Opinion: 'Peterborough is strong sporting city at so many different levels - I want to celebrate our clubs'

A few weeks ago, the mayoress and I attended a cricket festival at the Peterborough Town Cricket Club on Bretton Gate, writes Liberal Democrat mayor of the city, Nick Sandford.

On the Friday, an England Legends team played against a Peterborough Town eleven.

The “Legends” team included some famous names from the past such as Andy Caddick, Alex Tudor and Monty Panesar.

It was a great event with many hundreds of local people attending and, better still, our local team won!

​On the Sunday, we saw a “County Showcase” game, where the first class county Northamptonshire, played the amateurs of Cambridgeshire.

In the end it was quite an easy win for the professional outfit. On 2 September, together with some other councillors, I am playing in the annual Community Cricket Cup game, where a Council/Police team takes on a Joint Mosques eleven, in aid of prostate cancer research.

This year the event will be at Peterborough Regional College sports ground from 10.30am onwards, so please come along and watch if you are free.

​But, of course, cricket is not the only sport played in Peterborough.

I am only going to try to mention just a few of the others.

Last year, in the Mayor’s Parlour, I hosted a small reception for Peterborough Sports football club, following their promotion to National League North. They are now under new ownership and new management but still going strong.

Of course, we all know and love Peterborough United but other teams such as FC Peterborough have also been making their mark locally in recent years.

We must not forget sports for those with disabilities and next week, I am hosting a small reception for Will Palmer from Hampton who has been selected for the England Squad for the World Deaf Football Championships in Malaysia in September.

​Peterborough also has two major rugby clubs and the Archway Table Tennis Club in Lincoln Road prides itself on being a centre of excellence in that sport.

In the winter months many people enjoy watching the Peterborough Phantoms Ice Hockey team who play at the ice rink in North Bretton.

Some of our city sports teams are facing uncertain futures.

Our speedway team, the Panthers, are facing loss of their home track to development and the future on Peterborough Athletics track is possibly threatened by plans for the Embankment area.

In October, I have been invited to fire the starting pistol of the Great Eastern Run, which is probably our city’s biggest mass participation sporting event, also raising large amounts each year for local and national charities.

So, it’s great to see that Peterborough is a strong sporting city at so many different levels.

I hope to visit many of our local clubs as mayor and I hope everyone who is able can find some sport or physical activity to engage in, as it is so vital for giving us all long, happy and healthy lives.