I ENROLLED on a business development course earlier this year which meets fortnightly to help grow the brand and to interact with other like-minded local business owners.

What relevance does this have to local cricket? Well, one of the course attendees made herself known to me by explaining she was a member at Stand Cricket Club.

This obviously caught my attention following my column a couple of weeks ago regarding their on-pitch efforts over recent years.

The business owner in question was called Sally-Anne – she has a large involvement in Stand Cricket Club through her children playing in the first XI, but what intrigued me more was the information she provided me with about the fundraising the club has done recently.

When I usually talk about fundraising, it is for the club coffers themselves, but in this instance Stand have not been fundraising for themselves but for 'Boot Out Breast Cancer'.

Last year they raised well over £5,000 for the charity through a variety of fundraising events and this year they are on course to smash that amount following the hosting of both a Ladies Day and a Junior Day on the Hamilton Road ground.

Efforts like this by clubs need highlighting because it is a fantastic achievement by all involved and hopefully it will be this weekend when they host the second XI Cup final between Prestwich and Whalley Range, that they surpass their 2017 fundraising total.

It's easy to get confused with all the functions clubs host to raise funds for themselves that they also raise money for other worthy charities.

This year, members at Elton raised funds for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, while last year Radcliffe raised money for the families of the Manchester Arena victims. Walshaw CC regularly fundraise for Sam’s Gift.

It is great to see our clubs don’t just think about fundraising for themselves but also for worthwhile charities and I personally look forward to seeing in the future the efforts clubs make to excel at beating previous amounts collected.

To finish with this week, my congratulations go to Greenmount first XI on winning the Derek Kay Cup at Monton against Royton.

Just by seeing the Facebook and Twitter posts alone it is clear to see how much it meant to the club to bring Derek home to the log cabin.