A year in the life of Walmley Cricket Club
Winter
After recovering from the New Year’s Eve celebrations at the club, we look forward to the start of Winter Training (youth) (senior and women’s) in mid-January. This takes place at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School (Sutton Coldfield) and Landau Forte Academy QEMS (Tamworth).
Spring
Winter training finishes in April, and then it’s time for all hands on deck preparing the grounds for the new season. This involves sweeping nets, picking up litter, raking leaves and branches, putting covers on the frames, and putting out the boundary rope.
Now might be the time to check kit still fits, and perhaps purchase some new.
Depending on the state of the ground, there might be a few pre-season warm up matches for the senior teams before the Warwickshire Cricket League matches start towards the end of April.
Summer
Women’s and Age group cricket starts in April-May, with the Walmley Mini League for our youngest members (up to year 4 for boys, year 6 for girls) taking place every Friday evening. This is umpired by older youth players. The bar is open, there’s a coffee/tea/chocolate machine in the lounge area, and a burger stand to keep the parents, grandparents and carers refreshed while the children are playing.
Every evening during the week there are matches or coaching going on at the ground so why not pop down and see what’s going on?
Every Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting, there are first or second team games at the John Findlay Memorial Ground, Eldon Drive, and the Court Lane ground.
Autumn
The season continues until August/September, and is rounded off sometime in September with a fun 6-a-side tournament for all who are eligible to play in open age cricket. In 2018, we even had two teams from India joining us!
We also have presentation evenings for all the age groups and senior teams and social events going on after the season has ended.
For the first time in 2019, we’ll be offering coaching in the Autumn.
It’s also time to uncover the covers, reseed the square, take the slats out of the railway end sight screen, put away the boundary rope and generally tidy up the cricket side of the ground ready for the football season.
How can I help?
We’re always looking for volunteers around the club, whether that is as a scorer, umpire, team manager, litter picker, fund raiser or gardener.
Every weekday during the year, from 10am until noon, a few volunteers get together to mow the outfield, clean the beer pipes, maintain the gardens, and do other things that need doing around the ground. If you have an hour or so to spare, why not pop down and see what you can do to help your club?
If you’re interested in helping out, or being informed when we have a workday, please drop us a note using the form below.