Durham Cricket and Karbon Homes launch free lunches at Summer Holiday Camps

Durham Cricket Foundation will run over 20 free All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket camps across Durham County in the school holidays thanks to funding from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sky Sports. Still, once again, all sessions will come with a free healthy lunch for participants through the new partnership.

The initiative will introduce more children to cricket while supporting families and pupils with free school meals through the holiday period.

The campaign will run in local cricket clubs and schools across the county during late July and August, with 30 All Stars Cricket programmes and Dynamos Cricket camps being delivered by Durham’s coaching staff.

All Stars Cricket is an activity-packed children’s cricket programme for boys and girls aged five to eight and Dynamos is the next step up – a programme for eight to 11-year-old participants, which is centred around gameplay and new skills. All Stars will be delivered in the form of one or two-day holiday camps.

All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket are normally £30, but thanks to ECB providing hundreds of free All Stars places and Sky Sports funding Dynamos programmes, children aged 5-11 can enjoy these activities for free. Through Karbon’s support, food will be provided on every day of activity, ensuring that children can access and enjoy cricket without a cost barrier.

Darren Brown, Development Manager at Durham Cricket said: “We are very thrilled to be able to deliver an inclusive and exciting initiative this summer.

“Thanks to Karbon’s backing, all sessions come with free food – something that was important for us to provide to remove barriers to participation and we are so glad that this campaign has been made possible.”

“The initiative will introduce more children to the game and reach those families that otherwise might not have been able to pay the full price of the programmes.”

“We look forward to delivering a busy activity programme across the six weeks.”

All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket have already introduced over 2,000 boys and girls to cricket this summer, with the free holiday camp initiative aiming to reach more new participants for an even bigger summer of cricket.

Paul Moralee, Karbon Homes Community Investment Manager, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Durham Cricket back for a second year as part of our free Holiday Squad programme.

“Holiday Squad helps keep children active throughout the summer holidays and it was amazing to see first-hand last year the enjoyment All Stars Cricket classes brought to children across the region.

“We are looking forward to working with Durham Cricket to reach even more people this summer, with the classes taking place at cricket clubs across the region.”