Girl power is leading the way in the revival of a village cricket club in North Yorkshire that was facing it’s final over – and a grant from Broadacres is ensuring they will remain ‘not out’ for years to come.

Village hall records show cricket being played at Newton-le-Willows in the late 1800s but with numbers falling the future looked bleak for the club.

“Four years ago, we were really struggling,” said club stalwart Craig Brown.

“The Yorkshire Cricket Board and the England Cricket Board launched the All-Stars programme to encourage younger children to take up the sport and with their help we decided to give that a go as a final roll of the dice really.”

To the delight of organisers, 20 boys and girls turned up for those initial sessions and this has increased year on year. The club now has three junior teams and three senior adult teams boasting over 50 juniors playing cricket weekly at Railway View.

“We were looking for a pathway into the adult game for the girls,” said Craig. “We had several mums turning up with their children who had never picked up a bat before and persuaded them to give it a go.”

This has now grown into a women’s team with a £350 grant from our Community Development Fund funding the necessary equipment. The team have a series of friendlies lined up for this summer and plan to join a local league next year. This in turn will create a pathway for girls when they grow too old for the current u12 team.

“The revival of junior cricket has saved the club and to now see this grow into a women’s team with all the social and physical health benefits that brings has been great,” said Craig.

Anyone wishing to get involved on the adult or junior side as a player, volunteer or sponsor can email the club on newtonlewillowscc@gmail.com for details or visit their Facebook page.

The Broadacres Community Development Fund supports local organisations, groups, and projects in areas where Broadacres has homes. All grants are approved by the Association’s own residents.

To apply to the Fund visit https://www.broadacres.org.uk/customer-area/getting-involved/community-development-fund/