WEST Mersea Cricket Club treasurer and cricket development manager Graham Pryke is looking forward to welcoming back Fijian friends when they host their ECB Club Open Day later this month.

The ECB Club Open Days initiative, supported by Waitrose, is a nationwide programme that aims to help boost grassroots cricket participation by encouraging cricket clubs to open their pavilion doors and welcome guests from their local community for a day of cricket taster sessions and activities.

West Mersea will be one of more than 1,000 cricket clubs nationwide to host a Club Open Day on Sunday, July 26.

The Island club welcomed the Fijians for training sessions during the ICC World Cricket League Division Six tournament, while also hosting the fixture between Norway and Vanuatu.

And the relationship with West Mersea and the fellow islanders has not ended there, with the Essex club so far raising £600 for the Fij Relief Fund after disasters in the country.

Pryke said: “We’ve been able to secure plenty of funding; using our own means to get around £800 that we can use for the event.

"We’ve got bouncy castles, face painting and plenty going on across the day, including a softball tournament.

“One of our biggest events will probably be the mascot relay, where people have to change out of the costumes as they go round, which promises to be a great deal of fun watching pandas taking out lions.

“We’ve also got some of the first XI players getting involved, so there’s definitely no elitism and we’re inviting anyone from any club to come down and have a good time.”

Hundreds of guests are set to attend the celebrations between 10am and 8pm, with a Fijian entourage expected to join the festivities, which includes a mascot race, bouncy castle and BBQ, as well as a tug of war.

Entering its third year, the ECB Club Open Day scheme has proved to be a successful initiative.

A total of 900 clubs held events in 2014 – a 300 per cent increase from 2013 – welcoming 116,820 guests, with 9,000 becoming new players, volunteers and social members.

Clubs taking part will enjoy £100 food and drink offer from Waitrose to help deliver their event and Pryke is hoping to get many new faces through the door.

He added: “It’s vitally important for us to be inclusive to everyone, reaching out to more children and parents and just to make it an event that everyone wants to be a part of, particularly the softball game.

“Our emphasis is on fun and participation, there are lots of clubs struggling for numbers so we need to do all we can to make sure that people keep coming back to us.

“We’ve got a nice clubhouse and good facilities, so it’s important for us to get as many people as we can involved.

“We’ve always been a community club, we work with Chance to Shine going into schools and doing work with children, all working together to bring the best for everyone.”

For more information about Club Open Days, supported by Waitrose, including a full list of clubs registered, visit ecb.co.uk/clubopendays