Thame Town cricket club held their 3rd Club Open Day on Sunday 7th August 2016 as part of a nationwide initiative to help boost grassroots cricket participation and reach the broader community of Thame.
Matt Swain (TTCC Vice Chairman) said: “Once again the open day was a great success and the warm weather encouraged about 500 visitors to join in the fun at Church Meadow. Five teams competed in the centre-piece six-a-side tournament, which was won by Thame Town's own Under-16 team, led by Christian Warwick, who beat "Typically Village" in a very close and exciting final. Christian also won the Red Ball-sponsored "champagne moment" cricket stump for hitting 3 consecutive sixes in the final.
We received plenty of interest from new junior cricketers, who came along to have a try in our nets, overseen by several of our 15 ECB-qualified coaches. The informal and fun six-a-side format also reinvigorated a number of former players who are now hooked again, having found the old magic is still there! ‘Flexible formats’ in Cricket are a great way to expand our reach for those who want to join in on a more infrequent and less competitive basis.
This year we also invited Chinnor Rugby Club's "Rugby Tots" who held an open session for the 2 to 5 year olds, which helped us cater for a broader audience of families with younger children and was a great success with lots of interest. The only thing that didn’t take off for us on the day was the Hot Air Balloon ride, provided by J. Bennett & Son, the Insurance brokers. Unfortunately the maximum wind speed for a hot air balloon take-off is 10pmh and on the day the wind speed was close to 28mph!
Our thanks go out to everyone that came along on Sunday, all the volunteers that helped to organise the event, George and Danny from our principal sponsor Waitrose, who put on the BBQ and The Thatch for helping us during our emergency when we ran out of beer. All proceeds that were raised on the day will go towards building our new clubhouse and for new equipment for our junior section”
Thame Town CC runs 3 adult teams every weekend during the cricket season. The club also has a women’s section that trains on both Wednesday (Crickfit) and Thursday evenings (hard ball), plus 5 junior age-group sections (from 6 to 16) that run on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The club is a voluntary organisation which has ECB and Clubmark accreditation, with no less than 15 ECB-qualified coaches, plus a child welfare officer and management committee. More details can be found at the club's new website - www.thamecricket.org.uk
For more information about Thame Town C.C.’s Club Open Day and details of how to join the club please contact:
Matt Swain [email protected] or
Andy Jinman [email protected] or 07968-201152
