- South Dartmoor back to winning ways in cups
- Tom Allin tournament raised more than £5,000 for air ambulance
- Taverners kit bag delivered to Sri Lankan youngsters
- Devon trying to contact the class of 56
- Paceman Tshepo running in Virgin London Marathon
- Five Devon women in Western Storm squad for Kia Super League
- Registration night for all ages at Topsham on Monday
- Lots pouring in for auction at Allin Memorial tournament
- Thames Valley Gentlemen Cricket Club
- Bradninch add Argentinian flavour to Devon League
- Ipplepen youth registration night on Friday
- Final call for Groundsmans first seminar this year
- Devon League official tackling London Marathon for charity
- Bovey on familiar territory in Aaron Printers Cup
- Brockman Cup - Cup Kings lie in wait for holders
- Shepherd Trust helps Kingsbridge build for sustainable future
- DCL - Umpire Appointments 2016 (May 7th - July 2nd)
- Long standing records beaten
- North Devon see off Paignton chase
The biggest cricket festival ever...???????
Over 340 local school children took part in a pairs cricket tournament on Friday (22nd June) as part of Devon’s Chance To Shine cricket project. Year 5 & Year 6 children from 8 different primary schools across Exeter took part in the event that was organised by project manager & coach Trevor Griffin and was kindly hosted by Topsham St James CC.
Trevor said “I organised this competition to celebrate the benefits that competitive cricket can bring and for the children to demonstrate how much they’ve learned about the game. As coaches, Paul Diamond, Simon Ashplant & I, along with the teachers work hard throughout the summer term so it’s great to bring everyone together to play in a festival like this. I’ve been coaching and managing Chance to Shine in Exeter for the past 3 years, so it’s great to see everyone’s progress.”
All participating schools are members of the Isca Learning Community, whose School Sports Co-ordinator, Clare Whittaker, was pleased to get involved. “The competition was great fun” said Clare, “and we’re really grateful to Trevor for organising such a huge competition for all the children. It was a fantastic day and to see over 340 children in one place demonstrating their cricketing skills is just amazing”.
The children were split across 44 teams and played a total of 132 pairs matches that were run across 22 pitches on the day, making it likely to be the biggest cricket event that Chance to Shine has ever been involved in.
Matt Theedom, Devon’s Cricket Development manger said “This has to be one of the largest Kwik Cricket Festival ever held for schools! Thank to the support provided from the Cricket Foundation through the Chance to Shine scheme and the hard work from Trevor, hundreds of children now have the opportunity to enjoy our great game“
Teachers and Young Leaders also took part on the day, helping to score and umpire whilst the matches were taking place. The teachers all agreed “seeing so many children playing matches at the same time and having fun playing cricket in the right spirit is what Chance to Shine is all about, it was a terrific occasion and wonderfully organised”
The Exeter project is also running two further cricket festivals as part of this year’s Chance to Shine activities – schools from the St Luke’s Learning Community will get together for a competition in 2 weeks, and a separate girls only festival is planned for next week. “I’m expecting around 160 children to come along to the St Luke’s festival” said Trevor “so not quite on the scale of this one, but if the weather stays dry for us, it should be another great day – I’m looking forward to it!”