Meet Margaret: fifty years at the heart of the club

Margaret Hensley has been part of Nether Wallop Cricket Club for fifty-two years. She arrived as a young bride, scoring for the second XI while her husband opened the bowling. Back then, the club had one tatty scorebook, a mower that needed coaxing, and teas served from a trestle table. Today, Margaret is the club’s longest-serving volunteer. She opens the pavilion at 9am on match days, runs the raffle, mentors the junior colts, and still makes the occasional urn of tea when the regular tea lady is on holiday.

“I never set out to be a volunteer,” she says. “I just kept saying yes to small things, and suddenly it was forty years later.” Her roles have included scorer, tea organiser, fixture secretary, grant application writer, and, for a decade, colts manager. She has seen the club through three pavilion rebuilds, two league restructures, and countless rainy Saturdays.

What keeps a volunteer going for decades

Ask Margaret why she stayed, and she points to the people. “Cricket clubs are families,” she says. “You watch the colts grow up, then their children come through. You natter over a cuppa, you celebrate a last-over win, you commiserate when the rain wins. That sense of belonging is hard to find anywhere else.”

But there is more than sentiment. Long-serving volunteers often thrive on clear, bounded roles. Margaret knew exactly what she was responsible for each week. She also valued being asked, not assumed. “If someone had told me I had to do the teas forever, I’d have run a mile. But each year, someone would say, ‘Are you happy to carry on?’ That respect mattered.”

Finally, she loves the game itself. “You never stop learning. I’ve seen field placings change, batting orders shift, and junior coaching improve beyond recognition. Being close to that keeps you young.”

The pressures facing long-serving volunteers

Margaret is candid about the challenges. Over five decades, the volunteer pool has shrunk. “When I started, every parent did a stint. Now people work shifts, commute, or have caring responsibilities. The same ten faces do everything.” That concentration of effort leads to burnout.

There are practical pressures too. Increasing regulation around safeguarding, health and safety, and finance means more admin. “I used to write the fixture list on the back of an envelope. Now it’s spreadsheets, risk assessments, and DBS checks.” Margaret has embraced much of it, but she worries for clubs that lack a handover plan. “If I broke my hip tomorrow, who would open the pavilion? That thought keeps me awake.”

She also notes a cultural shift. “Some younger volunteers want a clear task list and a finish time. That’s fine, but it’s different. You can’t expect someone to give fifty years if you don’t give them flexibility.”

Practical ways clubs can support their stalwarts

Supporting long-term helpers is not about grand gestures; it is about consistent, thoughtful action. Here are specific steps any village club can take:

• Buddy them up. Pair a long-serving volunteer with a newer member for a season. This shares knowledge and reduces the fear of stepping away.
• Write down the role. Produce a simple one-page guide for every task, from opening the pavilion to ordering teas. Update it annually.
• Pay for training. If your volunteer needs a first aid certificate, a coaching badge, or a safeguarding course, cover the fee and the travel. It shows you value their time.
• Offer a deputy. Identify a second person who can step in for a match or a month. This prevents single points of failure.
• Ask about boundaries. At the start of each season, sit down and ask: what do you want to keep doing? What would you like to drop? What new thing might interest you?
• Say thank you specifically. Not just “thanks for everything”, but “thanks for sorting the umpires for the colts match last Sunday – that saved me a job.”

Margaret adds one more: protect their time off. “If I say I’m away for two weeks, don’t ring me about the scorebook. Trust that someone else can cope.”

Building a volunteer culture that lasts

Clubs that rely on a single hero are fragile. The healthiest village clubs deliberately spread the load. They celebrate long service, but they also plan for succession.

Margaret’s own club has started a “tea rota” with eight families, each taking two matches a season. They have a junior parent who shadows the fixture secretary. They hold an annual volunteers’ supper where every helper, from the mower to the scorer, gets a mention. “It’s not about medals,” Margaret says. “It’s about knowing you’re part of something bigger than yourself.”

For anyone thinking of volunteering, her advice is simple: start small. “Offer to help for one afternoon. You might find you stay for fifty years.” And for clubs lucky enough to have a Margaret? Look after them. Ask what they need. Give them a deputy. And never, ever assume they will always be there.