Garstang
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Garstang
CRICKET CLUB
G
arstang CC has not been without its difficulties in recent times after
flooding severely affected their ground but they have bounced
back and are now optimistic about their future. Sport in Profile Magazine
recently caught up with their Chairman Allan Cook to find out more.
Involvement
He told us, “I first became involved
with the club when I was about six/
seven years old when my dad and
a group of his mates decided to join
Garstang CC to help set up the clubs first
ever third team. I would tag along to
watch or score if needed, but always in
the hope that someone wouldn’t turn up
so I could play.
Watching the third team and my dad
in particular really inspired me to want
to play cricket so I started going to junior
training. This led to me playing for the
junior teams and through to the senior
teams. At the age of 15 I was asked if
I would like to join the committee as
a junior rep, 21 years later I’m still on
the committee and have ended up as
chairman of the club.”
The Role
“The biggest challenge is to continue
to improve and develop year on year
on year; the moment you stand still and
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don’t improve you’re going backwards.
At times this can be a real challenge,
especially when as a club we have such
high standards and expectations. The
other thing that is really challenging is
when something out of your control such
as floods or vandalism set you back.
The most rewarding thing, and the
reason why a number of us work so hard
to run the club, is the enjoyment both
seniors and juniors get by playing cricket
at Garstang. From a personal point of
view a couple of things I really enjoy
seeing is dads getting the opportunity
to play in the same team as their son
(or daughter), and when a junior comes
through into senior cricket and start to
perform and realise they can contribute
to the team. Those types of things make
the hard work worth it for me.” flooded by the river Wyre, this once in
50 years event then happened again nine
months later in August 2016. On both
occasions the ground was 4ft deep in
water and the club house 2.5ft deep.
Following the second flood we were
unable to play at home for the final
five games of the season, thankfully a
number of other local clubs came to our
aid and offered us use of their grounds
so we could complete our fixtures.
Due to the two floods we had to
relay our square at the end of that
season which used up a large chunk of
our savings so we’ve had to work really
hard to get the bank balance back into a
reasonably healthy position. I’m glad to
say that 2017 has been a far less dramatic
year so far and all in all the club both on
and off the pitch is in really good shape.”
Atmosphere This Season
“The mood at the club is really
positive at the moment. We’ve had a
tough time during the last eighteen
months or so, in December 2015 we were “Things have gone really well so far.
All three of our Saturday teams are doing
really well in their respective leagues, as
is our Sunday team. The first team, who