Workington CC Member Comments On Flooding Destruction At Cricket Club
Article Date: 29th November 2009
We all know how bad the wind and rain have been over the last two weeks, but for others in the UK it has been far worse.
Workington Cricket Club suffered unprecedented flooding just over a week ago. The cricket club is located very close to where PC Bill Barker lost his life when the road bridge from Workington collapsed with him on it.
Workington Cricket Club can be seen on the video of the BBC's Online report of the Cumbria floods (you can see the flooded outfield at the top of the screen 54 seconds in). And you can see on Google Maps just how close the cricket ground is to the River Derwent.
This week Mark Reynolds, CSCC's new Marketing & Publicity Officer, received a group email from Malcolm Wood of Workington Cricket Club.
Mark comments "Me and Malcolm had worked with each other over the last few years as ECB Regional Support Officers for NatWest CricketForce. I didn't twig until I read that email that his club had been right in the middle of the terrible flooding. While we're all busy at Sodbury getting ready for our 150th anniversary, Workington CC's got a monumental challenge ahead, for which everyone at Sodbury sends their best luck."
Malcolm Wood sent his email shortly after the flooding: "I understand that other major cricket clubs in the area have also been severely affected, Appleby, Carlisle CC, Cockermouth CC & Keswick. All the clubs involved have a strong community spirit within and will bounce back."
"At Workington we have managed to gain limited access to the pavilion to make safe the electric supply. During the high tide of Friday morning the level on the ground was above the metal railings!!! We have a collapsed drain that has to be addressed by United Utilities. The score box and garages house the ground machinery, these have been subject to over 5 ft of water."
"It is going to be a long hard drag to get us back to a high standard County Cricket Ground but believe me, we will pull together yet again and succeed."
The army are now building a temporary foot bridge to reconnect the two halves of Workington (BBC News Video)
Workington CC Chairman Brian Stalker said: "Though we must put things into perspective in times like these, and there are many local families and businesses that are worse off than ourselves, unfortunately the club’s facilities have been devastated. Apart from the building structures, which will be under examination structurally, everything else has been destroyed or damaged beyond repair."
During their lifetimes, cricket clubs have to navigate their way through many trials - I'm sure in its 150 years Chipping Sodbury has had many, but surely none so challenging as that which lies ahead for Workington. These challenges can bring clubs closer together, increase camaraderie and generate strong team work - it's during these testing times that the power of cricket's volunteers can really come to the fore.
You can see photos and updates on the Workington Cricket Club website.
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