Birmingham / Craven Arms Exchange Visits

Arrangements were made for a group from Craven Arms (a small town in Shropshire) to arrive in Birmingham on Thursday 30th July 2009, and a group from Birmingham to visit Craven Arms the following week.  The objective of the visits were to give both groups a chance to experience what life was like for youngsters in two differing communities.  The itinerary of the day was to have something to eat on arrival, followed by a Twenty/20 cricket match.  Both sets of groups comprised of 12 - 18 year old with a mixed ability of playing cricket.

Thursday 30th July was not an ideal day for cricket; we had heavy showers, followed by sunshine, and then heavy showers again.  Craven Arms arrived at Local Leagues Ltd (the meeting point) at approximately 11.30am, and proceeded to the Pavilion in Calthorpe Park.

Following on from the introductions of both groups, it was decided that we would go Edgbaston Cricket Ground to have a look at the Ground and training facilities.  We anticipated experiencing difficulties in getting past the security staff as it was the first day of the Test Match between England and Australia.  As it happened, luck was on our side and the security personnel were quite helpful, partially due to the fact that play had not started because of the weather.  The groups went on a sightseeing trip around the area for approximately 40 minutes, with food being served on their return.

Due to the pending weather, we had arranged for the groups to go to the Chamberlain Health and Fitness Centre and play Badminton and Table Tennis instead of the Twenty/20.  The weather, however, improved and we decided to risk playing a Twenty/20 cricket match, managing to get a game in before the rain came down again.  It turned out to be a good day in the end with both the groups enjoying themselves.

On Thursday 6th August, our Birmingham group visited Craven Arms.  The journey was very enjoyable, taking us past the West Midlands Safari Park with full enjoyment of the countryside views.  On our arrival at Craven Arms, we were greeted by the group that we had met the previous week.  We noted during our walk around the area that Craven Arms was very different from the hustle and bustle of Birmingham.  Here it was very quiet and the town centre in comparison to Birmingham was very small and, again, very quiet.  We went past a Mosque and saw open spaces where the youth could interact and play games etc.  Crime rate was reportedly 0% in the area.  This could have been partially due to the fact that youth reaching college and university age did not return to the area until they had reached the age of 50 or above, only coming back to enjoy the quiet life.

We had to travel for about 15 minutes to get to the Ludlow Cricket Ground.  It was a nice ground, but the weather was not on our side yet again, leading us to play on the Astro Turf pitch.  The game was enjoyed by both teams, and the food was very nice.

Photographs were taken during both visit, and as the visits proved to be a hit, we agreed to repeat the visits next year.