Date – Wednesday 14 September
Guest speaker – Robert Croft
New sponsor – Abode Construction
Swardeston CC is proud to host its annual cricket dinner for the 34th year after a two-year gap with a new sponsor and a great name from England cricket as guest speaker.
This year we have secured the services of England and Glamorgan’s Robert Croft MBE to the dinner which will be held on Swardeston Common on Wednesday 14 September.
It is also our pleasure to announce that Abode Construction will become the event’s new sponsor.
Croft played 21Tests and 50 One Day Internationals for England and played for Glamorgan for 23 seasons. In 2007 he became the first Welsh cricketer to score 10,000 runs and take 1,000 wickets in first-class cricket.
The last time the dinner was held was in 2019, its 33rd consecutive staging. Unfortunately Covid has meant the dinner has been unable to be held during the past two years.
Swardeston chair Stuart Bartram said: “It feels wonderful to be able to plan for the dinner. We know it has been a popular occasion over the past three decades and our guests tell us they have really missed it over the last two summers. We are sad to lose Breakwater after three years of successful sponsorship but excited to welcome Abode as our new dinner sponsors.”
Headquarted in Long Stratton, Abode specialises in delivering housing, care and student accommodation for clients across Norfolk and Suffolk and was named Start-Up Business of the Year at last year’s Norfolk Business Awards.
Abode’s Managing Director Grant Keys said: “Swardeston is a club which does so much to promote the development of men’s, women’s and youth cricket in the local area and we at Abode are therefore are delighted to be sponsoring their annual dinner. It promises to be a great occasion and an opportunity to celebrate the club’s ongoing successes.”
Further details for the dinner will be announced in due course. The dinner has new organisers this year after long-term organiser David Thomas stepped down from the role.
Bartram said: “ We are in debt to an amazing feat on David’s part over those 33 years which has raised a considerable amount of money to go towards our continuous youth development. When David started the dinner, our youth section was tiny but it now encompasses teams from Under-9s to Under19s with both boys and girls taking part.
“We have a new social team at the club and they have wasted no time in ensuring things are in place for this dinner. Our congratulations and thanks go to Sarah Thomas, who has joined the club’s social committee, and is taking the lead on the dinner organisation.”
