Two Lancashire SPAR independent retailers have gone out to bat for their local cricket club by sponsoring new covers.
Jonty Collinson and Mark Follen have paired up to cover the cost of the new ground equipment at Shireshead and Forton Cricket Club.
The red covers are branded up with SPAR and Cheeky Coffee logos with Jonty selling the coffee brand at his nearby Cabus and Scorton stores, and Mark at his Brock and Forton forecourt sites.
Lightweight, wheelable, and easily manoeuvrable, the covers are the latest project to be ticked off from a continuous cycle of investment at the club to keep the facilities and equipment up to a modern standard.
Shireshead and Forton Cricket Club has a long history dating back to 1909 and the club plays in both the Palace Shield and Westmorland Cricket League. The club currently fields four senior men’s teams, a women’s team, and five junior teams – with the women’s team winning the Northern Premier Super 8s competition this season.
Cricket is also introduced to up to 40 children through the ECB’s All Stars Cricket programme and the ground is used for practice or matches daily throughout the regular season at an average of four games per week.
Jonty said: “The covers really standout and look fantastic on the ground. One of the downsides of the fantastic summer we have enjoyed, however, is that they have hardly been used so we have had to wait until September for the rain!
“Cricket covers are an expensive purchase, and you need to invest in quality to ensure the ground is properly protected from the elements when it rains. They stood up to the sharp showers we have had this last week or so, and they will be great for many seasons ahead.
“Mark and I are both long-standing supporters of the club, having been involved different ways for many years. We saw the covers as an opportunity to extend our support, and we are both delighted with the outcome.
“Somewhere in the region of 80 to 100 matches are played on the ground per season when you include hosting matches for league representative teams and Lancaster University teams.
“We have significant plans in place to develop the club house facilities and secure cricket for the next group of juniors and meet the demands of a growing population in Forton too.”
James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent SPAR retailers and company-owned SPAR stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.
Comments are closed.