Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2022

21 Back in the early summer of 2021 the ‘She eld Star’ headline was always going to grab my attention. A good news story about local cricket? One of the city’s oldest clubs, Norton Woodseats, moving? It just begged investigation. I soon found my man, Dave Colegate, playing stalwart for over 30 years and now Club President. Measured, organised in his thinking, he explained how it all started.. “Twelve years ago we had one senior side, but it was a team getting older together. Secretary Andy Cross and I sat down and agreed that unless we were careful, it was going to continue like that and the club would disappear. “We needed a strategy and felt the best option was to set up a junior section. It was hard work starting from scratch but we went into schools coaching cricket, particularly those that other organisations perhaps tended not to - concentrating on places like Greenhill and Abbey Lane with kids from 8 years old upwards. “ ere were very few problems tting into the school curriculum and we were welcomed with By ANDY PACK