THE HARGREAVES FOUNDATION ARE SUPPORTING THE LORD’S TAVERNERS WITH £50,000 FUNDING SPECIFICALLY FOR BRISTOL WICKETZ.
One of the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation’s charitable partners, the Lord’s Taverners has secured £50,000 funding for Bristol Wicketz for 2025 from The Hargreaves Foundation. This will be an incredible boost to one of the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation’s key community programmes. Bristol Wicketz offers young people aged 8 – 19 who experience severe barriers to regular sport and physical activity the opportunity to play the game in a safe and fun environment all year round right in the heart of their communities – for free. At Bristol Wicketz, young people who attend regular sessions are away from negative influences where they can learn new skills, make friends, be themselves and voice their preferences to shape what happens at their sessions.
The Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation are a charity responsible for all recreational and community cricket across Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and Bristol with a purpose to improve lives through the power of cricket. Our partnership with the Lord’s Taverners, with this incredible support from The Hargreaves Foundation, means we can sustain our current activity for another year, reach more people, and provide a positive impact on the lives of young people in underserved communities across Bristol.
IMPACT SO FAR
Wicketz is a national programme which has a huge impact on participants, boosting their mental and physical wellbeing, providing vital life skills, improving community cohesion and providing volunteering opportunities and access to coaching pathways.
Since 1st December 2024, support from The Hargreaves Foundation has helped the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation and Lord’s Taverners to sustain activity at the 5 Wicketz Bristol hubs, which take place in Southmead, Knowle, Hartcliffe and Patchway. They have seen 97 participants regularly attend 64 free sessions, with 3 holiday camps, which include a trip to Aerospace Bristol to tour Concorde followed by a cricket session at BOLA Batting. Participants have also enjoyed 2 life skills workshops; Engineers of the Future delivered by Aerospace Bristol and a Youth Voice workshop, where participants were invited to help shape their future Wicketz sessions and holiday camps.
FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES
The long-term participants are now experiencing playing competitive indoor hard ball cricket and to provide a richer experience, the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation bring all our charity partner programmes together from across the city through holiday camps and our Community Indoor League, where young people learn from each other their experiences of the city. Participants from Wicketz Bristol have now played 3 matches in this league, which the GCF have connected to our Talent programmes.
Senior Wicketz Programme Manager, Dan Wilson, said:
“We are incredibly grateful to The Hargreaves Foundation for this very generous grant which will help us to continue developing the hugely impactful work we are doing in Bristol through our Wicketz programme. Alongside the weekly cricket sessions that are running through our hubs across the city, we will be able to deliver more life skills workshops for young people, with a particular focus on employability thanks to this grant.”
Steve Silk, Chief Executive at the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation, said:
“This funding is really exciting and we are very much looking forward to further developing our long-term partnership with the Lord’s Taverners, and we thank The Hargreaves Foundation for their incredible support. Wicketz has a major impact on young people’s lives, and we look forward to continuing our work, reaching, and supporting more young people across Bristol.”