Littletown
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those initial photos of what was nothing more than
a ‘cow field’, now gives each and every member of
the club a huge sense of fulfilment.
From nothing Littletown now have an
established, thriving club that has 4 senior sides (2
that play on a Saturday, 1 on a Sunday and a social
XI that play midweek) and have also introduced
their ‘Littletown CC Junior Academy’ that runs
sides at Under 13 and Under 11.
In these times where more and more players
are falling out of the game and the ECB are running
campaigns such as ‘Get the Game on’ to coax back
the players the game has lost as well as retaining
those who are still playing, Littletown continue
to attract the attention of cricket lovers across the
nation. They recently were awarded a local NatWest
OSCA (Outstanding Services to Cricket Award)
from Durham Cricket Board and were invited to
represent them at the national finals at Lords in
October 2015.
With over 80 members (playing and nonplaying) the club has continuously been on the up
over the past 3 seasons. Success has not just been off
the field but on it also, back to back promotions from
the North East Durham Cricket League saw them
climb the North East Cricketing structure to play
their first season in the Readers Durham Cricket
League Division 2 in 2015, where they finished in a
very respectable mid table position.
The clubs social side also reached the final of
the local period cricket tournament, the ‘Beamish
Colliery Cricket Trophy’ that was played at Durham
CCC’s Emirates International Cricket Ground and
‘Ye Olde Littletown CC’ won out worthy winners.
Head of Cricket & Club Development Gregg
Arundel said, “Our journey has been amazing and
one I’ve been honoured to be involved in. From
the continued development of our facilities, to the
success all sides have had on the field we have a
brilliant buzz around the club. Being able to lead
out a 1st XI primarily made up of friends I have
played cricket with over the years as Captain is also
something that fills me with pride and the close knit
relationships all teams have with each other is really
fantastic.”
Littletown CC have been especially good in
terms of fund raising – from copious amount of
grant applications, various fund raising events and
generous sponsor contributions, they have been
able to quickly develop their ground and purchase
amenities that are expected on a field such as covers,
sight screens, rollers and more.
Coupled with months of hard, back breaking
work, all done by volunteers the ground is almost
unrecognisable from those early days in 2012. With
a recent toilet block conversion and electricity
install now completed in their old clubhouse, their
attentions have now turned to the bigger goal and
challenge of building a new pavilion.
Gregg added, “It is something we identified from
minute one that we wanted to build a new pavilion
with modern, accessible amenities that would
meet current ECB standards, service the long term
requirements of the club and the local community.
We are now at planning stage which will hopefully
be a key to the door to unlocking various funding
and sponsor opportunities and support from the
28 Issue 12