Lancashire Cricket Club celebrates Red Rose Together successes
Throughout the 2024 season, the year which marked the Club’s 160th anniversary, Lancashire Cricket initiated Red Rose Together - a wide-ranging campaign to highlight the range of the Club’s key activities that drive a love of the game and make cricket accessible to all.
Red Rose Together aimed to celebrate and champion the work that is undertaken to make cricket more accessible, inclusive, and enjoyable for everyone, supporting the Club’s mission of growing a passionate Red Rose Family.
Here we review some of the activities - across key campaign pillars - that have supported the growth of cricket participation, driven a greater affiliation to Lancashire Cricket, and increased awareness of the impact the Club has on the broader community. Take a look at the impact so far here.
Breaking Down Barriers for Women and Girls
In April last year, Hilton and Lancashire Cricket announced an extension to their commercial partnership that increased the hotel group’s investment to support Lancashire Thunder for the next three years. The groundbreaking deal enabled Lancashire Thunder to fund four additional full-time contracts during the 2024 season, taking the squad of professional players to 16 - the most full-time professionals of any club in England’s domestic women’s structure.
To further raise the profile of the women’s game and its elite players, Lancashire Cricket launched its first self-produced documentary film – Bring The Thunder – charting the journey of the Thunder team throughout the 2023 campaign and the rise of professional women’s cricket. Bring The Thunder: The Thunder Story has been viewed 65,000 times on YouTube views of garnered in excess of 1.5 million clip views across Club platforms.
At grassroots level, women and girl’s cricket is one of the fastest growing areas of the sport. Building on the 22% increase last year in the number of clubs across the county operating a dedicated female section, Club partner Destination Sport, funded a pilot programme providing kit and coaching sessions for clubs in Lancashire looking to form their own girls’ teams.
Heywood Cricket Club on the outskirts of Rochdale, was an early grant recipient with the new team making their debut this season. With the Club’s support and continued partner funding, more girls’ sections are set to form across the county in 2025, adding to the 104 women’s and 78 girls’ teams currently catering for competitive cricket.
Investing in Communities and Grassroots Programmes
Following a record rise in cricket participation across the county in 2023, the Lancashire Cricket Foundation - the official charity of Lancashire Cricket that relies on fundraising and donations to support the delivery of community activities - continued to scale new heights.
The club broke several other participation records in the delivery of community-based projects during the 2024 season:
- 1,537 people participated in disability cricket throughout the year, a 44% increase compared to 2023.
- 1,400 free bursary places for All Stars and Dynamos Cricket programmes were provided to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, up almost 20% versus last year.
- LCF oversaw a 35% rise in the number girls taking part in our Girl’s Primary and Secondary School Competitions this year with over 6,300 participants in total.
- LCF delivered 10% more coaching hours (2,492 in total) across 27 projects during 2024 as part of our Chance to Shine Street programme, taking cricket to young people in deprived urban communities.
To help attract younger fans to the sport and educating them on key elements of the game, the Club commissioned Lanky & Friends, an original animated cartoon series that was shown to thousands of children across the county as part of their Foundation-led programmes.
The three-part series - believed to be the first-of-its-kind to be produced by a professional cricket team - features some familiar voices with David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, a Lancashire legend as a player and coach, before becoming an iconic commentator, and Ben Cajee, a main presenter on CBeebies since 2015, providing the narration. The episodes have become a key way of capturing the imagination of young people and igniting a passion for the sport, whilst teaching the fundamentals of the game.
Improving Facilities
Following the completion of the £75 million redevelopment of Emirates Old Trafford over the past 15 years into a world class multi-purpose venue, the Club has continued to upgrade facilities to create a more inclusive venue.
Over the course of last season, this included the opening of a private baby feeding room under the family stand, a refurbished multi-faith room situated under the Pavilion in the tunnel, and additional accessible toilet facilities to cater for the needs of supporters with a disability.
Meanwhile, work has continued to progress at the new elite and community cricket facility at Farington, which remains on track to open during 2026 . Lancashire Cricket and Lancashire County Council are working together to build the unique development that will serve as a Women’s Centre of Excellence for the North-West of England and help Lancashire Cricket continue to bring through both men’s and women’s cricketers of the future.
In addition, during 2024 the Lancashire Cricket Foundation distributed over £485,000 through the ECB County Grants scheme, strategic grants, and ECB interest free loans, to help grassroots clubs create welcoming environments, improve facilities and tackle climate change.
Creating a Welcoming Culture
A key aim of the club is to drive cultural change in the game across the region with an ambition to connect diverse fans and communities with the Red Rose and make Lancashire Cricket a Club for all.
Building on the existing Red Rose Family Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity strategy, in June last year the Club signed the Manchester Pride All Equals Charter.
Manchester Pride is one of the UK's leading LGBTQ+ charities and they are now supporting the Club in strengthening our equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. By signing the Charter, we have agreed to are range of commitments that include celebrating the diversity of LGBTQ+ people, implementing policy standards, ensuring inclusive services and fair recruitment procedures, sharing best practice with Club partners, and contributing to the modern pride movement.
Lancashire Cricket was also proud to launch of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower across the Club last summer for people with non-visible disabilities to voluntarily share they have a disability or condition that may not be immediately apparent.
The initiative includes lanyards and pins branded with the distinctive Sunflower symbol, which discreetly indicates that the wearer may require additional support, help or a little more time. The displaying of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower helped the Club to offer better support to its staff, Members, supporters, and all those visiting Emirates Old Trafford throughout the year.
Reflecting on the Red Rose Together campaign, Daniel Gidney, CEO of Lancashire Cricket, says: “It is with immense pride that we can all reflect on the activities and achievements of the Club last season in driving a love for cricket and making the sport accessible to all. Red Rose Together embodies the collective efforts of our staff, commercial partners, and volunteers, and symbolises the commitment of the Club to growing the Red Rose Family.
“There is so much incredible work taking place year-round to ensure we are introducing as many people as we can to cricket; providing access to the sport, and instilling a passion for the game. Red Rose Together truly encapsulates the spirit and values of the Club, and the strong connection between the Club and its community.”
To find out more about the Red Rose Together campaign and join Lancashire Cricket’s mission of growing the love of the game, click here.
