South Shields Cricket Club may have been formed 175 years ago, however their sights are set anywhere but on the past as they look to a new ground and new opportunities to be embedded within their community.

The club, part of the Sported network, have teams pulling on their greens and whites across the boys and girls age groups and adult teams. Beyond the boundary, they’re a club who are as much about lifting up the community that they call home as runs on the board.

“I just think the cricket club should be at the heart of the community,” states Club chair, Patrick William-Powlett.

“We’ve been going 175 years, and we’ve produced two first-class players in all that time, so it’s not about producing first-class cricketers.

“I don’t know any other club that does more than what we do. We run three basic programmes. The first we call the Primary Partnership Programme where we contacted every school in South Tyneside that we’re allowed to go to that has more than 50% free school meals. We offer them free coaching sessions.

“We’ll come in and do their PE lessons, do after-school clubs, and from that we hope to get kids who will come to our Free School Holiday Camps Programme.

“It is 37 days of all-day cricket-based camp, but not just cricket. There’s other sports, other health related activities. We have cooking lessons, we get school nurses in and those are targeted for primary aged children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Children who show real interest and commitment but lack the resources to access the games are then supported by the club’s Confidential Bursary Programme which provides kit and equipment, as well as funding match and club membership fees.

“All in all, we probably spend about £30,000 a year on those programmes, all of which is grant funded or from donations”.

William-Powlett continues, as the club also look to a future which includes a new purpose-built cricket ground.

“Being a standalone cricket club we’ll have one of the best grounds in the North East of England, hopefully. We’ll have two senior grounds, a junior ground, our own clubhouse, our own bar, which we currently don’t do.”

The club has been part of the Sported network – comprising around 5,000 grassroots sports clubs around the UK working to impact their communities – since 2021 when William-Powlett was seeking additional support due to the Covid pandemic.

“I think Sported’s a fantastic organisation and I tell everyone I know to join,” he adds.

“I think the mentoring and networking opportunities are the best things about Sported, and Kathryn [Sported’s Regional Manager for North East England] is very skilled in that area.

“I’ve met some really good people and got so many ideas from them through networking opportunities that Sported have facilitated.”

That assistance from Sported also included the provision of professional expertise through a Volunteer Consultant, with South Shields Cricket Club being paired with Richard Derrick who has provided William-Powlett with some objective input and oversight.

“When you’re a Chairman of the club, especially a club that’s faced all the challenges that we do, you have to be really careful what you say to people,” he underlined.

“So I really enjoyed having someone to bounce ideas off, and it’s a bit like having a councillor.

“He’s a really good bloke and he’s very knowledgeable so he’s just a really good person to bounce ideas off and talk things through, a critical friend.”