WPC News - January 2026

We are pleased to present the January edition of WPC News. This newsletter contains essential updates and reminders for all players, parents, and supporters.

Welcome

Welcome to the post-Christmas portion of the 25/26 summer cricket season. We’d especially like to welcome people who have recently joined the club. We hope everyone enjoys their cricket experience with WPC. Our Seniors competition recommenced 10 January and our Juniors start this Friday 30 January with Girls cricket, then the Junior competition from Saturday 31 January and the Blaster program restarts Friday 6 February. A junior Academy training program is expected to run for 5 weeks commencing on Friday 6 February.

Child Safety

You are probably aware of several incidents in Queensland and elsewhere of child safety breaches that have attracted a lot of media attention and in some cases resulted in court action. Following on from this the Government response has included some changes to the child safety requirements including the Blue Card system for organisations. The onus on sporting organisations is to ensure child safety considerations consistently have a high focus including:

• how we prioritise children’s safety and wellbeing

• how our leaders/volunteers demonstrate commitment to children’s safety and wellbeing and influence organisational culture

• the governance mechanisms (policies and procedures) in place

• our physical and online environments and how they ensure safety and wellbeing

• how we enable children to participate in decisions.

As volunteers who have contact with people under 18 years of age some of the things for us to consider include:

• the safety of our facilities and equipment,

• environmental risks

• use of protective equipment

• adequate supervision

• how we talk with team members under 18 years of age

• adherence to the code of conduct (behaviour)

• privacy

• bullying, harassment and exploitation

• managing disclosures or suspicions of harm

• recruitment and training of volunteers

• taking and the use of images of children

• on-line safety

• Blue Card compliance.

What we are doing:

• policies – are being reviewed and updated and once done will be advised to members and included on the website

• maintaining a consistent focus on Blue Card compliance

• regular messages and conversations with members about child safety

• considering ways to provide training to our volunteers

• endorsed and adopted Australian Cricket’s Policy for Safeguarding Children and Young People, Australian Cricket’s ‘Looking After Our Kids’ Code of Behaviour, and Australian Cricket’s Commitment to Safeguarding Children and Young People

• active Child Safe Officer is Ellen Ferris, and any concerns are to be reported to her

• questions or concerns are responded to promptly.

Volunteers

Getting cricket happening takes a big effort and we’d like to acknowledge the contribution of all of our volunteers who work hard to make this happen and the work they do in the background which sometimes goes unnoticed. We are always looking for more volunteers. You can help within your team by finding ways to support the Captains, Coaches and Managers. We also need volunteers to help with the planning and delivery of our major club event Presentation, so the workload is shared and does not add to the effort our existing volunteers are already putting in. If you can help, please contact Ellen Ferris secretary@wpccricket.com.au

Presentation

Our annual Presentation event is to be held on Saturday 28 March at Wolston Park from 3pm. We need many volunteers to help with planning, preparation and on the day and all teams have some tasks. There will be a planning meeting (via Teams) from 6.30pm Monday 2 February. Please consider joining this.

General Meeting

A General Meeting for all club members is being held from 6.45pm Friday 6 February at CJ Greenfields with a Teams option. We encourage you to join and at least ensure every team is represented. We want to hear from you, and this is an opportunity for you to have input to club operations.

Upcoming Meetings and Events

• Presentation – Planning meeting – 6.30pm Monday 2 February via Teams, Presentation Celebration – 3pm Saturday 28 March

• General Meeting - 6.45pm Friday 6 February at CJ Greenfields with a Teams option

Clothing

If anyone needs clothing, please contact Renee Sharland merchandise@wpccricket.com.au She will be at Wolston Park on Thursday 29 January 4.30-6.30pm.

Recycling and Disposal of Rubbish

We recycle cans and bottles collected at Wolston Park, however we are having issues with inappropriate items being put into the can and bottle bins. This includes containers such as coffee cups with liquid in them. These are not to go in the can and bottle bins. Please empty the contents before disposing of them in the general waste bin. The volunteers who look after the recycling currently deal with a lot of mess due to liquids or foods being placed in the bins and this is not fair to them. Please consider this and do the right thing.

Staying Informed

For the latest updates, please follow our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wpccricket), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/wpc.cricket/#), and visit our website (https://www.wpccricket.com.au/), where you will

Questions or Feedback

For any questions or feedback, please contact Ellen Ferris at secretary@wpccricket.com.au