Our mission at The Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation is to put more bats and balls in people’s hands, and we are delighted to be partnering with Astra Security to make this happen.

As our Women & Girls’ community sponsors, Astra Security are helping to grow the game for girls in local communities. Their generous support will enable us to establish new girls-only cricketing hubs, such as the Wicketz sessions we hold in Knowle, Bristol.

The Wicketz programme is free for children aged 8-16 living in inner-city communities. It provides opportunities for young people from non-traditional cricket backgrounds to gain social skills. Alongside the cricket, there are regular workshops that promote additional life skills, such as nutrition and health, employability, and building a CV.

At the GCF, we aim to expand our offerings of girls-only coaching sessions, and sponsorship like this provides us with the flexibility and funding to establish more hubs around the city.

Paul Beet, Managing Director of Astra Security, said about the partnership: “We’re so proud to be collaborating with the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation through this sponsorship deal, and we are looking forward to seeing girls of all ages learning the sport, making new friends, and having lots of fun! This partnership with Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation is part of a long-standing relationship, and we look forward to continuing to work closely together in the future.”

Astra Security designs, installs, and maintains integrated security systems against client-specific requirements. They are specialists in custom security solutions, and they were founded on a personal approach that remains true to this day.

The Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation is proud to be working with a company that shares our values and beliefs. 

Steve Silk, Chief Executive Officer of the GCF, said, “We are hugely grateful to Astra for continuing to partner with us. Their support will help achieve our aim of growing the sport for women and girls in the county. It is great to be associated with an organisation that continually looks at ways to champion women’s and girls’ sport.”

Below is a gallery of images from a girls-only Wicketz session. These are the types of hubs that our partnership with Astra will be creating more of.