2021 ANNUAL REPORT

17 COMMUNITY REPORT Of course, none of the thousands of individuals who enjoy recreational cricket across Nottinghamshire would be able to follow their passion with- out our tireless volunteer network. Come the latter part of the summer, we were delighted to honour a selec- tion of individuals with Grassroots Cricket Awards.We received 80% more award nominations from the club network this year, and the stories we received of groundstaff, officials, coaches and players going above and beyond in the name of our game were as heartening as ever. As a club, our role is to provide as much support as we can to allow this network to thrive. With this in mind, the upskilling of the cricketing workforce continues at pace.The number of teachers, umpires and coaches trained in the past 12 months breached three figures, with 45 female officials and 12 young female leaders amongst this number. The 37 clubs who have completed the ECB’s new Safe Hands Management accreditation are now better equipped than ever to provide a safe, welcom- ing environment for one and all, while expertise has been available at the click of a mouse courtesy of webinars covering safeguarding, ground maintenance, social media and county grants. Further support is available to clubs in the form of two newly-appointed County Pitch Advisors, supporting Mike Aplin in his invaluable efforts. A newly-established Countywide Disciplinary Panel will, meanwhile, help to maintain fairness and consistency in recreational cricket across the county. As we begin to look forward to the brighter skies of spring, we do so confident that our clubs are on sufficiently sound financial footings. Clubs have enjoyed record levels of support in the last two years, with the ECB providing £147,000 of direct investment in 2021 – a significant increase on usual levels of core funding. Foundations were further solidified by £8,000 of funding via the Reward and Recog- nition programme, alongside LV= and the ECB’s Funds for Runs scheme, helping to equip clubs to service growing demand. Meanwhile, theTrent Bridge Com- munityTrust enjoyed a year of ex- pansion despite the challenges which the pandemic continued to pose. A new initiative, Notts in Mind, was launched in May to support young adults facing issues with anxiety and depression.The scheme’s weekly sessions mix physical activity with open discussion, using sport as the vehicle through which to convey key messages concerning mental wellbeing. A successful pilot in Rushcliffe led to the establishment of a National Lottery-funded programme in Aspley, with individuals referred onto the scheme by the NHS’s Social PrescribingTeam. A measure of its success will be seeing these young people depart the scheme with their confidence and self-esteem reinvig- orated. Notts in Mind is the latest in a long line of initiatives designed to extend a helping hand to young people countywide. Whilst the country as a whole endured periods of lockdown in winter and spring, theTrust’s work continued in earnest – and, with interventions via Zoom proving less effective in many cases, a face- to-face approach was maintained whenever permitted. The Positive Futures initiative, which works with young people between the ages of eight and 19 who are at risk of social exclusion, tailored its work to the demands of the post-Covid age. Like many of us, participants spent much of the winter feeling frustrated and powerless. Our mentors’ role was to remind them of their respon- sibility towards the health of their family members, and to combat the “NONE OF THE THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ENJOY RECREATIONAL CRICKET ACROSS NOTTINGHAMSHIRE WOULD BE ABLE TO FOLLOW THEIR PASSION WITHOUT OUR TIRELESS VOLUNTEER NETWORK.” Tim Eatherington