We began the week with a meeting with Ashad, the founder, who was both remarkably friendly and insightful in helping us understand the current barriers to establishing the cricket club. I was incredibly shocked at his own personal experiences at our in-person meeting, and regrettably., felt overwhelmed at the several barriers that I had previously unconsidered. The final aspect of the meeting entailed a tour of the considered spaces, which instilled a strong motivation to physically achieve our goals.
What particularly stood out to me was the fact that we found that over 70 individuals had initially registered their interested in Cricket around the area, which really helped me to comprehend that our work does have the potential to be impactful if we choose to consistently engage with new members.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the social side of the week at the second half, including a golf session on Thursday, where speaking with scholars from other countries felt genuinely relatable and offered valuable new perspectives, especially as I had not seen the side from other Laidlaw Scholars. I'm excited to see how the rest of the programme unfolds, and given our new found avenues of communication and perspective, will ensure that we will extensively consider the different intersectional groups of Oxfordshire when approaching our work.