WINTER LOOKS BLEAK ON THE INDOOR FRONT

I AM writing on behalf of the clubs who make up the Vale Royal Cricket Forum to highlight the problem of lack of indoor training facilities for cricket in the Northwich area.

This problem has existed for some years, and the hope was that the Hartford Campus/Moss Farm Lottery bid would have gone through by now, and would have included a top-class indoor facility suitable for cricket.

With the bid seemingly becalmed and becoming increasingly watered down, this now seems a very forlorn hope. Indeed, Vale Royal has now been by-passed, with the Cheshire 'Centres of Excellence' for cricket being established around the outskirts of the county, with none in the borough despite the concentration of population and clubs.

In recent years Sir John Deane's College has provided the bulk of the available indoor practice time for the eight clubs in the Northwich area.

In an effort to make the best use of the few available slots Vale Royal Cricket Forum placed a block booking there for the clubs to share on Wednesdays in the weeks following the forum's one-to-one coaching sessions.

Unfortunately, Sir John Deane's have now had to cancel those shared weeks because the sports hall will be used for exams. In previous years, the desks were removed from the hall at the weekends to allow sports activities to take place. Apparently, this won't happen this year, so weekends are not an option either.

The forum is very disappointed at this and while it strengthens our case for an extra Cheshire 'Centre of Excellence' to be established in the Vale Royal area, in the short term the Northwich area clubs have been left in the lurch.

When the efforts of the Forum have been instrumental in fostering an upsurge in activity by the local clubs and interest in the game, the removal of the main source of pre-season practise facilities is a severe blow.

The shared club sessions will now take place at Weaverham High School, and we are grateful to them for the use of their facilities.

Although their sports hall is on the short side when it comes to bowlers' run-ups and is thus far from ideal, we applaud their commitment to the principles of community use.

GRAHAM COULL

Chairman, Vale Royal Cricket Forum