A CRICKET club is calling on former players and supporters to come together to help them to celebrate their bicentenary.

A series of events to mark the 200th anniversary of Yarm Cricket Club are being planned throughout the year and will culminate in a game between past and present players in a show piece match in August.

Cricket development officer Gareth Jones, who is the lead organiser of the celebrations, has already started collecting people’s stories, images and score books to help to record the club’s history but he is asking people to get more involved.

“We are looking for the history of the club,” he said. “If people who used to play or used to come and help the team want to give us photographs or any memorabilia we would love to see it. Hopefully, we will able to pull it all together and our plan is to publish a book charting the club’s history.

“We really want to include the community and local businesses in the celebrations. In the past many of the players used to run businesses in the town but that changed, however, we are trying to rebuild those connections now.”

Amongst the planned celebrations are the Natwest Cricket Force Weekend on April 5 and 6; a Sportsmen's Dinner on May 16; a family fun day on July 12 and the past versus present and junior tournament on August 24.

He added: “Hopefully, it will be a great year and there is a lot of work going into the plans to mark the 200th anniversary, which is taking place in the same year as the bicentenary celebrations for the home of cricket – Lords.

“The club is looking for any local businesses that are interested in sponsoring any of the events that are taking place throughout the year. Hopefully, the celebrations will bring the community together.”

Last Friday, January 24, academy coach Stewart Ballantyne presented Levendale Primary School with an ECB Cricket Factory Core Skill Set and ran a training session with the pupils.

Anyone interested in getting involved in the celebrations or has any memorabilia should visit www.yarmcc.play-cricket.com