential drop off in numbers caused by the lack of cricket in 2020 that numbers may be down if we do not reach out and attract more players. The aim is to continue with a 1st XI (playing the Gloucestershire County League Div 2) and a 2nd and 3rd XI (playing in the Cheltenham Gloucester and Forest Premier and Div 1 leagues respectively) once cricket is allowed to be played again. 

Women’s Soft Ball Team – Since its creation in 2017 the club have put particular focus on the participation element of this initiative over results and competitive involvement. This means we have a healthy level of participation and for 2021 we want to maintain and build on this exciting addition to the club offering to the local community.

Development Team – A key new focus for the club this team has been created to address the nationwide issue of reduced numbers of players transitioning from junior to adult cricket. Predominantly for U18 players this team will play mid-week T20 cricket in the Gloucester midweek adult league.

Junior Teams – For the 2021 season our aim is to run teams at U11, U13 and U15s for 2021 with training and development coordination for U16 players.

All-Stars – The club intends to continue supporting this ECB initiative aimed at introducing 5–9-year-olds to cricket.

Chance to Shine – The has been successful in bidding for grant support to put cricket coaches into our local partner primary schools to offer the students and introduction into soft ball Kwik Cricket.

Talent Development Manager – A new role has been created at the club to support the transition of junior players into adult cricket through the development team, focused training for development players and clear pathway for U18 players to move into senior cricket.

Social Events – Once allowed the club intends to continue with the traditional social events aimed at members and the wider community, with particular focus on new events and more involvement from the wider community.

In addition, the club are planning to further promote the supporting of the club teams in particular the Development Team midweek T20 games where a bar and barbecue approach will be adopted to promote more social interaction with the wider community.

This project successfully funded on 8th April 2021