2023 ANNUAL REPORT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2023 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 18 programme (HAF), for which we were a Lead Organisation alongside partners across the city, has engaged 4,079 young people across five venues to provide multi-sport school holiday activities and lunches for those eligible for free school meals. Our heritage volunteers, meanwhile, have endeavoured to ensure that theWynne-Thomas Library, and its wealth of historical contents, continue to stand the test of time. In a coordinated effort by Notting- ham’s Arts Society, a small army of volunteers – led by those of Bromley House Library – took on the mammoth task of repairing and conserving the library’s vast collection of books, to ensure that generations to come can enjoy browsing and delving into Notting- hamshire andTrent Bridge’s rich history. The project has formed a closer bond betweenTrent Bridge and Bromley House Library, each providing reciprocal tours of their establishments as a gesture of goodwill. In addition to providing library services to visitors and welcoming local community groups for talks, the library team have also created a log of all photographs, painting, prints and other visual materials found on display or behind the scenes at Trent Bridge, and made significant efforts to support the Nottingham Cricket Lovers’ Society in launching a more user-friendly website. The tours team have been equally occupied, showing more than 1,000 visitors from both the UK and abroad around the nooks and crannies of our historic site, with new tours around the Pavilion proving highly sought-after. Many visitors had travelled great lengths to discover the delights of Trent Bridge, including Sue Rice – widow of the late Nottinghamshire captain Clive Rice – who had journeyed with her family from South Africa.The team also enjoyed the company of former Notts all- rounder Graham Frost and family, the great-granddaughter of legendary Notts bowler Harold Larwood, and various academic institutions. Many had made the effort to visit West Bridgford from across the pond.The great-granddaughter of John Isaac Chambers, a cricketer from Nottingham who moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the 1880s, flew all the way from the United States to visit her ancestor’s city of birth, before students from Evansville University arrived to discover the origins of the game and its unusual links to the States. Such a breadth of visitors, and the lengths to which they go to experience the awe of our ground first-hand, is a testament to the excellent stewardship of our staff and volunteers at the place we are lucky to call home. We look forward with eager anticipation to what 2024 will bring. “SUCH A BREADTH OF VISITORS, AND THE LENGTHS TO WHICH THEY GO TO EXPERIENCE THE AWE OF OUR GROUND FIRST-HAND, IS A TESTAMENT TO THE EXCELLENT STEWARDSHIP OF OUR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS.” Mandy Wright