ANNUAL REPORT 2019

MINUTES OF THE 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 59 of funding from Nottinghamshire Cricket Board, three part-time Club Development Officers had been appointed.Their role and focus during the year was to meet with every affiliated club and identify their key people, and gather insight that would help drive the strategy forward. The positive impact was not sur- prising with the additional hours spent supporting clubs, but it was important that this was not seen as a ‘one-off’.With evidence and case studies from the previous year, further funding for the current year had been agreed by the Board. With this in place their focus would be to encourage clubs to take up ECB initiatives that would strengthen and grow their membership and produce club development plans. The development officers would also ensure clubWelfare Officers were in place and have up-to-date qualifica- tions and help them work towards a bespoke Notts Mark, which would ensure all the clubs had the minimum safeguarding requirements in place. Women’s Softball: The impact of the club Develop- ment Officers’ work came to life with the ECB’sWomen’s Softball initiative in 2017. Four clubs with the support of the Community and Development team delivered a softball festival. In 2018, 13 festi- vals were delivered, showing not only the interest from the clubs to provide an offer for women, but that women wanted to play and organise cricket for themselves. Seven clubs had now set up new women’s soft- ball sections run by the women that took part in those festivals. It was an exciting time for women and girls’ cricket in Nottinghamshire. The momentum was there to grow the offer further across the county and empower more women to take up and watch the game or become cricket activators, volunteers and coaches. Chance to Shine: It was not surprising that a key focus was young people – who were the future of cricket. The partnership with Chance to Shine saw the development team deliver to over 5,000 children in schools across the county and the new partnership agreement in 2019 would see that rise to over 10,000. The challenge was to provide signposted opportunities for them to continue their cricket journey, either through recreational clubs, representative cricket, community offers or as a spectator or young official. All Stars: It was important for people from a young age to experience the joys of cricket and to retain their love for the game as they grew older.What better way to experience that than through the ECB All Stars pro- gramme? First introduced in 2017, 26 rec- reational clubs in Nottinghamshire provided 465 eight-year-olds with that first experience. In 2018 that grew to 45 centres and over 1,000 children.The aim in 2019 was to deliver to over 50 centres and 1,300 children and the challenge would be to reach those that lived in urban areas where cricket was not that easily accessible. The new ECB All Stars Cities programme funded through Sport England hoped to target those areas and engage with city families. Street Cricket: Street Cricket provided the oppor- tunity to engage with young people who did not choose the traditional cricket route of recreational cricket clubs. Tapeball cricket, played indoors throughout the year, proved to be very successful with 11 to 19-year- olds. An initiative funded through Chance to Shine, targeting the South Asian community, continued to grow each year.There were now four sessions, one girls specific, across the city. Some of the young people that had been involved in the programme would soon start their coaching journey, attending cricket activator training, enabling them to assist coaches in the sessions. Walking Cricket: The offer also extended to the other end of the age spectrum – for those that once played cricket or those that would not have thought cricket was for them.Walking Cricket had developed a life of its own and there were now five groups meeting weekly across the county, operated out of leisure centres and run by the mem- bers after some initial support from the community team.This type of initiative was not just about ‘getting people into cricket’ as one member had recently commented. “I have never played cricket before, but when I retired, I wanted to remain active, so I went along to Walking Cricket at Hucknall. It’s a great sport, but more than that it’s introduced me to a whole new circle of friends who I now regularly meet up with. It’s given me a new lease of life.” It just went to show the power that sport can have on the lives of others. Another challenging year lay ahead, but MsWright believed that the team had the power of the Cricket World Cup to inspire people to come and have a go or watch the game.The ECB had launched their strategy ‘Inspiring Generations’ for 2020-2024, with significant invest- ment behind it, and she believed that the Club’s dedicated team of