Giant cricket bat ready for another century
The UK’s largest cricket bat has been unveiled at one of the country’s oldest cricket clubs and sponsored by one of the country’s oldest family businesses!
Helmores, one of England’s longest established firms of estate agents are delighted to be sponsor-ing the iconic giant cricket bat, which was created from a storm damaged tree at Shobrooke Park Cricket Club, Crediton.
The Scots Pine, planted in 1890 when Shobrooke Park Cricket Club was established has been carved into a giant cricket bat; 5 metres high, with the handle 1.5 m and the blade 3m long.
The tree was damaged by a severe gale in June 2012 with the upper boughs torn away leaving a ragged-topped 9 metre trunk standing by the Eastern boundary. It had to be made safe, which would normally mean removal, until a ‘batty’ idea gave new life to it.
Steve Jones, with fellow cricketer and tree surgeon Bruce Kerry carefully chainsawed and then side-axed the trunk to the exact proportions of a standard bat – but at a giant scale; “Getting the proportions and parallels was tricky” says Steve “It was even suggested at one point that we cut it down, make it, and re-erect it! A standard bat is around 35 inches long; if we call that a metre, it would make the batsman for the Shobrooke Giant Bat a whopping ten metres or 30 feet tall!”.
Steve added; “The tree is a much loved and iconic for the club; this has given it a new lease of life - especially as it was planted the year that the cricket club was established. We are immensely proud of what we have achieved.”
Helmores Estate Agents of Crediton, stepped up to the crease and bowled some assistance by sponsoring the giant cricket bat. Helmores in-house design team created and hand-painted the bat with the Helmores colours.
Rob Stoyle, Partner at Helmores said; “It’s hard to believe that our estate agency is even older than this tree - over three centuries and not out! Cricket, the club setting, and the giant bat, are such a great metaphor for what we do at Helmores; rooted in tradition, set in glorious Devon, and with teams of great people on a complex field of play. Congratulations to Shobrooke Park Cricket Club for coming up with such a brilliant idea.”
A challenge was set up for the players of Shobrooke Park Cricket Team - if they manage to hit the bat with the ball during a match, they win themselves a bottle of Scotch Whisky!
To see a one-minute film about the creation of this giant cricket bat visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBRStu-JCF8
