Durham County Cricket Board won the ‘County Board of the Year’ at the Chance to Shine’s Annual Awards yesterday, 21 November.
Durham Cricket Board received their award from England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman, Colin Graves in recognition of the success of Durham’s school delivery model in the past 12 months.
The award comes after a successful implementation of the Chance to Shine’s new School programme in Durham, which focuses on KS1 and KS2 activity to create a pathway to link in with ECB’s entry-level offer All Stars Cricket.
Last year Durham Cricket Board reached over 16,000 pupils in the county in 104 primary schools and through inter-school competitions, notching up over 2,000 hours of delivery.
The County Board’s delivery model proved successful with over 50% of signups to ECB’s All Stars Cricket programme in Durham resulting from school engagement.
The annual awards, supported by NatWest, celebrate those who are spreading the power of cricket in schools and communities across the country and help make the charity a success.
Durham Cricket Board Chairman Bob Jackson said: “It’s delightful news that we were in receipt of this award last night.
“It’s thoroughly deserved and I would wish to congratulate Graeme and his team for a marvellous delivery of the Chance to Shine programme.”
Chief Executive at Chance to Shine Laura Cordingley said: “On behalf of everyone at Chance to Shine, I’d like to say a big congratulations to the Durham Cricket Board. Their hard work, commitment and dedication to the sport over the past year has been brilliant and we are very proud to be associated with such an outstanding County Board. We believe that cricket can have a significant positive impact on the lives of children and young people across the country and their work is a shining example of this.”
Director of Cricket Development Graeme Weeks commented: “It’s great to see our hard work noticed and I’m really proud of our team, they truly deserve this recognition.
“I’d like to thank Chane to Shine for an excellent evening. This award gives us the confidence that we’ve succeeded in inspiring pupils to take up cricket and motivates us to keep going.”
Chance to Shine Project Manager at Durham County Cricket Board Steven Bell added: “We’re honoured to have won the County Board of the Year award.
“It’s a great recognition of the team’s efforts and commitment to the new school programme.
“All our deliverers have achieved fantastic results in local primary schools to create more opportunities for their pupils, the majority of who wouldn’t have played cricket before.
“Our team inspired hundreds of pupils to sign up to All Stars Cricket through fun, inclusive and high-quality school sessions.
“It’s great to know that we’ve made a difference to our clubs, pupils and teachers thanks to Chance to Shine and to be recognised for our work is fantastic.”