Durham cricketers James Weighell, Graham Clark and George Harding joined 250 primary school pupils for the Port of Tyne Kwik Cricket Festival at South Shields Cricket Club.
Following on from the success of last year’s festival held at the same location, Westoe RFU and Cricket Club, 25 teams from 10 different schools returned to take part in the Primary Year 6 festival, which was sponsored by Port of Tyne and held by Durham County Cricket Foundation and Durham Cricket Board.
Mortimer Primary School emerged victorious after a hotly contested competition and they were presented their winning medals by Durham stars Harding, Clark and Weighell.
Port of Tyne have been supporting the development of grassroots cricket within the South Shields area, making the sport more accessible to local primary schools and supporting leadership development opportunities within local secondary schools and the Kwik Cricket festival was an opportunity for the pupils to put their cricketing skills to good use.
Steven Harrison, Port of Tyne Chief Operating Officer, said: “The Port of Tyne is proud to support grass roots sport through our Royal London One Day Cup shirt sponsor and our strong relationship with the Durham County Cricket Club Foundation and we’re delighted to build on the progress of last year’s festival.”
DCCC Foundation manager, Josie Pointon said: “The festival was once again a great way for young cricketers and pupils to participate, improve their skills, keep active and enjoy the social aspect of being part of a fun-filled day of cricket.
“It was great to see so many pupils enjoying themselves, playing some excellent cricket and contributing to a highly successful day.
“Thanks to the support from the Port of Tyne we are able to continue to development sustainable grassroots cricket within South Shields.
“By enabling Durham’s players to get involved, giving the youngsters some tips – we hope to have inspired some future young cricketers.”