TV soap Emmerdale may be filmed over 350 miles away in the Yorkshire Dales from Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, but on June 10 this year they will become connected to raise vital funds for charity.
Emmerdale actor Chris Chittell, who has played Eric Pollard in the ITV hit show for many years appearing in over 3,000 episodes, recently visited Inverurie CC’s Kellands Park ground to meet some of the club members and promote what is to come next month.
On June 10, between 10am and midday, Kellands Park will host a charity cricket match with Chittell and other cast members set to be in attendance and donning their whites.
Celebrities and crew from the soap have travelled all over nearly every year since 2001 to amass over £2 million for fantastic charities and vital causes.
‘The Big Bash Scotland 2023’ promises to be an exciting day with the Emmerdale stars joining a cavalcade and parade through Inverurie from 9am.
A morning of activities will follow with the cricket match the centre-piece, while Garioch Sports Centre will be the place for football, beat the goalie, table tennis, badminton and other things, with Inverurie Golf Club hosting a Golf Classic teams competition.
From 1pm until 4pm at Inverurie town centre there will be live music, food and entertainment, while festivities will conclude with a ball at the Chester Hotel in Aberdeen.
Every activity on the day will raise money to help UCAN, which is dedicated to raising awareness of urological cancers as well as improving support and quality of life for people and the families who are affected.
George Hadden from Inverurie CC said: “We are all looking forward to being a part of the day.
“A few months ago the club attended an event held by Inverurie BID [Business Improvement District which aims to help keep Inverurie growing, developing and thriving] and we were alerted to the fact that Big Bash Scotland was set to be coming to the local area in the summer and that there would be a cricketing element to it.
“Big Bash events have previously been held in this part of the country and have been great successes, so we were keen to be involved and things just went from there really.
“It should be a great day which raises lots of money for charity while if it can help us engage more members of the local community with the cricket club then that will be a bonus, too.”
Inverurie CC have already been heavily engaged with the local community since the pandemic, which has allowed the club to build up the junior section to more than 30 youngsters.
In time, they will take some of those players to local festivals and hope to also host their own, but for now the focus is on the basic skills of cricket and having fun – with a number of hard-working volunteers and coaches making that possible.
Back in the late 1990s, Inverurie competed with some of the best senior sides in the SPCU leagues – nowadays the club’s first XI is in NESC Grade One.
Thus far this summer Inverurie have won two and lost two league games, the latest triumph coming last Saturday at Groats Road when they saw off the Knight Riders by nine wickets as 108 all out played 109-1.
“Like any club from a smaller town in a pretty rural location, we have to produce our own players going forward if we want to survive and thrive,” Hadden said.
“It has been really heartening to see the junior section grow in the last couple of years and we have to keep building on that while the senior XI is made up of all different ages and we enjoy playing together as a team.”
