2020 ANNUAL REPORT

MINUTES OF THE 2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 55 The Nottinghamshire Kwik Cricket League had adopted the new ECB recommended format, retaining the same number of teams whilst allowing for more young people to play and officiate. A comprehensive countywide schools’ programme had been delivered in association with Chance to Shine, delivered by three full-time Schools Officers within 67 primary schools and providing access to cricket to 5,800 children, 1,500 of whom took part in competitions. Children joining clubs or community offerings on the back of introductions to cricket within schools had reached 555 this year. Junior Outlaws coaching sessions continued to prove successful with a 9% increase in course attendance. The retention-motivated clubT20 offering for under 19s enjoyed significant growth with double the number of teams taking part and 98% of fixtures fulfilled. MsWright revealed that courses for aspiring coaches and officials had continued throughout the year, with the new Foundation 1 Award proving particularly popular, attendance on the Level 2 Coaching course continuing to soar and an increase in attendance at courses for both umpires and scorers. Informal ‘Continuing Professional Development’ courses had been delivered with involvement from Nottinghamshire’s professional coaching staff, and a partnership with the Russ Evans Foundation saw the Association of Cricket Officials deliver projects in schools; an initiative that would be extended to incorporate recreational clubs in 2020. Membership of the association setup for groundstaff had remained steady, while attendance at workshops and training had seen an increase. The growing army of Trent Bridge matchday volunteers continued to provide a first class welcome in growing numbers, as well as increasing their footprint across other areas such as the heritage working group and the Forget Me Notts project delivered by the Trent Bridge Community Trust. MsWright revealed that the club is always on the lookout for more volunteers. MsWright emphasised the impor- tance of partnership working and introduced a newly strengthened relationship with the Lord’sTaverners, who were funding a three-year disa- bility programme entitled Super 1s. Three hubs were up and running in the space of nine months, providing countywide cricket opportunities to young people aged 12-25 with disabilities. Lord’s Taverners were also involved in the extension of theWicketz Programme for another three years. New partnerships with EPIC and The Renewal Trust were set to assist in developing a bespoke offer within the city of Nottingham. MsWright further reported that Street Cricket andTapeball continued to prove a hit with South Asian communities, with a specific offering for girls also having been launched. Meanwhile, two newWalking Cricket hubs, taking the total to six, had proven the adage that ‘you are never too old’.Three recreational clubs were planning to introduceWalking Cricket to assist with retention, re-engagement and acquisition. MsWright reported that the newly branded ‘Nutsmobile’ had helped capitalise on aWorld Cup year by taking a highly-visible presence into 35 local community locations during the course of the year. A video was shown to those in attendance demonstrating the renovation, opening and ongoing contribution of the significant community project that had taken place to create Haydn Road Community Cricket Club within inner-city Nottingham. MsWright reflected that this new style of cricket club had diversity at its heart, could reach more people, would bring communities together and would help keep recreational cricket alive for generations to come. Mark Clifford, Community Projects Manager for the Trent Bridge Community Trust, addressed the meeting and began by providing an update on the charity’s flagship project, Positive Futures. This initiative supported vulner- able young people who presented challenging behaviour within school or were at risk of exclusion. Positive Futures helped each young person develop a personal action plan which aimed to address unmet needs and to improve aspiration. Referrals mostly came from schools, but the past two years had seen an increase in referrals from the social care sector and community health practitioners. Positive Futures also had a high number of 16/17-year- olds self-referring. In order to support more young people in Nottinghamshire commu- nities, the Trent Bridge Community Trust had improved its Educational Workshop offer. Workshops were delivered during school as well as half-term in the form of themed delivery based on needs identified by young people or the professionals that worked with them. 2019 saw Positive Futures deliver nine workshops covering topics including: knife education, cooking, health & wellbeing, enterprise, self-reflection, behaviour, self-esteem and respect. Mr Clifford said the highlight of the project in 2019 was the knife crime workshop, which was delivered to 35 young people from Rushcliffe. A performance from Pythian Group highlighted how easy it can be for anyone to get caught up in knife violence. Mr Clifford further revealed that the Trust had supported over 600 young people in delivering sport and participation opportunities in