MidKent College Partnership Announced

More than 20 Painting and Decorating course students were at Sherwood Cricket Club, Rochester this week racing to get the club in perfect, spruce condition for the start of the season. They are the latest cohort from MidKent to work there since January. Student electricians, plumbers and carpenters from the College have been busy refurbishing the club as supervised work experience. More than 40 students have worked on the project so far.
The students' deadline for completing the work is the NatWest Cricketforce weekend* (27-29 March), a volunteering initiative that aims to rejuvenate the nation's cricketing facilities.
Tony Rossiter is Chairman of Sherwood Cricket Club. He said: "This is a first for Sherwood and has been a huge success. We are delighted with the quality of the work. Many of these projects have been on our Club Facilities Development Plan for sometime, but have not been actioned due to the high cost. The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and MidKent College have proved that with some joined up thinking, projects like these can be successfully delivered that really benefit the community as a whole. The club gets a much needed update and the students get some real life experience."
Trevor Noble, Teaching & Learning Manager for Electrical & Construction at MidKent College said: "The students' labour was provided as work experience. The work they complete on the club contributes to their assessment and ultimately qualification. They may also get a work reference". He added: "This is the first phase of the project and we will continue working with the cricket club for the foreseeable future".
Most of the materials were provided by the ECB and Jewson from a grant of £2,500**. The club found £1,400 more, which went towards replacing the roof of a garage used by groundsman, and is paying for a CCTV system that the MidKent electrician will install.
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Notes to editors:
Details of the courses offered by MidKent College, including construction trades, electrical, carpentry and joinery and painting and decorating are on the website: http://www.midkent.ac.uk/courses/subject-areas/
Trevor Noble Teaching and Learning Manager Electrical & Construction at MidKent College: 01634383000 x3696
*NatWest CricketForce is an England and Wales Cricket Board volunteering initiative aimed at rejuvenating the nation's cricketing facilities.
http://www.ecb.co.uk/development/facilities-funding/self-build-and-self-help/natwest-cricketforce/
It is one of the largest volunteering events in England, supported by ECB and their sponsors. Club members, volunteers and local businesses come together to help improve the facilities prior to the season starting.
**The ECB/Jewson sponsored fund brings Build Colleges (such as MidKent) and cricket clubs together. Each college gets a pot of £5,000 to buy equipment and materials from Jewson. The £5,000 has been allocated equally to the Medway and Maidstone campuses by the college with Medway spending their £2,500 with Sherwood Cricket Club.
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About Sherwood Cricket Club
Sherwood Cricket Club was established in 1965. We have an active Senior and Youth section of over 140 members aged from 6 to 77 years. Sherwood Cricket Club adopts an all-inclusive policy for its members irrespective of age, gender, ethnic background or cricket ability. We are a CASC, Clubmark club and recognised Focus Club by Kent Cricket Board and ECB in recognition of the community achievements and support provided to other clubs. We were awarded the Bronze for Club of the Year in the Medway Sports Awards 2009 for our outstanding achievements for cricket in the local community and in 2014 as a finalist in the Kent Excellence in Business Awards (KEiBA) in the category of Commitment to the Environment. Sherwood plays an active role in the local community, we support grass roots cricket coaching in local primary and secondary schools as part of the Cricket Foundations Charity – Chance to Shine. In 2015, we entered into a long-term partnership with MidKent College to help students gain on the job experience by undertaking electrical, plumbing, carpentry, bricklaying, painting and decorating projects. The clubhouse is used by local community groups and is used as a polling station for elections. For futher information please visit www.sherwoodcricket.com