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Coronavirus Kent: Kent Cricket doing their bit to reach out to the community during Covid-19 crisis
17:26, 24 March 2020
updated: 17:33, 24 March 2020
Kent Cricket Club have revealed the steps they are taking to help people through the coronavirus crisis.
While the club’s usual activities have been suspended and their offices remain closed to the public, the county say they are keen to identify areas where their staff, facilities and resources can make a difference to the wider community.
As part of their shutdown process, the club's conference and events partners, Sodexo, have delivered sandwiches, milk and vegetables to St Mary’s Soup Kitchen in Dover.
Head chef Nigel Bell is donating two days a week of his time to help out the kitchen with food preparation.
The club have offered the use of The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence in Canterbury, and The County Ground, Beckenham, for civic contingency planning.
This offer has been made to the NHS, Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council and London Borough of Bromley.
All commercial meetings have been suspended at the St Lawrence Ground but Sodexo are continuing to support a limited number of NHS/East Kent Hospital meetings.
All take place with the approval of NHS officials and with rigorous hygiene measures in place.
The club's community cricket team are continuing to keep clubs and schools up to date via newsletters, social media content and direct emails.
They also plan to connect virtually with community cricket clubs over the coming weeks to support them in planning for when the game resumes.
Kent say they aim to inspire and engage members through their website and social media channels, including home workouts led by playing staff, player takeovers, quizzes, features on the club’s history and more.
The St Lawrence Clinic (01227 473606) continues to offer online consultations while Kent have launched a dedicated commercial news page and directory of services on their website, to help support and promote their Team Kent Business partners at this critical time.
For information contact emma.santer.kent@ecb.co.uk
Kent Cricket chief executive Simon Storey said: “We are uniquely placed to take a leading role in ensuring that communities across Kent are ready to face the challenges ahead.
“With two well-equipped venues in Canterbury and Beckenham and with our network of 300 clubs across both the county and metropolitan Kent, we have a responsibility to serve our communities beyond the boundary.
“The Covid-19 virus throws up new challenges for both the club and our county.
“The health of all our stakeholders remains of paramount importance and we will all need to be flexible, resilient, committed, innovative and courageous through the challenging period that lies ahead of us.
“Our commitment is that we will work tirelessly to ensure that Kent Cricket continues to inspire, engage and use the power of cricket to give communities across Kent a reason to smile, at a time when they need it more than ever.”
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