Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

Tim Pinches and Keith Banks
with their new Allett C24
98
couple of hours a day,” says
hardworking Tim, for whom
it is plainly a labour of love.
Together with another Much
Wenlock CC enthusiast, Keith
Banks, they became the club’s
groundsmen.
The club put together a five
year plan and approached the
English Cricket Board (ECB)
and other funding agencies
for help. Having played
football for Wellington Town,
and been good enough to
have had a trial for Wolves,
Tim had plenty of friends in
the sporting world he could
call on for advice. Their early
aims were to:
• build a new sports pavilion
• improve the wickets and
invest in new machinery
• achieve Club Mark
accreditation
• establish a youth section
and extend coaching into
local schools
• increase the number of
teams
Now, five years later, the
world of Much Wenlock
cricket has changed
immeasurably. The club has:
• permission for a new twotier
pavilion
• got a long term agreement
with the local council, as
owners of the field, that the
club are its principle
user/occupier
• taken on full responsibility
of all grounds maintenance
issues
• completed a playing surface
review with Shropshire
County Cricket Board
resulting in a good report
• achieved sponsorship for
two new site screens costing
£1,500; three raised covers
costing £8,000 and secured
an award from the ECB of
£3,500 to buy a new
dedicated cricket mower
• achieved Club Mark status
and now employ an
overseas player/coach
The club now runs three
cricket teams. Their coaching
extends all over the area, with
ECB accredited members
coaching at six local primary
feeder schools and the
adjacent secondary school.
They have attracted one
hundred and twenty new
youth players to join the club.
Sunday morning sees a twohour
coaching session in their
nets, and there are plans to
start a girls team. The club
also hosts an annual Kwik