Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week 2021 kicked off with a bang on Monday 21 June, as Chance to Shine put on the ultimate school day!

Teachers at Stanningley Primary in Yorkshire were able to put their feet up for the day as a series of stars took the reins for a special day of cricket themed lessons.

The morning saw Barmy legend ‘Billy The Trumpet’ deliver a music lesson to pupils, taking them through his famous tunes before challenging the children to come up with variations on their own school song.

Meanwhile, Ashes hero Matthew Hoggard was P.E lead for the day – drawing on every inch of his international experience to deliver a ‘Cool Catcher’ session.

If that wasn’t enough, cricket’s own knight of the realm Sir Alastair Cook took time out to share the secrets of teamwork with year 5 pupils, before the day was wrapped up by Blue Peter presenter Lindsey Russell’s arts and crafts lesson (with a cricket twist of course!)

Speaking at the event Cook said “It was a great day and you could tell the kids really enjoyed it. Any parent will know how challenging lockdown has been on children and getting them back out, playing with friends and enjoying sport is such an important part of getting their development back on track. That’s what Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week is all about this year and I was delighted to be a part of it, especially if it gave the teachers a well earned break!”

Pupil Miles Ellam, aged 9, said: “Lockdown was so boring and I had nothing to do. I used to say ‘I can’t wait until I can start doing cricket again.’ Today has been a great chance to play with my friends again and have fun. We even played cricket with a superstar!”

Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week (21-25 June) sees children up and down the country get involved playing and learning through cricket. It's an opportunity to celebrate the sport, to inspire children to take part in cricketing activities and to showcase the work that Chance to Shine does in bringing the game to hundreds of thousands of children every year.

For more information on how to get involved, click here.