2009 Newsletter

Dec 22, 2009

Cricket for Change End of 2009 Newsletter

NEW INDOOR SCHOOL
On Wednesday 23rd Sept. 2009, the new Cricket for Change Indoor School based at the Cricket Centre on Plough Lane in Wallington was officially opened. The event was attended by Devon Malcolm C4C’s Vice President, Mike Gatting, ECB Partnerships MD and Ebony Rainford-Brent of the England Women’s cricket team.

The event was supported by representatives from the organisations that helped make the Indoor School a reality; The Lord’s Taverners, The London Marathon Charitable Trust, Viridor and The Cloth makers Foundation. A huge thank you must also go to Croydon Business Venture for also supporting the day and to the dedicated work of Paul Wickham.

The Cricket for Change Indoor Cricket School will be run by Sutton Cricket Club so please e-mail; info@indoorschool.net or call 07540 471 475 for further information about bookings.

AWARDS FOR DEDICATED CRICKET FOR CHANGE STAFF
Staff at Wallington cricket charity, ‘Cricket for Change’, were recognised for their dedication and hard work in helping the lives of the young through the medium of cricket.

Andy Dalby-Welsh, the charity’s Assistant Director of Programmes, was the national winner of the ‘ITV Pride of Britain Feel Good Factor Award’. Following an appearance on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ and a visit to No.10 Downing Street, Andy said, "The week was unbelievable. I spent two days at Number 10 Downing Street with the Awards evening in the middle.  When they read out my name as the winner I was just blown away."

Other staff to have gained recognised for their work include, Adam Hall, Coach and Development Officer, who won the ECB and Sky Sports Young Coach of the Year for the East Award; Beth Evans, also a Coach and Development Officer, was recognised with an ‘Outstanding Coaching Achievement’ and won ECB and Sky Sports Young Coach of the Year for Surrey and Essex” and Coach, Alex Bassan won the Young Leader Award for his work on national cricket project, ‘Chance to Shine’

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS IN ISRAEL
In April of this year, Cricket for Change, went to the Negev in the desert of southern Israeli. For two days, schoolchildren from the Bedouin village of Hura were coached in bowling, batting and fielding.  Teams comprised of Bedouin and Jewish children and saw the Snakes play the Lizards; the Camels play the Lions.

Tom Rodwell, CEO of C4C said, "Here we have a chance with the young kids: they've not yet been brainwashed into separation, and there's no need for it. That might sound naive. But there isn't any need. And so these kids now are all playing happily together. And hopefully maybe they can grow up together. And then maybe some of the problems could be solved."

After the success of that week, the C4C development team plan to return to Israel in the Spring to help set up part two of the Israel Cricket Association’s Friendship Programme with Arab and other communities across Israel.

The first part of the programme was in and around Beer Sheva in the south and part two will be in the Golan Heights in the north. Part three is planned for Autumn 2010 in Jerusalem.

The trip was widely covered by BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World News, The Guardian Newspaper and Michael Atherton in The Times Newspaper

CATCH THE SPIRIT WITH THE ICC IN SRI LANKA AND INDIAN SUB CONTINENT
In the summer of 2009 Cricket for Change (C4C) was commissioned by the ICC to set up four sustainable cricket development programmes in the Indian sub-continent by May 2011.  A successful scoping visit by Cricket for Change took place in Sri Lanka between October 20th and 22nd 2009.

These programmes were to be set up in conjunction with ICC partner charity Peace and Sport. The overall aim of these programmes is to show how cricket can be used as a force for good in areas of disadvantage and conflict.

C4C and Peace and Sport plan to run one programme in each of the following countries; Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The first of these will be in Sri Lanka in February 2010.

The C4C team met with all of the main partners (including the ICC, Unicef, Peace and Sport, The British High Commission, UK Sport, Just in Time Group and Sri Lanka Cricket) in the proposed programme and also worked with a group of former child soldiers at Ambepussa Rehabilitation Camp.

The main aim of the programme is to identify 24 former child soldiers from the three Child Soldier Rehabilitation Camps in Sri Lanka and give them the opportunity to train as Cricket Peer Leaders.

 MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN JAMAICA
A group of coaches and staff from C4C and the 2nd Chance Project went out to Jamaica (with the support of British Airways) to help launch the Courtney Walsh Foundation.

The launch of the foundation took place in Kingston, Jamaica on November 20th and was a grand affair with over 500 people attending including two government ministers, the British High Commissioner and the Mexican Ambassador. Also present were West Indies cricketing legends Wes Hall, Jimmy Adams and of course Courtney himself.

Banks of TV cameras filmed the proceedings and the launch received extensive coverage on Jamaica TV and radio. In addition there were prominent features in Jamaican newspapers, the Daily Gleaner, the Saturday Gleaner, the Sunday Gleaner, the Daily Observer and the Sunday Observer.

The Foundation’s target groups are; Young people with a disability / Young people living in poverty / Young offenders and young people at risk of becoming involved in criminal activity.

The Foundation’s programmes - The Courtney Walsh Foundation will replicate the following groundbreaking Cricket for Change programmes which have been developed in the UK and implemented in countries around the world including Sierra Leone, Israel, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and South Africa. Through these programmes the Foundation will target males and females aged 8 to 21.

In addition it was announced that Cricket for Change’s Head Coach Mikey Thompson would be joining the Foundation to help establish the programmes island wide.

 NEWS IN BRIEF

THE LORD’S TAVERNERS HIT THE TOP
This fantastic programme this year gained the full support of the Lord’s Taverners and now time to watch this initiative grow nationwide during 2010.

WEST INDIES TRIUMPH AT THE INNER CITY WORLD CUP
This annual event, now in its 6th year, took place in August again at MCC’s Indoor School at Lord's. This years winners were the West Indies and the event was sponosred by Investec.

APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME
This fantastic programme, run by C4C Training Officer and Coach, Danny Baker, saw a number of young apprentice’s recognised and awarded for their hard work in this C4C initiative. The ceremony took place on the day of the opening of the new indoor school.

Alex Bassan, now a C4C coach and Apprentice graduate, says, “The Apprenticeship scheme at Cricket for Change offers young people a chance to make a difference to their lives and other people’s lives. It’s a great opportunity to learn and create new ideas and put them into practice”.

CRICKET AT THE HAC
In September an 8 / 9 a side cricket event took place in the wonderful setting of the Honourable Artillery Club ground in central London. The event was sponsored by London Met. University and Investec. Teams included a talented Cricket for Change team made up of youngsters from Hackney Community College, Investec, London Met. and GVA Grimley. Investec and Cricket for Change met in a close and hard fought final with Investec being the eventual winners.

CENTRE STAGE AT THE BA COMMUNITIES DAY
Cricket for Change President Phil Tufnell officially opened the British Airways Communities and Conservation Open Day on the 9th December 2009.

It meant that Cricket for Change took centre stage amongst exhibiting along side some very highly regarded charities.

British Airways and Cricket for Change are partners in our Overseas Programmes, most recently in November enabling us to go to Jamaica to help launch The Courtney Walsh Foundation.

The event, which took place at BA’s large headquarters, Waterside, near Heathrow provides an opportunity for charities to network as well as the chance for BA staff to find out about the work of Community Investment and the organizations they support.

COMIC RELIEF AND YOUNG OFFENDERS
Comic relief have funded our Street Team programme for ex young offenders training 15 of them to be cricket coaches over the next three years and then once qualified coaching on our programmes.

This programme will start in January and will be run in conjunction with the 2nd Chance Project based at HMP Ashfield (www.2ndchanceproject.co.uk)

GOING TO THE USA
The C4C development team will be helping to set up blind cricket in the USA in late January. The launch will take place in New York and a coach training programme planned for late April will involve delegates from across the US.

The plan is for the new USA team to enter the regional competition held in the Caribbean each July and the Blind Cricket World Cup held every four years. The next World Cup is due to be held in the UK in the summer of 2011.

FUNDRAISING EFFORTS
A huge thank you must go to all the groups, organisations and individuals’ people who work hard to raise money for the Cricket for Change cause. Here are some highlights; London Metropolitan University Business School Fashion Show in March; Stephen Knighton who ran the Mazda Triathlon event in London in August; the annual Croydon Business Venture T20 match at the Cricket Centre in Wallington and The APB Annual Fundraising Dinner in November.

NEW WEBSITE - www.cricketforchange.org.uk
Back in November we re-launched our website with the wonderful support of Include Digital and Andy Greaves of Red Digital.   Please have a look and watch it as it grows and develops during 2010.

2010 and Beyond!
Watch out for more exciting plans and events from Cricket for Change in 2010.

A NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY
2011 is the charity’s 30th birthday!

Finally, Cricket for Change would like to offer Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year to all its supporters, partners and the young people who take part in all our events!

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