This year, the ECB has been supporting an initiative to encourage women to play soft-ball cricket by offering coaching and competition in regional festivals. We are one of 17 clubs in Gloucestershire currently taking advantage of this opportunity, and Sunday saw us join with 5 other clubs at Westbury CC for a morning of very gentle friendly competition.

Through the summer, 18 of our mums, daughters, sisters, aunts, etc. have been learning basic cricketing skills while other young members of the family have been attending junior training at the club. What started as a way of being occupied for an hour and a half has really taken hold and become an activity in its own right, so much so that training is continuing on Friday evenings even after the junior sessions have finished!! There is also talk of indoor winter leagues (watch this space!)

We hope that those who were unable to take part this Sunday will be heartened by the prospect of Friday training continuing for a few more weeks and the talk by GCB representatives of regular activity during the winter.

If you’re in any doubt about how much fun this is, have a look at the photographs!

For more details about how you can get involved, contact Mike Gray on m.gray07@btinternet.com