An update from our CEO

Dear all,

I compose this message shortly after a busy week of activity with awareness raising, fundraising and impact all at the heart of the most incredible week I’ve had in my four years here at the charity.

The highlight was without doubt the Disability Cricket Day at Lord’s this past Wednesday (25 June). This was the largest ever showcase of disability cricket, something we worked very closely on with our friends and partners at the ECB and MCC. From a Taverners perspective, the day included all three elements of our work in disability cricket – our national table cricket competition, cricket in SEND schools and our Super 1s programme.

Across the day we had over 200 participants engaged from our disability cricket programmes, with our Youth Ambassadors volunteering and helping to run elements of the day too.

This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the progress being made in making the game more inclusive. There has never been more opportunity for young people with a disability to access the sport and benefit from all the personal development opportunities that brings. The importance of days like these to raise awareness of all the different opportunities there are to get involved in the sport, from grassroots to elite level cannot be emphasised enough.

A vital part of the day was of course our National Table Cricket Finals Day. The first time it’s taken place as part of a wider disability cricket event, on the same day, and at the same venue as an international disability cricket match. It was a great occasion and very well supported by so many of the Taverners community. Congratulations to all the teams who had worked hard and played to such a high level to qualify for Finals Day. It was also brilliant to see several teams stay to watch the England v India mixed disability T20 game on the main ground afterwards as well. The more visibility role models at the elite end of the disability game get, the stronger disability cricket across all levels will be.

We hope the day inspired all our participants to keep playing, and even more young people with a disability to take the game up in the future.

Thank you to the MCC and ECB for working with, and enabling us to have this unique opportunity that many of our participants and partners benefited hugely from. A big thank you to all our staff and Development Officers for bringing it all together, with activity taking place across the iconic Home of Cricket venue throughout the day. It was a huge task, and you pulled it off admirably.

Also taking place this week has been our 75^th anniversary year fixture at Lord’s against the MCC. A very enjoyable day which saw a mix of celebrities, sports stars and programme participants play in the match. The final event of a full-on week came at the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), where proceeds were split between the charity and the Army Benevolent Fund from a black tie dinner following a Taverners XI match which was also part of the HAC Cricket Club’s 300^th anniversary. This capped a brilliant week of Taverners members and supporters getting behind our fundraising and programme activity as part of the celebrations, both of our anniversary year and our impactful work. It was great for me to cap a busy and incredible week by heading up to Cheshire for the 20^th Cholmondeley Castle event, which saw funds raised across these years go past the £1m milestone. What a week it was for all the Lord’s Taverners across the country, with so much taking place in what is proving to be a fabulous busy summer in our 75^th year.

As we approach the school summer holidays, there doesn’t appear to be any signs of our activity slowing down… our Super 1s and Wicketz residentials start at the end of July, which are always invaluable learning experiences for our participants. There are numerous events taking place across the UK to raise funds for, and awareness of, our work. These include an Afternoon with Stephen Fry with a few high-profile friends at Lord’s on 28 July, our second golf trip to Catalunya in October and a special Taskmaster event hosted by Alex Horne himself on 4 November!

To book your place for any of our upcoming events in support of the charity, please visit www.lordstaverners.org/events.

On a sad note, I was very sorry to hear about the passing of a proud Taverner John Fingleton, affectionately known to his friends as Fingers. He was a Taverner since 1989 and a big character in the game, where he was also widely known as a prominent member of the MCC. Our thoughts are with Fingers friends and family at this sad time.

I’d like to finish off with another charity first that happened to come about during the first Test of the England v India men’s Test series at Headingley. During the tea interval on day 2, BBC Test Match Special (TMS) surprised one of our Northumberland Super 1s participants. Ravi (12) lives with no sight and has been attending Super 1s for a year or so now. He’s just started getting involved in the Durham visually impaired setup as well, but part of Ravi’s story is how much of an impact TMS has had on him and his interest in the game. After finding this out, TMS decided to surprise him and his dad while he was in the stands as a fan, invite him up to the TMS commentary box and conduct a live interview with him.

The interview reminded me in the most inspirational manner just how proud I am of the young people who make our programmes so magical, and to be part of the Lord’s Taverners.

The voice of TMS and Taverners supporter Jonathan Agnew, along with Phil Tufnell interviewed him and boy did Ravi smash it out of the park… passionate, knowledgeable, articulate and just an all-round superstar! Based on the response to the interview from TMS listeners and those who came across it on social media afterwards, Ravi could quickly be entering national treasure territory.

Make sure you listen to the full interview which starts 19 minutes into the BBC TMS Podcast. His TMS surprise also featured on BBC’s Today at the Test programme on the evening of Day 3 which you can view here from 18:28 in.

Thanks for your continued support of everything we’re doing at the moment. I look forward to seeing you at something Taverners related very soon.

Best wishes,
Mark