Community groups, schools and charities across Southend are being offered hundreds of free

tickets for the 2009 Essex Auto Group Southend Cricket Festival.

The fantastic free give-away is set to bowl local community groups and schools over as

hundreds more tickets are being made available this year due to popular demand in previous

years.

The 2009 Summer festival will again be held at the Garons Park venue for five days from

Wednesday 5th August – Sunday 9th August. The five-day event will see Essex playing against

Gloucestershire in the four day LV County Championship fixture from Wednesday to Saturday,

with Sunday’s challenge being Pro40 match against the Notts Outlaws.

A number of free tickets are available for every day and will be allocated on a first come first

served basis. Essex and Southend Sports Trust (EASST) and Southend-on-Sea Borough

Council have been working together to ensure local and Essex based community groups can

benefit from the free ticket give-away. EASST, a charity supporting sport in Essex and

Southend, is granting £11,500 towards the free offer.

In 2008 a wide range of local community groups benefited from the free ticket offer, including:

· Walking Bus Volunteers

· Southend Citizens Advice Bureaux

· Viking House Special Care Unit

· John Grooms

Councillor John Lamb, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Enterprise,

Tourism and Regeneration, says: “The Council and EASST are extremely pleased to be able to

offer a larger number of free tickets to deserving community groups, schools and charities so

that they can enjoy a great day out watching top class cricket live in Southend. We urge as many

groups to get in touch as soon as possible to take advantage of this free offer as demand is

always very high.”

Mr Peter Butler, Chairman of the Essex Auto Group Southend Cricket Festival committee, says:

“The cricket festival at Garon Park will again be a 'fun for all the family' event featuring the

Adventure Island under 11 Kwik cricket tournament, evening 'Concerts in the Park' and a real ale

festival. There is always an overwhelming response from community groups, schools and

charities who wish to take advantage of the free offer, so it is great that we have been able to

provide more tickets this year. ”

If you belong to a community group, school or charity and you would like to take advantage of

the free Essex Auto Group Cricket Festival ticket offer for 2009, please contact Southend-on-

For more information about the 2009 Cricket Festival please visit

www.southendcricketfestival.org.uk