‘Elite Partnership to bring more Young Players to Frenchay’
Frenchay has broken new ground in securing a partnership with local Company Elite Tyre and Autocare of Yate and Thornbury , to support its ChanceToShine ‘Girls based’ Project taking Cricket into local Schools. Fran Wilson, England International and ECB Coaching Ambassador, was on hand at the Launch of the Partnership on Frenchay Common on Tuesday morning. As well as being the original ‘home’ of the Club, the Common is now where Coaches from the Club work with children from Frenchay C of E Primary School during the Summer. As well as Frenchay, the Schools involved are Bromley Heath Juniors, St Augustine’s RC Primary, and the Girls at Winterbourne International Academy. Lots of children have now taken up cricket at the Club through the years of this Project.
Fran, supported by Gareth Dawson of the GCB, later took an Assembly at Frenchay School, then helped run a coaching session for the Year 6 Children. Fran and Gareth then moved on to Bromley Heath Junior School, where, after Lunch with the Children, Fran did a ‘Question and Answer session’ with some of the Girls before helping with two Girls based coaching sessions in the afternoon, and then taking part in a ‘Whole School Assembly’. Later ‘After School’, six Girls Teams from Bromley Heath, Frenchay C of E, St Augustine’s, Blackhorse and St Mary’s Yate (looked after by Gabby Stell) took part in a Girls Festival, playing two matches each on the three pitches. There was a shining example of the success of the Scheme when four of the older ‘Frenchay Girls’, who originally took up Cricket at School through ChanceToShine, and who have now progressed into Gloucestershire County Squads (Georgie Hunt, Molly Bliss, Amy Patterson and Katie Padfield), volunteered to umpire and score the matches.
Pictured are (l to r) Fran Wilson (England, Middlesex and Western Storm and ECB Coaching Ambassador), Luke Higton (Director of Elite Tyre and Autocare), Children from Frenchay C of E Primary School, Gareth Dawson (Coach at the Glos Cricket Board) and Steve Woodsford (Chairman, Frenchay Cricket Club).
You must be logged in to post a comment.