Wicketz receives funding boost from LNER

Each of Wicketz 19 projects deal with issues in the local area, from heath and wellbeing concerns to police and safety problems. Cricket is used as a tool to engage with young people in deprived communities the programme targets and those that become regular participants then benefit from the team building, leadership and personal development opportunities that come with it. Many of the participants come from hard-to-reach groups including young offenders, refugees and excluded pupils.

Over 80 participants take part in activity at Hull and Peterborough’s Wicketz projects every week and this fund will ensure more young people in these communities will benefit from the vital life skills and knowledge they can gain from being part of it.

News of the funding was shared at a celebration event in Hull, where participants from Hull and Peterborough enjoyed cricket activity before taking part in two workshops on railway safety and communities. 

Wicketz Programme Manager, Dan Wilson had this to say on what the funding meant for the programme: “The funding from the LNER improving communities fund is vital in allowing us to reach the hard-to-reach young people across Hull and Peterborough. We have received £20,000 for each city, which will enable us to provide year-round activity for young people across both cities, as well as valuable life skills. The event here at Hull University would not have been possible without this support, and it has been great to see young people from completely different communities find that they have more in common than they may have realised before.”

LNER Managing Director, David Horne, added: "The LNER Customer and Community Improvement Fund is a yearly fund we make available to work with local communities up and down our east coast route. We want to put something back into our communities and thought the Wicketz programme was the perfect initiative to support." 

The LNER Community Improvement Fund, is a funding scheme for community projects that allows LNER to work in partnership with charities and the communities located along the LNER route, with the Hull and Peterborough Wicketz projects being two of those.