Cash For Your Community: Young cricketers bowled over thanks to E&S competition
A junior cricket club can now beat the weather as well as their opposition after purchasing pitch covers thanks to an Express & Star competition.
Pedmore Cricket Club was among the winners of last year's Cash For Your Community campaign, receiving £725.
Members collected 4,750 tokens during the scheme, which ran for five weeks last September.
The club used the cash to buy flat sheet covers for its junior pitch.
Treasurer Mick Bourne said: "We bought flat sheet covers for the junior square and they have come in extremely useful so far.
"They are usually very expensive for us.
"The covers have allowed us to keep the square dry for two - three days before a big game and now we don't have to call off matches anymore.
"We have had covers for the main square before but the junior square has always got sodden - ending up with us calling off so many matches.
Founded in Stourbridge in 1887, Pedmore Cricket Club competes in the top division of the Worcestershire County League, a feeder league to the Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League in the ECB pyramid structure.
The club is based in Pedmore Hall Lane, Stourbridge.
The scheme was run in partnership with HomeServe. Almost 100 groups received a share of the £30,000 cash pot.
HomeServe put £20,000 towards the prize fund, with the Midland News Association, parent company to the Express & Star, investing the remaining £10,000.
Applicants were awarded a portion of £27,000 with the final £3,000 being split evenly between the top three winners.
Mr Bourne said his club managed to collect so many tokens, which were printed in the newspaper, by involving members' families.
He said: "All our members were e-mailed about the scheme and interest gathered with junior members asking grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends to collect the tokens.
"It kept our members interested for another two months after our season had finished, bringing people up the club who we usually would not see until the start of next season.
He added: "Many thanks to the Express and Star and HomeServe for making it a relatively simple way for a lot of your readers to participate."
This year's Cash for your Community is due to be announced shortly and will feature a £35,000 prize fund, again supported by HomeServe.
Readers should keep a look out for registration forms which will appear in the Express and Star.
