DP World Beyond Boundaries Initiative
23rd June / 24th June / 3rd July
Towards the latter part of June and early July, SLHCC enjoyed some incredible events, all courtesy of DP World and its global Beyond Boundaries Initiative.
On Tuesday 23rd June, DP World presented SLHCC with a repurposed container at Stanford Rec, to be used for changing, as part of its plan to help young cricketers around the globe. It also distributed 33 cricket kits to youngsters from SLHCC, Abbots Hall School and Arthur Bugler School. Ebony Rainford-Brent then officially opened the new nets before holding a masterclass with the young cricketers in our wonderful new facility. It was a joy to see club members, families and dignitaries from DP World, the ICC and local government all coming together for this wonderful event.
Later in the evening, a large group photo of club members was taken by Tom Shaw, the former official photographer of the England cricket team, following which a number of club members then stayed on to watch the England football World Cup match against Ghana.
On Wednesday 24th June, 15 young cricketers from SLHCC, Abbots Hall School and Arthur Bugler School (and their parents) enjoyed a real treat as DP World organised a trip to Lord’s to watch the England v West Indies Women’s T20 World Cup match. Before the match started they enjoyed a walk on the hallowed Lord’s outfield around the boundary where they met former England player Alex Hartley. Then during play they visited the world-famous Lord’s Media Centre where they met Ebony Rainford-Brent and Nasser Hussain. In addition, Sam Stannard and Grace Robinson were chosen to place the match ball on the DP World truck prior to the match starting and the TV commentator actually mentioned SLHCC!
All aspects of the two days were filmed by the well-known production company Cricket District, as they captured all of the events plus various interviews with members of our club, including our very own DP World employee, Andrew Freeman! Here are links to a short video produced and posted online for the world to see Stanford Rec plus another video posted by the ICC about the distribution of cricket kits:
Official ICC Video
Cricket District Video
To round off events, SLHCC invited pupils from St Clere’s to join them at The Oval for DP World’s “Play on Pitch” on Friday 3rd July. This included a softball pairs competition which took place on the outfield where England Women had won their T20 World Cup Semi Final less than 24 hours previously and it was a great experience for all involved. The young people, that included Sam Stannard and Grace Robinson plus some young leaders and adults from SLHCC, were also given a tour of the dressing rooms and pavilion by Ebony Rainford-Brent and there were some fielding drills on the outfield prior to the competition commencing, which was umpired by SLHCC umpires Peter Victory and Mark Nuttall. All round it was a great afternoon in South London!
In the next couple of weeks, there will be a long video lasting approximately 8-12 minutes released by DP World documenting an incredible couple of weeks for SLHCC. It will be posted on our channels.
Our thanks to everyone who helped in any way to ensure that the Beyond Boundaries Initiative and Play on Pitch was such a success for SLHCC!