THE summer weather may be dismal but batsmen and batswomen, as well as bowlers, at a thriving Flintshire cricket club are making the very best of it.

Buckley Cricket Club not only run three senior teams, a midweek side and four junior sides but now also have 30 ladies in the Buckley Belles squad.

They have also just received a £450 donation from Denbigh-based Lock Stock Self Storage.

Their neat and tidy pavilion just off Chester Road is a renovated World War One Canadian Arms hut from Kinmel Camp and it is flanked by a smart new electric scoreboard on one side and all-weather practice nets on the other.

Chairman Mark McManus said: “The club is doing very well with the number of sides we have playing and the junior and ladies’ sections are particularly strong.

“We have so many matches and lots of people enjoy coming down here to watch the games but we couldn’t do it without the kind of support we’re receiving from businesses like Lock Stock.

“It’s very much a volunteer-led club and this is a great community but we couldn’t provide the kind of investment we have done without the support of local businesses and Lock Stock are one of 20 that have got behind us.

“We run an All Stars programme for children between the ages of five and eight, an under-nine, under-11, under-13 and under-15 junior sides in the North East Wales League and Friday nights here are junior nights with over 30 young people here playing cricket while the Buckley Belles play in the women’s softball league on a Sunday.

“I’m a football man myself but my daughter, my son and my wife all play here and it’s very much a family club which is why I became involved and across the teams there are so many families represented.”

Lock Stock area site manager Rob Jones said: “The game is clearly flourishing here and it’s great to see so many young people playing regularly and women’s cricket is on the up as well and the Buckley Belles are evidence of that.”

The under-15s chalked up a good win over Pontblyddyn with a good spell from medium pacer Harrison Windel and he said: “It’s a fun place to come and play and being with your mates here is great.”

North Wales under-15s batsman Beau Rushton added: “The under-15s just started this season and a few of my mates play. It’s just a great environment here.”