Kent Cricket Community Trust’s 2023
Wednesday 13th December 2023
As we near the end of 2023, we are delighted to share our review of a hugely positive and busy year for the Kent Cricket Community Trust (KCCT),
KCCT aims to use cricket to make a positive impact in our community by engaging with individuals and social groups that can become, and often do feel, isolated. Linked directly to our aims, we have delivered themed programmes that are a powerful force for change. Several events and activities across the year have enabled us to further promote our main goal of using cricket to help build social cohesion. We have also seen KCCT’s active programmes First Change, and 50 Overs go from strength to strength, with some wonderful highlights across the year.
FIRST CHANGE
Our First Change programme works to provide cricket sessions at each stage of the transitioning journey for young refugee and asylum-seeking people within Kent. These sessions provide a constant and familiar activity to help ease the feeling of displacement and support the process of healing and recovery from the journey. First Change uses cricket to engage and build positive connections in the local community.
It is vital that as part of the programme we are able to provide kit for the young people joining our sessions and we would like to thank the cricket clubs across the county who have donated kit via our Love Cricket project. A recent major boost to this project has come from a leading supplier of sports equipment Sports Directory, with a generous donation of 50 cricket bats and 50 helmets. Thank you to all at Sports Directory for this amazing contribution.
In addition to delivering regular cricket sessions across East Kent, two major highlights in the First Change programme were our girls-only group forming the Guard of Honour at a South-East Stars v Central Sparks T20 match in June and a cricket festival, hosted by Tonbridge School, which included teams from Kent Police, The Skinners School and our own First Change team, who managed to convincingly beat Kent Police during the tournament. For more details, please visit
50 OVERS
Due to the amazing response to the introduction of Walking Cricket in Kent our 50 Overs programme has seen the launch of weekly Walking Cricket sessions in Folkestone, Canterbury, Ashford, Swale and Strood with new sessions planned for the new year in Thanet and Maidstone.
Walking cricket is very much the traditional game, just at a slower pace; the cuppa and chat is just as important as the cricket. Some of our participants shared their experience of attending sessions:
“I’ve played cricket for nearly 60 years. Due to mobility issues, I never thought I could play again. It’s great to see people with all manner of ailments enjoying this great game”.
“In a few short weeks I’ve notices a real improvement in both the skills and the confidence of numerous other players. The levels of enjoyment have increased accordingly”
Another highlight of the 50 Overs programme was the opportunity to take a Kent Walking Cricket team to play a tournament against Surrey County Cricket Club’s Walking Cricket squad at Pirbright Cricket Club on a very hot day in early September 2023. The camaraderie and spirit with which the games were played and the pride in their county whatever the result, meant that Walking Cricket was the real winner on a fantastic day. KCCT is hugely grateful to Pirbright Cricket Club and Coaching Cantered Leadership (CCL), without whom the day would not have been such a great success.
As a part of the 50 Overs programme, we deliver Cricket and Tea events for community groups and organisations this has included dementia groups it has been great to connect people with cricket and promote positive memories of cricket. If you know of an organisation or group that would like to host a Cricket and Tea event, please do get in contact.
We are looking forward to our No Boundaries programme going live in 2024
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Outside of our regular programmes, we have collaborated with some incredible community groups in support of various social causes. Such collaborations included LCD Care which supports individuals with complex needs, Porchlight who support with housing and wellbeing, and The Amber Foundation who support young people who are homeless or with housing needs.
KCCT in partnership with Kent Cricket held the first Community Day at The Spitfire Ground Canterbury as part of a One Day Cup fixture – which was a roaring success!
Over 220 people from local community groups and organisations attended the event to not only watch a nail-biting game of cricket, but have a go themselves via various cricketing activities as well as engage with community stands around the ground including the NHS heath check team, KCC (Kent County Council) digital and community support, Kent Police and Kent Fire and Rescue Service together showcasing the support available in Kent. If this wasn’t enough, both the KCCT Captains – Ben Roddy, known as the infamous Canterbury pantomime dame, and Phil Gallagher, known for being CBeebies’ Mister Maker, joined the event in character – bringing fun and laughter for all to the day.
Feedback showed that those who attended felt more connected to their community as they, or their children, enjoyed meeting up with friends, making new ones, learning more about cricket and watching Kent play for the first time. With the day being such a positive one, keep a lookout on our socials for the 2024 Community Day!
KENT CRICKET COMMUNITY TRUST’S IMPACT VIDEO
To see more about the Kent Cricket Community Trust and some of its programmes as well as hear from those who are engaged with the programmes, please see our impact film.