A weekly volunteering group at Barby CC is helping the Northamptonshire village club serve hundreds of players from the local surroundings.
Club president Neville Weston was a founder member of Barby CC more than 50 years ago. He has devoted his life to the club, playing for 37 years, then watching his children follow in his footsteps, and now acting as a figurehead in the local community.
In 2013, when he was first appointed president, he wanted to find a practical way to contribute to the club.
“I started going up there on my own, doing a bit of tidying up,” he said. “I got talking to one of the local farmers. He said he was retiring soon, and he’d come up and help too.”
From there, it grew organically.
Two former Barby cricketers also hit retirement and offered to come along, doubling the group’s size. Today, a regular cohort of 10 volunteers attend the club every Wednesday morning.
“We do anything and everything that we’re capable of doing,” Neville said.
“It could be looking after the buildings, the outfield, or any other job we can find. If we can do it, it gets done.”
The growth of Barby’s volunteer group is the perfect template for other clubs on how to engage with their local community to build a volunteer network.
The group draws on each individual’s experiences and skills and divides up tasks to keep the club ticking over. The Wednesday meetings have also doubled as an opportunity for volunteers to socialise and become a key part of their routine.
Bob, a retired farmer, uses his contacts to find machinery for heavy work. Jim, a former head groundsman at Rugby School, uses his knowledge to keep the playing surface in pristine condition. And painter and decorator John, the father-in-law of the second XI’s captain, keeps everything in good order.
“It’s a social thing and a health thing,” Neville said.
“When people retire, they often find themselves looking for a purpose. Only one of our group still works, and we all get a sense of fulfilment from giving back to the community.”
Barby, says Neville, has always been lucky to have a good foundation of volunteers. But even he has been surprised by the reach of the regular Wednesday meetings.
“Two of our group have never had any involvement with cricket before,” he said.
“They heard about the group through friends of theirs, turned up one week – and now they’re here every week, all year round. Even in the winter, we’ll be up there handling jobs in the pavilion or the tractor shed.”
Not only is it helping the volunteers, but it has helped grow the club to the point it now boasts hundreds of juniors.
Neville added: “I started the club’s junior section 36 years ago. Back then, we had one team of young lads and not much in facilities. Now we’ve got a lovely brick pavilion, three senior teams, five junior teams, a ladies’ team, and two girls’ teams.
“Some Friday nights, we have 120 juniors down at the club. It warms your heart to see it all on such a firm footing.”