CricketFest will run over four weekends in June and July
The ECB is inviting your club to get everyone – young, old, pro, amateur, complete novices, friends and family – to come together in playing, scoring, supporting, barbecuing, cheering, partying and celebrating everything that’s so fantastic about cricket.
And all over four terrific weekends in June and July so as many people as possible can come along, get involved and help raise the profile of the game – and your club.
You probably know exactly what to put on for your own CricketFest. But just to give yours an extra boost, here are some brilliant ideas that went down really well last year:
Barbecues
Local pubs to help with the beer and wine
Tented areas in case it rains
Home-made food sold to make extra cash
Cake competition
Hog roasts
Promotion on local radio
Inviting the local press down
Soft ball area for the kids
Bouncy castle
Raffle
Inflatable slides
Sell teas and coffees
Getting local celebs along (whether they play cricket or not)
Inviting volunteers to help on the day
Offering more types of cricket over the weekend like All Stars Cricket, women’s soft ball, U19 T20, regular league cricket
Play, support or just enjoy the party atmosphere – there are plenty of options at your CricketFest
Your goodie pack
We want to make each CricketFest weekend an even bigger success for you and everyone who turns up. So we’re providing your club with everything you need both before and during the event.
Just sign up today and we’ll send you the following:
Choose a reliable group of people to help you with organising your event
Set a budget and a fundraising target (and stick to both)
Decide what you’d like to get out of CricketFest and what events will best help you do this
Invite both current and potential sponsors to the day to show off your club and its facilities
A raffle is a great way of fundraising. Start looking for prizes early – approach local businesses for donations
If you’ll need additional tables and chairs inside or out, make sure you have sourced these and can have them for your chosen date
Send a courteous note to your club’s neighbours to let them know you’re having a CricketFest event and there may be a little more noise than usual
Promotion
Make all your club’s members aware of the event, what it is, why you’re doing it and when it’s happening. Ask them to tell friends and family – word of mouth is so important!
Make your own personalised posters and flyers. Put them in and around your clubhouse and post them in and around your local town/village
Prepare some flyers/posters/general information about your club for prospective new members to read while they’re enjoying your CricketFest
On the day
Make sure your bar remains well stocked
Prepare a simple chart/form to be able to collect details of anyone who’d like to be involved with the club in the future and for those who’d like to know about upcoming events
Select a few members to focus on welcoming new people into the club during CricketFest
Think about car parking – do you have one or is it street parking only? Local residents will probably walk but you need to know where to direct people if they do drive
Designate someone as your club photographer for the day so you can document the day, send photos to local media (if they don’t attend) and to the ECB when sending in your feedback
Everyone young and old can enjoy your club's atmosphere and facilities
Other points to consider
It’s really important that you’re clear on the legal considerations of your event and that you have a dedicated person responsible for ensuring the following are covered:
