I have a long standing relationship with Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, spending a large percentage of my life at the ground until I was in my late teens. Of course I was there for the obvious business of watching cricket, but also for family occasions – birthdays, christenings, anniversaries, general parties and snowball fights, I cleared out cellars, ran errands, worked test matches, manned reception, sold tickets. It was a home from home. So what a treat to attend a breakfast event at Trent Bridge hosted by Nottingham Partners. I enjoyed the view, the breakfast, the company, and most of all listening to the interesting and truly inspirational panellists talking about the Business of Women in Sport.
We were lucky enough to hear from two separate panels. The first was for the cricketing world, covering a span of corporate, engagement, community and professional playing. I was enthralled to hear the stories of the paths the cricketing panellists took to their current positions. There is no one-route, all experience is valid, all opportunities seized. The accolades are punchy – the fact that the very first Chief Executive in English Cricket is Trent Bridge’s CEO Lisa Pursehouse, the first women’s test match to play at an actual test ground is at Trent Bridge (my feeling is that this has been possible because of having a female CEO), the work being done by Imogen Ward who is leading the charge with engagement, excitement and atmosphere at matches, the incredible work by Mandy Wright with communities to make the sport inclusive and accessible to all (I need more punctuation or bigger lungs in this paragraph as there is so much to say!), and of course the infectious and admirable determination and skill of Tammy Beaumont who refused to be overlooked for the game as a child just because she was a girl and to add to her busy schedule she also is a pundit covering games on Sky Sports.
The second panel was from Switch Up, talking about the vital importance of its services, the safe and welcoming spaces for physical training and the mentoring of women to empower them to break cycles of violence and crime via its Kefira Project. The ingenuity of volunteers to identify areas of need for women, and the support of the Switch Up organisation to turn that insight into something meaningful, for example groups to support women going through…small voice…shhhh the menopause. The panellists from Switch Up were so inspiring to me: their hard work, their introspection, and their giving nature. But also openly saying that speaking on a panel in front of a business audience was not a natural habitat. I feel like I have to declare here that it is not my natural habitat either, to the point that I would usually actively avoid putting myself in that position. I took a lot from that.
And that is my overarching feeling – when someone opens the door they leave it open behind them for others, and that is what all these women are doing. They are paving the way for others, and in exceptional good fortune for Nottingham, the activity at Trent Bridge is showcased to a global audience. My colleagues at Invest in Nottingham and I have always seen the ground and televised matches as a beautiful shop-front, a window for the global business community to see Nottingham as a location for their investment, but what I am really excited about is that we are also showing the world that we are pioneers, that we are about inclusivity and diversity, that in Nottingham we have the strength and the courage to do things differently, and there is a diverse team of women at the helm.