A crowd of around 150 gathered at the Civic Hall as the importance of Heywood being chosen as one of only three showcase clubs in the country for a NatWest CricketForce day in 2012 was spelled out.

The club have targeted a mountain of jobs on March 31, including whitewashing the extensive perimeter wall – normally a mammoth and time-consuming task.

The 24-year-old from Heywood, a former pupil at Cardinal Langley, Middleton, was the first athlete to qualify for the GB team for London when she won the open water title at the World Championships in Shanghai last summer.

Mellor did the business with a hard-earned 4-3 win at lowly Hooley Bridge Celtic to move within five points of Hey with a game in hand.

And the Heywood Advertiser is delighted to have teamed up with the race organisers to create a ‘Race within a Race’ for entrants living in our newspaper catchment area, with a prize for our first local male and female finisher and a full set of our local runners’ results printed in the paper following the event.

But reigning champions Whalley Range retained their unbeaten record and stay seven points adrift of Hey with five games in hand as they beat Old Stretfordians 3-1.

The coveted trophy will be on show at the Civic Hall on Thursday, January 26 (7pm), when Heywood Cricket Club – in conjunction with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Lancashire Cricket Board (LCB) – stage a seminar to officially start the build-up to NatWest CricketForce day at Crimble on March 31.

The club, one of the founder members of the Central Lancashire League, have been chosen as one of three showcase clubs in 2012 for a NatWest CricketForce day, which is set to transform and upgrade Crimble’s façade.

The card is the latest in Hatton TV’s Friday fight night series that is broadcast live on YouTube and draws tens of thousands of fans from around the globe.

Three of Heywood’s first four fixtures are at home, starting with a clash against Milnrow on Sunday, April 15.

Travis Townsend, a right-hand batsman and off-break bowler from Western Province, has signed a one-year contract for the 2012 Central Lancashire League campaign.

Jimmies, missing six regular first teamers, went behind to a first-minute penalty, but hit back with a brace from Chris Nuttall and a strike by Ste Hogg to go into the break leading 3-1.

The Salford outfit have been dominating the division below, but after a scrappy first 10 minutes, Bridge settled into their stride and started to play attractive football.

Cross picked up the Frank Worrell Trophy for the leading English amateur run scorer in the CLL for an amazing FIFTH time at this weekend’s annual league dinner, held at the Pollards.

The home team showed desire and commitment, working tirelessly throughout to take the spoils.

First the 23-year-old will go for gold at the London Olympics. Then the Heywood star will tie the knot with fiance and fellow swimmer David Carry in September.

A run of decent dry weather has helped accelerate the jobs required – levelling, re-turfing and extending pitch dimensions – and it would seem that all will be in place within the next few weeks.

The 38-year-old came off the bench against Bury following Alex Cisak’s early red card for his first senior appearance at Boundary Park in 15 years.

Joe Carter opened their account and Thomas Sullivan-Alton added a second.

It was a great game played with the right spirit and all for a worthy cause – to help youngster Dylan Strudwick return to full health.

The game appeared to be well out of Jimmies’ reach after finding themselves 3-0 down after 20 minutes.

Matthew Thornton gained his 1st kyu brown belt and is now only 12 months – but a lot of hard training – away from his black belt.

As well as the bar being open, there will be a stall selling cans, crisps and sweets, as well as giant hotdogs and potato hash.

Goalkeeper Tom Elford was superb between the sticks for Jimmies as Gregs staged a late comeback, earning the man of the match award.

From the start Thomas Sullivan-Alton and Patrick Taylor gave everything in midfield causing all sorts of problems, every ball was won and some clever passing was a joy to watch.

The Bury boxer became the British super-bantamweight champion two weeks ago after beating Jason Booth, taking his professional record to 23-0.

The pitches they use are superb and are part of the reason all three teams are producing good quality football; at long last the town has some decent pitches and long may they last.

Jimmies welcomed back talisman Mike Weatherilt after a nine-week absence and it was the free-scoring front-man who levelled the scores after the hosts had led 1-0 at the interval.

The clubhouse at Crimble has undergone a massive revamp, with old, rotting windows and fronting replaced by energy-efficient PVC windows.

Irlam took the lead but were pegged back when Chris Nuttall slotted home. But, with the clock ticking down, Irlam bagged the decider to end the Heywood outfit’s hopes.

Farrell is "living the dream" after signing terms with Ricky Hatton’s agent.  He agreed terms with Paul Speak on Saturday and has already begun training with former World Champion Hatton.

Kaye set a post-war record for wickets taken for Heywood during the 2011 Central Lancashire League campaign, claiming 90 wickets at an average of 13.46. This beat the post-war amateur record of 77 wickets, set by Will Purser in 2006.

By racing to World Championship gold in Shanghai earlier this year, the 23-year-old not only became the first GB athlete to secure her 2012 berth but also established herself as an overwhelming favourite to top the podium.

Drawing 2-2 with the game entering the final minute the ball arrived at the feet of Andrew Tinker out wide. He looked up, cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot to seal a confidence boosting three points for Jimmies.

Clubs have voted almost three to one in favour of the concept of creating two divisions to increase competition amid the realisation that change is needed to ensure its survival.

They took the lead midway through the first half, Joseph Carter latching on to an Ethan Owens shot to tap the ball home from a yard out.

The luckless first team, still seeking their first win, suffered setbacks when Simon Carney was sent off, having received a second yellow card and Steve Haslam netted an own goal.

The 23-year-old South-African born swimmer, a silver medalist in Beijing, won the 10km title for the second time at the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai earlier this year – a result which saw Payne become the first British athlete in any sport to confirm qualification for next summer’s Games.

The Army and Royal Navy teams on display impressed as did the local talent on show.

They were trailing 4-0 when Chris Nuttall popped up with two goals but despite adding another Jimmies were unable to find an equaliser.

Chance To Shine is the Lancashire Cricket Board’s initiative which will see their own people deliver specialised coaching to six schools in a club’s catchment area, and promote competition through local tournaments.

Already work at the club is well under-way at Crimble on major refurbishment work to the clubhouse – undertaken by local building firm Kaberry Construction Ltd – while bids for funding for artificial nets and new changing rooms are well under way.

Riding for the Shepherds Cycles team, the 15-year-old Holy Family pupil produced the ride of his life in the 500m time trial for under 16 boys to become National champion.

And she definitely won’t be undertaking the type of challenge recently completed by former team mate, Steve Parry.

It’s bad enough having players side-lined through injury but to then have key players missing due to holidays and work commitments only adds to the frustrations.

The 42-year-old left-arm spinner claimed a bumper 12-wicket haul in last weekend’s victories at Unsworth and at home to Walsden.

Deputy professional Tom New, who is Leicestershire’s reserve wicketkeeper-batsmen, impressed with a stylish 71 in Heywood’s daunting total of 197-4 in a match reduced to 35 overs per side after a rain delayed start.

Heywood, led by an outstanding performance by a stand-in professional for the second day running, eventually rattled up an impressive 219-5 at home to Walsden.

Skipper Mike Weatherilt saw his early penalty saved by the league’s top keeper Richard Worswick who had twice denied player/manager Matthew Hogarth in the early exchanges.

That could all change in 12 months if the long distance swimming star fulfils predictions by becoming an Olympic gold medallist.

Defeats at the hands of third-placed Littleborough and second-placed Middleton last weekend saw them drop out of the top five, in which they need to finish to earn a place in next season’s Lancashire KO Cup.

A narrow defeat at Stockport Georgians on the opening day of the season was followed by a similar fate against Royton Town in midweek.

Fawcett is hoping to lead his side to back-to-back triumphs in the Taylor Cup, the first time the club would have achieved such a feat since 1988 and 1989.

On Sunday at Crimble, a series of collapses, interspersed with some periods of defiance with the willow, left them with too much of a mountain to climb.

And Heywood were made to pay a heavy price as they crashed to their second successive Central Lancashire League defeat of the weekend at Middleton on Sunday.

The basic facts are that Boro, after winning an important toss, rattled up a whopping 248-5 from their 50 overs then bowled Heywood out for 179.

The side have a crucial double date this coming weekend, at home to third-placed Littleborough on Saturday and away to second-placed Middleton on Sunday (1.15pm).

Werneth were left teetering on 128-9 in reply to Heywood’s 199-6, as their last pair survived the final five overs in a match reduced to 40-overs-per-side. But it was still another dominant performance by Bobby Cross and his men as they prepare for the final push of the Central Lancashire League season.

Twice already this season Roger Smethurst’s men had capitulated against the Oldham side, losing by one run in the league at the Coppice in a game they seemed destined to win before being hammered soon after in the Burton Cup.

Payne made history last month by becoming the first GB competitor to qualify for next year’s Olympics by virtue of her World Championship 10km open water gold medal.