Metro Bank Conference offers valuable insight!

On Saturday 7th March and Sunday 8th March the Metro Bank Girls In Cricket Fund Conference took place in the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. Our Inclusion Officer Beth Dickens attended the event which offered a variety of different workshops over the two days. The workshops ranged from growing and sustaining girls cricket to the evolution of women’s league cricket. Alongside Beth there was Finedon Dolben’s Cricket Clubs Junior Academy Coach, Adam Denton there learning more about the women’s and girls’ game.

With 3 of our 5 Super Priorities for 2026 focusing on the women and girls game; the conference was a brilliantly informative event which will help shape some of the activities we will host during the year. The women and girls game has grown massively in Northamptonshire over the last decade and with the amount of girls now playing the game in the county it is set to grow in the seasons ahead. The conference enabled recently appointed Inclusion Officer Beth talk to other officers and volunteers from around the country that work in the women and girls game.

As well as the workshops that individuals could choose which ones they attended, the National event had 3 keynote speakers; Sara Davies, Wing Commander Nicola Lofthouse and Olympian Kate Richardson – Walsh. Wing Commander, Lofthouse spoke about her experiences in the Royal Air Force, focusing on the challenges faced whilst working in a high-performance, male-dominated environment. Although there have been some fantastic developments in the women’s and girls’ game in recent years, it is still a male- dominated environment with lots of barriers still to breakdown.

On Saturday evening the event celebrated the countdown towards the Women’s T20 World Cup which featured a panel interview with Fran Wilson (2017 World Cup winner and Gloucestershire Women’s Head Coach), Sarah Bryce (Scotland International) and Beth Barrett – Wild (Women’s World Cup Tournament Director).

We have a variety of events planned in the lead up to the Women’s World Cup, to find out more about what is going on please contact Beth on Bethany.dickens@nccc.co.uk