The Lord’s Taverners Northern NSW Branch was officially launched in September 2009. Since then we have made a significant impact in this northern part of our state. As the only truly country branch of the eleven branches in Australia, we have already moved towards our principal objective of giving the young and disadvantaged a sporting chance. The Northern NSW region is a large area stretching from Taree to Tweed and west to Gunnedah. Because we do not want to become Lismore-centric, we have invited people outside of Lismore to accept a role of developing The Lord’s Taverners ethos in their regions. We have these “Captains” in Taree, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Armidale, Tweed, Port Macquarie and Tenterfield and are continually expanding their roles and responsibilities. It is our desire not only to give the young and disadvantaged a sporting chance, but also to encourage local activities which bring visitors to the local northern NSW areas, whether to Lismore, Taree or wherever. At the national level, we support blind cricket, indigenous cricket, deaf cricket, and intellectually disabled cricket. Locally, within months of our founding, our members assisted Lismore City Council with the staging of the Festival of Cricket. Working together forged the bonds that have grown between us. Over the last few months, four young North Coast cricketers have been assisted in furthering their cricket by playing in the United Kingdom. At the grass roots level, we conduct Twenty20 cricket competitions for Years 7-10 at North Coast schools and we will soon be conducting an intensive sports camp for disadvantaged youth.
