Community
Watlington Cricket Club has always placed a high value on our local community. Whilst we attract players from across Oxfordshire and even Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and beyond, many of our senior players reside within 10 miles of Watlington and most have lived, or have family in Watlington and surrounding villages.
Our cricket ground and pavilion is well used and enjoyed by the local community and we regularly reach out to our local friends, supporters , neighbours and residents. We are also honoured by our place in the community and those involved now and over the last couple of centuries, helping to make us such a great club.
Brownies
We run annual taster sessions for Watlington Brownies, to give them a feel for cricket, in the hope that some of the girls join our club, or want to play at school or at another club.
It is always great fun for us, as well as the girls!
Girl Guides
We also invite Watlington Girl Guides each year for taster sessions, offering fun, energetic games to give the girls a taste of cricket, well those who don't already play for Watlington Cricket Club.
They learn basic skills, rules and tactics, and of course to 'Be Prepared'!
Royal British Legion
Remembrance Sunday
Each year, we honour the memory and sacrifice our WCC Players and local community who fought and died in battle for us.
Senior and Junior club representatives join the Remembrance Parade and lay a wreath at the Memorial Cross in our town centre.
"I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,"
Dreamers
by Siegried Sassoon 1918
Christmas Tree Festival
St Leonard's Church
Each year, we produce a Christmas Tree designed around a theme chosen by the Church, to be displayed with many others from local groups. Recent year's themes have included:
What a Wonderful World - After a fantastic 2019 summer of cricket, we designed a 'What a Wonderful World Cup' tree.
Christmas - We produced a tree called 'Chris Mass' and included famous cricketers called Chris, Christopher, Christina, Christian etc.
Poetry - We went with 'Land of Nod' an Ashes themed tree based around the poem, read by Stephen Fry on Test Match Special.
Songs - We themed our tree around songs which featured cricket in their titles, lyrics or artist name.
Oxfordshire Women Fixtures
We were selected by Oxfordshire to host two of their T20 fixtures, against Devon CCC and Buckinghamshire CCC.
Oxfordshire County Age Group Fixtures
We host many fixtures each year for Oxfordshire Boys and Girls teams, with visiting teams from England, Wales, Guernsey and even South Australia.
Oxfordshire Cricket Association
We make our ground available for cup finals and in 2020 we were due to host the Airey Cup, Oxfordshire's most historic and prestigious cup.
Primary School Cricket
We have a close relationship with Watlington Primary School and co-ordinate with Oxfordshire Cricket Board to deliver 'All Stars' and 'Chance to Shine' assemblies, taster sessions and coaching. We also host the South Oxfordshire Primary Schools Kwik Cricket Festival.
Secondary School Cricket
We make our ground freely available for Icknield Community College to play their home fixtures against other secondary schools around Oxfordshire.
With many schools not having pitches, or poor quality pitches, we feel this is important for all the schools who enjoy playing at Watlington Cricket Ground.
Be part of our community
If you are a local resident, we'd love to see you on a Saturday afternoon, where you can watch some exciting cricket, in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere and enjoy some great value refreshments from our licensed bar.
If you are a local organisation who feels we can help in any way, or a local business who feels they can benefit from our large and varied membership base and marketing channels, please get in touch.