We have launched the World Class West campaign, with the aim of realising our long-term ambition to bring more world-class cricket events to the West of England.
The final ringing of the bell at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club usually heralds the start of the new season - but on Wednesday 2nd April 2008 it also sounded out to mark another jubilant occasion.
Deputy Lord Mayor Peter Abraham was asked to undertake the ceremonial duty to celebrate the news of the fixtures and line-ups and the official regional launch of the Club's World Class West campaign.
The campaign aims to bring more international and first class cricket matches to the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (GCCC) ground at Nevil Road. At the launch event, more than 100 people attended to help to raise the profile of the campaign.
The Club initially launched the 'World Class West' campaign last month at the House of Commons which received cross-party support and wide spread approval from around the region.
Cllr Abraham said: "It is such an honour to have been asked to ring the official Club bell to help bring in the exciting new season of cricket at GCCC and to launch this wonderful campaign.
"This team and organisation is a major asset to Bristol and we should all be very proud of the standard of sport that is played on these stunning grounds that invoke such a sense of atmosphere.
"However, as we have found out through this campaign we need to invest further in the standard of the seating, drainage and facilities in general to ensure we can attract even more excellent play in the years to come."
Tom Richardson, Chief Executive of GCCC, said: "We are thrilled with the event and are extremely grateful to everyone who has turned out to help us officially bring the campaign to the West."
The County Ground at Nevil Road, Bishopston, currently has about 3,600 permanent seating with the capacity to increase that to 15,000 with temporary seating for larger matches.
World Class West would like to see this increased to up to 10,000 permanent seats and the ability to bring in up to another 10,000 temporary ones - giving a full capacity of up to 20,000.
This would allow GCCC not only to continue to host International matches annually, but to increase the number of such games and compete for International tournaments.
The Club has been at Nevil Road for more than 100 years after it was established in 1871 and counts cricket legend WG Grace among its founding fathers.
