1st June 2021
| Leshia Hawkins
Cricket in Wales' stated ambition is to connect communities and improve lives through cricket.
We simply could not do this without the help of hundreds of volunteers in our clubs, leagues and communities across the country, who give their time for free to enable grassroots sport to happen.
#Volunteers’ Week, which runs from 1-7 June, is a great reminder for us all to take the time to say a huge thank you to our unsung heroes.
Cricket has successfully got #BackInTheGame (#NôlYnYGêm) in recent months - and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who kept their clubs going through the lockdowns of the last 15 months, in many cases growing membership and teams.
We are also grateful to anyone who has prepared wickets or buidlings for cricket's safe return, or attended Activator courses for All Stars Cricket or Dynamos Cricket, or made it possible for teams (whether junior or adult) to turn out and let players get back to what they love - and those who officiate those matches.
Cricket Wales will, during the week, be inviting clubs and participants to share stories of, and thanks to, their local heroes who make our game happen, and we will be celebrating these examples on our social channels. Please use the hashtag #WeAreWelshCricket when you share your messages.
This marks just the start of a cricket-wide initiative to support, recognise and grow volunteers across our sport, which will be led by the ECB; More details will follow in the coming weeks and months.
Cricket Wales CEO, Leshia Hawkins, commented, "A major sustaining part of our ambitious growth plans are reliant on having a solid base of volunteers to enable the game to thrive. We also recognise the need to make the lives of these volunteers as easy as possible.
"We are actively working with the ECB on our action plan for volunteering, both to reward and recognise our existing local heroes, but also to ensure they have the support they need to continue to do such outstanding and critical work.
"I hope cricketers across the country will take the time this week to thank their club's committee-members, coaches, umpires, scorers, safeguarding officers, tea-makers and groundskeepers for the amazing work they do; without them, we have no game."
For more information on Volunteering in Cricket, please visit the ECB's website or the 'Get Involved' area of Cricket Wales' website