CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: 
I hope that you are all well in these challenging times and that you will be able to play some cricket soon despite the immense difficulties caused by the coronavirus.
We have spent a lot of time in the last few weeks considering whether or not it will possible to hold the Festivals this coming summer. When initially the government banned school trips and subsequently imposed the lockdown, we were still optimistic that the Festivals would be able to go ahead from mid-July and into August.

However it has recently become clear that the virus will remain endemic in this country, at least for the next few months, and that social distancing will apply to our daily lives throughout this period. With all this in mind, we have sadly taken the decision to cancel the festivals for this summer.

The risks of propagating an infection when bringing together teams from all over this country and also from overseas are substantial, and given that we have a duty of care to all the young players, the many officials and the parents and supporters, we do not feel that it would be safe to proceed. We have even looked at trying to organise the festival with fewer teams attending but even this has far too many risks. We also felt that we cannot delay the decision any longer in order to be fair to everyone involved.

After 26 continuous years at Kings and 37 years in total, this has been a very difficult decision and one we have taken with the utmost reluctance.
 
Please stay well and stay safe,
With best wishes,
Malcolm Broad.

West Cricket Festivals:

The first "West of England" festival was held at Truro Cricket Club in Cornwall in July 1983. The teams taking part were the Under 14 county sides from Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset.  The first game between Cornwall and Devon proved very exciting ending in a tie with Cornwall 186 for 9! In the following years inter-county festivals were organised at Taunton School (for Under 12 and Under 14 teams), Plymouth College (for Under 13 teams) and Treliske Preparatory School (for Under 11 and Under 13 teams). Eventually all these festivals moved to Kings College at Taunton, helped by phenomenal work by the then Head Groundsman, Dennis Breakwell, and now occupy some six weeks of the summer holidays. In the early days, the umpires were organised by Ian Cowley and the accommodation by Ted and Sally Ashman.

This summer will mark 37 years of these festivals! Thousands of young cricketers have played at Kings, including many who currently play in the full England team and lots playing First Class cricket. We have even had young players who are now in the national teams for the Barbados, Trinidad, South Africa and the Netherlands.  Altogether this summer there will be 80 teams aged from Under 10  up to Under 14 teams playing this, the greatest of games, in a total of 9 different Festivals.

Malcolm Broad.

DOGS
Please complete the dog permit and keep your dog on a lead if you are attending the Festivals!  Please refer to the Dogs - Information page.

A warm welcome awaits parents and supporters on the first day of every Kings Festival.

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