Welcome Dear Readers to the third Newsletter of 2014.
 
We have reports from a number of Clubs who have benefitted from good bar attendances at World Cup matches and we hope that you have been able to supplement your income.
 
I hope that you have all managed to survive the weather while the exciting Test matches and the County Blasts have continued on around the Club matches.  A lot has been happening affecting the grass roots of the game. 
 
Charles Randall highlights the difficulties which are raising their very ugly heads with the erosion of resources available to Local Authorities, and the potential knock-on effect to Park-playing cricketers, teams and Leagues.
 
Our good friends at All Out Cricket Magazine have provided an article for our Newsletter which challenges you all to the question – are you the most friendly Club in England?  The Quad think they are!!
 
AOC are an integral part of a magnificent festival of cricket and literature being held at Wormsley in July -  details are below.  They also have a wonderful offer on an annual subscription to the magazine, where they will donate £10 of the subscription charge to the Cricket United charity.  Click here. 
 
In addition to giving you the opportunity to complete the 2014 Survey, we also present details of Smile Travel’s trip to Sri Lanka in the winter.
 
Sign Up Offer
Please pass this Newsletter on to your Club members and players and get them to subscribe by putting their email address in the subscription panel on the website.
 
The First Club claiming 10 new subscriptions will receive a complimentary 12 month subscription copy of All Out Cricket Magazine.  All other Clubs claiming ten subs will receive a complimentary copy of the magazine. 
Just email the office on ccc@club-cricket.co.uk with the emails of the 10 members who have or want to subscribe and you will be sent a free copy of the magazine.

The recent report from the Heritage Lottery Fund, highlighting the potential decline of public parks in the wake of council budget cuts, offered only fleeting remarks about sport, and there was no mention at all of cricket. But by implication cricket could suffer.

Ethnic league cricket has been flourishing over several decades on public parks and recreation grounds, mostly on Sundays, with London, Birmingham and Yorkshire the major focus areas. These leagues tend to be action-packed and family orientated, all too often rising above poorly maintained facilities as a genuine asset to the community.  Read the full story here

A cricket club formed of newcomers to the sport and lapsed players has sprouted from an arts centre in Derby. Within the bowels of Quad works a group of cricket fans who are now part of the so-called friendliest club in England. Kirby Meehan, herself a part of the team, takes on the story.
 
In Derby’s city centre, surrounded by a brick-paved market place on one side and a row of bus stops on the other, is a strange building that resembles a big, glass cube. Opening in 2008 and styling itself as “a creative hub that connects people and business to art and fi lm” Quad, as it is called, comprises an art gallery, a cinema and a café that hosts events from knitting groups to film quizzes and also boasts the city’s best onion rings.

Read the full story here

EFG Words and Wickets, the world’s only cricket literary and music festival, takes place at one of England’s most beautiful cricket grounds, Wormsley, this July. 

On the evening of Thursday 24^th July, the festival opens with a gala in the Garsington Pavilion. There’ll be cricket cabaret from authors, actors and comedians, including Andy Zaltzman and Ben Miller, who love, play or work around the game, plus music from Mark Butcher and Joe Stilgoe.

Friday 25^th July sees the Authors XI take on a team of Musicians, while around the boundary marquees will buzz with cricket readings, interviews and comedy and plenty of discussion about this summer’s Test series between England and India.

Saturday 26^th July is John Arlott Centenary Day. On the pitch, in a rematch of 2013, the Authors XI will play the Actors XI – last year Damian Lewis’ side took on an Authors XI, including Sebastian Faulks, Will Fiennes and Tom Holland – while at the boundary edge, David Rayvern Allen, Arlott’s biographer, will regale audiences with tales of his friend and we encourage festivalgoers to try their best in our Arlott impersonation competition. Amongst other contributors, Ed Smith will talk about the art of commentating.

The festival is a family celebration. Children’s admission is just £1 and they can play all day in our entertainment tent for kids, or net with county pros.

 For more details, go to www.wordsandwickets.com

Look out for our next NEWSLETTER which will give details of more stories on Club Cricket.