Rogerstone Welfare Cricket Club, based at the Welfare Grounds Rogerstone, is one of the four cricket clubs in the Newport area who are centres for a new national cricket programme for children.

The other clubs who are participating in the All Stars ECB/Cricket Wales program are Newport Fugitives, based at High Cross, Rogerstone,who are leading the way with numbers, Newport Cricket Club, based at the Sports Village at Spytty Boulevard and Ponthir Cricket Club based at Ponthir. The total number of participants for the All Stars programme aimed at five to eight-year-olds in the four Newport clubs is between 100 and 125.

In the whole of the South East Wales area there are 53 participating clubs with some 950 participants.

The Rogerstone Club started the program on May 19, having had four weeks of taster sessions previously. The club has been fortunate in that not one session has been affected by rain.

At Rogerstone the program is being led by Wales women and girls international Ella Reed, well supported by her fellow activators Carmel Reed and Nikki Goodfellow. It is a series of eight one-hour fixed sessions and is adapted to cater for the wide age and ability ranges. It consists of games which gradually ease the children into the sport while having lots of fun.

The program also encourages parents to take an active part.

A Rogerstone club spokesman said to date all of the feedback from parents and children has been very positive. The club has so far completed five of the eight sessions and the club overall has been very impressed with the new atmosphere it has created on Friday evenings at the ground and are hopeful some stars for the future will be discovered. The club has a thriving youth section which continues to increase rapidly with the new housing developments in the area.