Sustainability Innovator: Steve Gardner

Steve Gardner, Fillongley CC, Cricket Collective Awards 2026

Fillongley CC aren’t new to winning awards, nor are they to receiving global recognition.

Only last year, at the COP30 Summit held in Belem, Brazil, Fillongley’s efforts in their Warwickshire village were on display for all to see when they sent over a 90-second presentation, detailing their work, which was played on loop at the gathering.

The club have chosen to do things a little differently since deciding how best to reverse their financial issues in 2020.

That involved securing a lease for the field adjacent to their pitch and, working in conjunction with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, an army of in-house volunteers worked to transform the facility into a venue where wildlife truly thrives.

“It was mainly because we found we were financially unsustainable. We had to do something,” club chair Steve Gardner said of the ecological and monetary turnaround. “We managed to get a long-term lease for the cow-field behind our ground, which came with a pond and a path through the middle of it.

“I had the idea to turn the other field into a second pitch, but around it was left quite a bit of land and the pond. We have prided ourselves always on being an attractive ground and we didn’t want to leave what was left to brambles.

“We engaged with the Wildlife Trust to draw up a plan with a view to keeping the site useful to wildlife moving into the future.”

The pond was dredged, removing years worth of litter. An orchard was planted by the team of volunteers, so too were hedges around the perimeter of the ground. Solar panels have been acquired, too, with help from Warwickshire Cricket Foundation through a grant.

Over time, Fillongley bore witness to all sorts of wildlife returning to the area.

“People want to play cricket at a cricket club - their prime consideration isn’t necessarily looking after the voles and the owls - in fact most people didn’t even know they were there,” Steve explained.

“Making us financially viable led to the solar panels and the other things that we're doing.”

Now having two pitches on-site, Fillongley have been able to welcome back their 3s to their home, having previously been based elsewhere.

As well as the transformation in environment, Steve has seen a growth within the club, too; there is now more of a unification across the men’s sides and the club have also actively recruited women and juniors in recent years, too.

“The biggest change was bringing the third team back to the ground, because before that we were 1st and 2nd team and then a distant 3rd team who played somewhere else,” Steve said.

“You could never get 3rd teamers to play in the twos because it was like two clubs, but when we were able to bring the 3rd team onto the same site, using the same facility, it's now one club.

“People will move between the teams and when one game finishes early, the others are over supporting the other team. It’s led to increased numbers and, because people are happier to play in the 3s, we have probably doubled the number of members that we've got.

The efforts those within the club have gone to led to Steve clinching the Sustainability Innovator Award at Warwickshire Cricket Foundation’s recent Cricket Collective Awards, held at Edgbaston Stadium.

“ We've been really lucky in the awards that we've won and it is really pleasing,” he added. “To be asked to produce that video for COPS, so that the world could see it…we didn’t set out to do it, it has been in stages and gone from there.”