CRICKET clubs all over Worcestershire made best use of the weekend's glorious sunshine to get their grounds ready for the new season, which starts this month.

Club members and volunteers rolled up their sleeves and set to work in a nationwide effort called CricketForce Day.

It is an initiative backed by NatWest bank and is designed to bring clubs and their local communities closer together.

Held over one designated weekend every year, projects range from paint jobs, sight screen scrubbing and renewed boundary fencing to new changing rooms.

Clubs taking part get planning and promotional advice and CricketForce T-shirts, while building supplies firm Jewson provides funding for tools and materials.

In Worcestershire, Bredon Cricket Club, which is fundraising for new practice nets, made the best of what is there now by sweeping them of leaves and other debris from the winter. They also repainted their changing rooms.

At Hanley and Upton they set to work on cutting their square ready for the start of play, while at Cookhill, near Alcester, youngsters were enlisted to brighten up the club by planting some floral borders.